Presentation Live Link: https://canva.link/faretravel

Framing the Problem

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Who does it affect?

Millions of commuters rely on TfL’s contactless fare system every day, but issues such as security concerns, card‑reader errors, and missed tap‑ins/outs often lead to incorrect or unexpected charges. Because users only see the final amount deducted, with no clear breakdown of how that fare was calculated, they struggle to understand, verify, or confidently accept the charges they receive. This lack of transparency creates confusion, frustration, and a sense of financial vulnerability.

What seems like a small charge is actually significant for everyday travellers. A single unexpected TfL fare can cost about the same as a Tesco Meal Deal, a meaningful portion of a student’s daily budget. These incorrect charges disproportionately affect students, young professionals, low‑income commuters, shift workers, and anyone who relies on public transport as their primary mode of travel. For these groups, repeated, unexpected fees add up quickly, creating real financial strain and highlighting the need for a platform that brings clarity, accuracy, and trust back into the travel‑payment experience.

Idea Explanation

What is your idea? How does it fix the problem?

FareTravel is a transparent travel companion that helps commuters understand exactly what they are paying for before, during, and after every journey. Rather than only displaying the final fare, FareTravel provides a complete breakdown of how the cost was calculated, including peak and off-peak pricing, zone boundaries, daily caps, and any additional charges or penalties. The platform also detects common travel issues such as missed tap-ins or tap-outs, card reader errors, and unusual fare patterns, explaining why a charge may have occurred and, when appropriate, guiding users through the refund process.

Beyond transparency, FareTravel helps users make smarter financial decisions by comparing the true cost of travelling across different transport modes, recommending cheaper routes or off-peak travel times, and bringing together discounts, Railcards, refund eligibility, and fare-cap information in one place. For international travellers, FareTravel extends this transparency by displaying real-time exchange rates, foreign transaction fees, and multi-currency travel costs through a potential integration with Wise. By combining transparent pricing, intelligent travel planning, refund support, and sustainability insights, FareTravel transforms confusing transport payments into a clear, understandable, and trustworthy experience.

What FareTravel Does:

• Shows a full breakdown of every fare before and after travelling:

  Users can finally see how their charge was calculated, including peak/off‑peak rules, caps, incomplete journey penalties, and additional fees.

• Error & Overcharge Detection:

  FareTravel identifies missed tap‑ins/outs, card‑reader errors, and unusual fare patterns, helping users understand when a charge doesn’t look right.

• Multi‑Mode Cost Comparison:

  Users can compare the true cost of travelling by train, bus, tube, taxi, or bike, not just the time it takes.

• Unified Discounts & Refunds:

  No more searching across multiple websites. FareTravel centralises Railcards, student offers, refund eligibility, and fare‑cap information.

• Smart Budget‑Based Journey Planning:

  FareTravel shows whether waiting for off‑peak travel or choosing a different route could save money.

• Clear Multi‑Currency Travel Costs:

  For international journeys, users see exchange rates, foreign transaction fees, and real‑time cost comparisons with full clarity.

How FareTravel Fixes the Problem?

• Solves the transparency gap:

  Instead of only seeing the final TfL charge, users get a clear, itemised breakdown — removing confusion and building trust.

• Prevents Unexpected Charges:

  By detecting incomplete journeys and errors, FareTravel prevents charges that currently cost commuters the same as a Tesco Meal Deal.

• Supports Vulnerable Commuters:

  Students, young professionals, shift workers, and low‑income commuters gain a tool that helps them avoid financial strain from repeated unexpected fees.

• Centralises Travel Cost Information:

  FareTravel brings together pricing, discounts, refunds, and multi‑mode comparisons — solving the fragmentation that causes confusion.

• Helps Users Make Smarter Financial Choices:

  With transparent pricing and predictive savings insights, travellers can choose routes and times that fit their budget.

Implementation

How do all the pieces fit together? Does your frontend make requests to your backend? Where does your database fit in?

FareTravel is built on a modern client–server architecture, designed for reliability, clarity, and seamless user experience.

Frontend

The frontend is developed using React.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS, delivering an intuitive interface where users can:

• Plan journeys

• View transparent fare breakdowns

• Compare transport options

• Track refund progress

Backend

The frontend communicates with a dedicated backend API responsible for:

• Processing journey requests

• Applying FareTravel’s fare‑calculation logic

• Aggregating data from external transport providers

The backend integrates with transport APIs such as TfL for live fares, disruptions, fare rules, and journey information, and with mapping services like Google Maps for routing and journey planning. Fare calculation logic combines these inputs to generate a clear, itemised breakdown of every journey.

Database

The database stores:

• User profiles

• Travel history

• Saved journeys

• Refund requests

• Travel preferences

• Linked discount cards

It also contains configuration entries for TfL and Google Maps API keys. This enables FareTravel to deliver personalised recommendations, detect unusual charging patterns, estimate savings, and track refund progress over time.

Challenges

What did you struggle with? How did you overcome it?

• Understanding complex travel fee structures:

  TfL’s fare rules, caps, peak/off‑peak pricing, and incomplete journey penalties were difficult to interpret. We overcame this by breaking down each fee type, mapping real user scenarios, and designing a transparent breakdown system that users can easily understand.

• Identifying why incorrect charges happen:

  Issues like missed tap‑ins/outs, card‑reader errors, and security concerns aren’t clearly explained to commuters. We solved this by analysing common error patterns and building FareTravel features that detect, flag, and explain unusual or suspicious charges.

