Loco2: History
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Loco2, now rebranded as Rail Europe, is an online booking service for train travel in the United Kingdom and Europe. It sells tickets through its website and via its smartphone app which is available on iOS and Android platforms. It was founded in 2006 by brother and sister Jamie and Kate Andrews, and started trading in 2012 from its headquarters in London. Loco2 website and apps were rebranded Rail Europe in November 2019.

  • train travel
  • loco2
  • smartphone app

1. Functionality

Rail Europe (formerly Loco2) provides coverage for approximately 25 countries in Europe and is integrated with multiple rail operators, including the Rail Delivery Group in the United Kingdom , SNCF in France , Eurostar, Deutsche Bahn in Germany , SNCB in Belgium, Renfe in Spain and both Italo and Trenitalia in Italy.[1] The company sells fares for all major high-speed rail services in Europe, such as TGV, ICE, Eurostar, AVE, Thalys, Frecciarossa, and Italo.[2][3]

The company's original name is both an abbreviation of the phrase "low CO2" as well as a reference to locomotive travel.[4] Rail Europe focuses on rail travel in the UK and mainland Europe, as well as some international bus journeys. With a carbon count facility built into its journey booking process, Rail Europe carried forward the original Loco2 founders’ mission to act as a low carbon alternative to air travel, due to rail travel's ability to reduce a traveller's carbon footprint by up 90 percent.[5][6]

Rail Europe (formerly Loco2) acts as an alternative to traditional rail booking systems by aggregating multiple reservation systems into its service, allowing users to search for and book fares across multiple countries within one transaction.[7] Rail Europe (formerly Loco2)  users can access standard rate fares as well as the discounted fares associated with each operator, such as such as Renfe's Turista Promo,[8][9] Deutsche Bahn's London Sparpreis and Europa Sparpreis,[10] as well as SNCF's Prems fares and the Rail Delivery Group's range of discounted Advance Fares.[11]

Companies like Rail Europe are expected to expand their market share as the European Commission continues efforts to open the European rail market to increased competition.[4][7][12]

2. History

Loco2 was founded in 2006 by Kate Andrews during her final year as an Undergraduate at Sussex University. The goal initially was to launch a low carbon travel company, specialising in grounded travel. As the company’s focus moved to European rail specifically, she was joined by her brother Jamie Andrews and Technical Director Jon Leighton, a leading contributor to Ruby on Rails.

 

As of 2015, Loco2 is integrated with the following rail operator booking systems in Europe:

  • SNCF, including Eurostar (France) 2012
  • Deutsche Bahn (Germany) 2013
  • Rail Delivery Group (United Kingdom) 2013
  • Renfe (Spain) 2014
  • Italo (Italy) 2014
  • Trenitalia (Italy) 2015
  • SNCB (Belgium) 2018

In 2013 Loco2 partnered with The Guardian to launch "Guardian Trains," a Guardian-branded version of Loco2's train ticket booking application.[13][14]

In 2014 Loco2 added Vimal Khosla, previously a board member of lastminute.com, to its board.

In 2016, the company underwent a full redesign, updating their logo, colourway and user platform.[15] It also released its first smartphone apps, with an iOS version launched in April[16] and an Android version available from July.[17] For its apps, Loco2 launched an icon-only version of the company logo, suitable for iOS devices.[18]

In 2017, Loco2 was acquired by Loco2 was acquired by e-Voyageurs Groupe, the parent company of OUI.sncf, a subsidiary of SNCF. The value of the deal was not disclosed but the investment illustrates the growing potential of rail travel in an increasingly competitive landscape.[19]

In December 2018, the founders Jamie Andrews and Kate Andrews announced their departure from the organisation, describing the decision to leave as bittersweet.[20]

In November 2019, Loco2’s website and apps were rebranded as Rail Europe. Rail Europe has been part of OUI.sncf group since 2013 selling rail products across 30 countries and 25,000 destinations. By joining forces with Loco2, both now form the newly expanded international arm of e-voyageurs SNCF.

In 2019, the following articles are a selection of those that appeared in the media about Loco2 before it was rebranded: The Independent, The Guardian, Harpers Bazaar, Railway Technology and Metro

3. Awards

  • 2013 Winner PEA Awards Responsible Travel Category 2013 [21]
  • 2018 British Transport Awards: Bronze award for Best European Rail Booking Website [22]
  • 2018 National Transport Awards: Transport Supplier of the Year [23]

4. Ownership and Funding

Loco2 was founded as a private company, limited by shares. Its owners include founders Jamie and Kate Andrews as well as members of their family and friends. Additional investment has been secured from individuals and consortiums of angel investors. Shareholders include Ed Gillespie, founder of sustainability strategy and creative agency, Futerra, and author of Only Planet, which documents a low-carbon journey around the world.[24]

The company received a total of £1 million [5][6] in funding over a number of investment rounds from private angel investors.[5] As part of its investment raising activities the company was featured on the BBC News website in a piece focusing on the "real life Dragons' Den".[25]

On 5 July 2017 it was announced that Loco2 had been bought by e-voyageurs Groupe, which also owns OUI.sncf. At that time, Loco2 co-founders Kate and Jamie Andrews remained with the business. Kate Andrews said it would continue to operate as an independent company, but the new owner would provide the investment needed to develop its search and booking technology while strengthening Voyages-sncf.com's position in the European online rail ticket retailing sector. Jamie Andrews explained further, ‘Keeping pace with our competitors' spending posed a significant challenge for our small business, and it became clear that we would need to contemplate big changes’, he explained. ‘We faced a stark choice: raise financing from a large institutional investor and roll the dice on future progress, or find a buyer for the company.’[26]

5. Call for Open Data

In a 2011 Wired Magazine article, Loco2's CEO and founder Jamie Andrews called for rail operators to provide "better (and fairer) access to rail data."[27] Andrews argued that a move to standardise data across Europe's different operators would serve to protect passenger rights.[27]

In 2013 the company held a “hack day” at Google Campus in London, showcasing what could be done with open rail data in the UK.[28]

In 2017 co-founder Kate Andrews wrote an article in the Telegraph's Business Reporter supplement entitled 'How mobile tech has transformed the way we travel'. In the article she illustrated how companies such as Loco2 have made booking a train almost as easy as booking a flight by creating what is in effect a single European Rail platform.[29]