• Turning a broad problem into a practical solution:

  “Lack of transparency” is a big issue. Translating it into a usable product was challenging. We overcame this by focusing on real commuter pain points (unexpected charges, no breakdown, no comparison) and designing features that directly address each barrier.

• Designing a user-friendly interface under time pressure:

  We needed to present complex financial information in a simple, intuitive way. We overcame this by prioritising clarity: clean visuals, simple icons, and step-by-step cost explanations.

• Ensuring our idea works across multiple transport modes

  Costs vary widely across trains, buses, tubes, taxis, and bikes. We solved this by creating a unified comparison model that shows the true cost of each mode in one place.

• Building a realistic partnership model with Wise

  Integrating multi‑currency transparency and cross‑border travel costs required careful planning. We overcame this by focusing on features Wise already supports (fee clarity, exchange rates, multi‑currency wallets) and aligning them with FareTravel’s mission.

How FareTravel Connects to Wise’s Mission

FareTravel strengthens Wise’s mission by extending its core principles — low cost, transparency, convenience, and global access — into everyday travel across London and beyond.

• Low Cost Wise exists to make money movement cheaper. FareTravel applies the same philosophy to transport: reducing excess charges, preventing overpayments, and helping travellers avoid hidden costs.

• Transparency Wise shows people exactly what they pay when sending money. FareTravel mirrors this by giving users a clear, itemised breakdown of every journey, every fare rule, and every charge, no surprises, no confusion.

• Convenience Wise simplifies international spending; FareTravel simplifies navigating London’s transport system. Refund requests become easy, guided, and stress‑free, just like Wise’s frictionless financial tools.

• Global Access Wise empowers people to use their money anywhere. FareTravel supports this by helping travellers, including international visitors, understand fares, plan routes, and travel confidently with transparent information.

Accomplishments

• What did you learn? What did you accomplish?

• Deep understanding of TfL’s fare system and hidden charges:

  We learned how complex and opaque TfL’s pricing rules are, from peak-and-off-peak variations to incomplete-journey penalties and card‑reader errors. This helped us design a solution that finally explains these charges clearly to users.

• Identified real commuter pain points through research:

  We discovered how much unexpected charges impact students, young professionals, and low‑income commuters. Understanding their financial challenges shaped our mission to make every cost transparent and predictable.

• Built a unified model for transparent fare breakdowns:

  We accomplished a core part of our vision: creating a system that shows users exactly how their fare was calculated, fixing the biggest gap in TfL’s current contactless experience.

• Designed a multi‑mode travel cost comparison:

  We learned how different modes of transport (train, bus, tube, taxi, bike) vary in cost and value. We turned this into a feature that helps users compare true prices across all options, not just travel time.

• Created a realistic Wise partnership concept:

  We explored how multi‑currency travel fees work and how Wise’s tools can support transparency. We developed a partnership model that aligns with real Wise features such as fee clarity, exchange rates, and multi‑currency wallets.

• Developed a user‑friendly interface for complex financial data:

  We learned how to simplify dense pricing information into clean visuals, icons, and explanations. Our final design makes financial clarity accessible to everyone.

• Built a scalable roadmap for UK → Europe → Global expansion:

  We accomplished a clear growth plan that shows how FareTravel can evolve from TfL transparency to international travel cost clarity, supporting millions of commuters worldwide.
  
  

Next Steps

• What are the next steps for your project? How can you improve it?

• Short-Term (0–3 months)

  • Expand Wise's core functionality by introducing a multi-currency wallet and real-time transport fee alerts to improve transparency in travel costs

  • Integrate UK transport APIs to provide live pricing, journey options, and clearer breakdowns of fees across different providers

  • Run a structured student pilot across selected universities to refine user experience, validate savings tools, and gather behavioural feedback

  • Introduce accessibility-first onboarding, allowing users to select preferences such as colourblind-friendly modes, high-contrast themes, and simplified UI layouts during sign-up or login

  • Begin development of an AI travel assistant (beta) to support users with booking transport and planning journeys in a guided, conversational format

• Mid-Term (3–12 months)

  • Establish Europe-wide transport data partnerships to enable cross-border journey transparency and unified pricing visibility

  • Develop advanced AI-powered personalisation, including predictive savings insights and tailored travel recommendations based on user behaviour

  • Expand the AI travel assistant into a fully functional journey companion, supporting booking, route optimisation, and step-by-step guidance for users, including older adults and less digitally confident users

  • Embed deeper accessibility infrastructure across the platform, including adaptive interfaces, screen-reader optimisation, colourblind-safe design standards, and simplified navigation modes

  • Build a global compliance and regulatory framework to support scalable cross-border rollout and ensure trust, safety, and data protection across regions

    
    Monetisation Strategy

    How Wise Makes Money:

    • Active Wise Card Usage Users keep £250 on their Wise card for everyday spending. This generates transparent, low‑cost fees that support a fair and sustainable partnership between Wise and FareTravel.

    • Global Currency Expansion Wise earns through transparent conversion fees as users spend or travel across different currencies, supported by regional partnerships.

    • Affiliate Partnerships Commission revenue from travel‑related bookings, including airlines, hotels, and insurance providers, integrated through Wise Travel Hub.

    • Data Insights Anonymous FareTravel travel‑pattern data enhances Wise’s Travel Hub analytics, strengthening route insights, spending trends, and regional optimisation.

    • Subscription Revenue FareTravel Plus — a low‑cost annual plan offering fare alerts, fee‑free currency conversions, personalised savings insights, and priority refund support.