6. External Links

The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Company:Loco2

References

  1. Cross, Tony (7 November 2013), The right track, Condé Nast Traveler, http://www.cntraveller.com/news/2013/november/loco2-launch-new-service, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  2. Collins, Katie (12 November 2013), Loco2.com incorporates pan-European train travel into a single booking, Wired.co.uk, https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/12/loco2-european-rail-booking, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  3. Let the train take the strain to Spain, A Place in the Sun, 17 February 2014, http://www.aplaceinthesun.com/news/feature/tabid/131/EntryId/2576/Default.aspx, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  4. Lomas, Nathasha (17 February 2014), Pan-European Rail Travel Booking Service, Loco2, Gets Renfe On Board For Full Spanish Coverage, TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/17/loco2-renfe/, retrieved 21 March 2014, "Loco2 exclusively focuses on rail travel, having an eco-travel ethos — its name is shorthand for low CO2" 
  5. Lomas, Natasha (4 November 2014), Pan-European Train Travel To Get Easier As Loco2 Prepares To Hook Into U.K.’s Rail Booking System, TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/04/loco2/, retrieved 21 March 2014, "...having a vested interest in funnelling travellers cash through their own (typically fiendishly complex) booking systems." 
  6. Eco-Travel site Loco2 expands into Spain, Green Entrepreneurship, 18 February 2014, http://www.greenentrepreneurship.com/eco-travel-site-loco2-expands-spain/, retrieved 21 March 2014, "Taking the train instead of plane can reduce your carbon footprint with as much as 90 percent." 
  7. Gregory, Mark (12 November 2013), New pan-European rail booking service launched, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-24913935, retrieved 21 March 2014, "Start-up firm Loco2.com is offering the service in an attempt to make cross-border European rail trips cheaper and easier to organise." 
  8. Collins, Katie (5 February 2014), Loco2.com adds Spain to its pan-European rail-booking service, Wired.co.uk, https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-02/05/loco2-spain, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  9. Bryant, Martin (18 February 2014), Loco2 is an increasingly great place to book European train travel, The Next Web, https://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/02/18/loco2-increasingly-great-place-book-european-train-travel/#!yLzE9, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  10. Andrews, Kate (27 July 2016), German train tickets - ticket types & discounts, Loco2, http://help.loco2.com/article/425-german-train-tickets, retrieved 2 November 2016 
  11. Paris to Turin by train (TGV), loco2, 2014, https://loco2.com/destinations/paris-to-turin-by-train-tgv, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  12. Baker, Vicky (30 August 2013), End of the Thomas Cook European 'bible': online alternatives, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/aug/30/thomas-cook-rail-timetable-online-alternatives, retrieved 21 March 2014, "Loco2.com, who partner with Guardian Trains, is also riding the same wave; both companies have been able to build their services after the EU took action to allow more competition in the European rail market." 
  13. O'Neil, Sean (14 April 2013), Loco2 powers new Guardian Trains booking tool, tnooz, http://www.tnooz.com/article/loco2-powers-new-guardian-trains-booking-tool/, retrieved 22 March 2014 
  14. Andrews, Kate (15 April 2013), Introducing Guardian Trains – Loco2 partners with the Guardian, Loco2, https://loco2.com/blog/2013/04/introducing-guardian-trains-loco2-partners-with-the-guardian/, retrieved 22 March 2014 
  15. Connell, Sean (22 April 2016), A brand new design for Loco2, RMDY, http://rmdy.co.uk/news/a-brand-new-design-for-loco2/, retrieved 2 November 2016, "As an evolution of the old brand, the new logo and colourways selected moves Loco2 forward and allowed us to confidently move forward with a redesign." 
  16. Calder, Simon (9 May 2016), Travel Agenda: where to go and what to know in travel this week, Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/travel-agenda-where-to-go-and-what-to-know-in-travel-this-week-a7020271.html, retrieved 2 November 2016, "Loco2 is now available as a free iPhone app. The app has the same search functionality as the rail booking website, with a simple interface for making reservations, and the ability to download and store mobile tickets." 
  17. Loco2 (12 July 2016), Introducing Loco2 for Android, https://loco2.com/blog/loco2-android-app, retrieved 27 April 2017 
  18. Loco2 AppStore (26 April 2017), iTunes: Loco2: Europe by train made easy, iTunes, https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/loco2-europe-by-train-made-easy/id993672511?mt=8, retrieved 26 April 2017 
  19. Whyte, Patrick (6 July 2017), Acquisition of Rail-Booking Site Loco2 Shows Sector’s Potential, Skift, https://skift.com/2017/07/06/acquisition-of-rail-booking-site-loco2-shows-sectors-potential/, retrieved 24 January 2018 
  20. Andrews, Jamie & Kate (18 December 2018), So long and thanks for all the trains, Loco2, https://loco2.com/blog/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-trains/, retrieved 4 January 2019, "We are incredibly proud of what we built, and so it is bittersweet as we announce our departure today." 
  21. mygreenpod (13 March 2014), The PEA Awards 2013, My Green Pod, https://www.mygreenpod.com/articles/the-pea-awards-2013/, retrieved 18 October 2018 
  22. British Travel Awards (28 November 2018), 2018 Winners, britishtravelawards, https://www.britishtravelawards.com/winnerdetails.php?p=6, retrieved 18 October 2018 
  23. Transport Times (11 October 2018), Winners of the National Transport Awards 2018, Transport Times, https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/awards-winners.php/National-Transport-Awards-2/, retrieved 18 October 2018 
  24. Webb, Flemmich (12 June 2014), Only Planet by Ed Gillespie, book review: Allow world's flaws and beauty to seep into your soul, Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/only-planet-by-ed-gillespie-book-review-allow-worlds-flaws-and-beauty-to-seep-into-your-soul-9532757.html, retrieved 13 November 2016, "telling of his low-carbon journey around the world – he doesn't fly." 
  25. Humphrey, Andrew (12 February 2013), Angel investors: The real-life Dragons' Den, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-21367559, retrieved 21 March 2014, "Jamie Andrews said securing investment via an equity stake was the only way his young company could raise funds" 
  26. SNCF buys online ticket railtor Loco2:, Railway Gazette, http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/business/single-view/view/sncf-buys-online-ticket-retailer-loco2.html 
  27. Andrews, Jamie (15 June 2011), Opinion: Making the case to open up European rail data, Wired.co.uk, https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-06/15/european-rail-data, retrieved 21 March 2014, "...to enable better (and fairer) access to rail data" 
  28. Andrews, Jamie (29 October 2012), Building apps with rail data, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/oct/29/rail-hack-day-apps, retrieved 21 March 2014 
  29. Andrews, Kate (14 October 2017). "Business: Next-generation transport apps create seamless itineraries that travel with you". Telegraph Media Group Ltd. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/business-reporter/next-generation-transport-apps. 
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