Customer Success Story: TourExpress.ca’s Journey - Technology-First Transportation with Zaui
When Opportunity Knocks
After Greyhound left Canada in 2020, After Greyhound left Canada in 2020, Tourexpress.ca was launched in June 2021 to redefine affordable shuttle services between two of Canada’s busiest centers. Unlike most transportation startups that begin with pen-and-paper bookings and struggle to scale, Tourexpress.ca was built on a foundation of technology from day one, leveraging Zaui’s online reservation system and online travel agencies (OTAs) like Busbud to gain immediate traction.
Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tourexpress.ca pioneered affordable, public, point-to-point, small-vehicle shuttle services between Montreal, Ottawa, Gatineau, and Montreal-Trudeau Airport (YUL), filling a gap left by Greyhound’s 2020 exit from Canada.
By partnering with Zaui Software, Tourexpress.ca scaled from one vehicle to a fleet of six with 17 drivers in 4 short years, streamlining operations and boosting customer satisfaction along the way.
The Challenge: Pioneering a New Transportation Model Amid Regulatory and Operational Hurdles
Behind Tourexpress.ca was an experienced mechanical engineer with a background in bus manufacturing who saw firsthand the need for affordable shuttle services in Quebec. “Transportation in Canada is very expensive,” the founder explained, noting the lack of options for frequent trips between Quebec and Ontario.
At first, his instinct was to connect Toronto and Montreal, but instead decided to investigate the google search traffic for various routes between Ontario and Quebec. He identified the high-demand Montreal to Ottawa route as a prime opportunity where passengers were searching but unable to find many transportation options.
Quebec long restricted new transportation operators, however, New provincial laws in Quebec passed in 2020 finally allowed fresh operators to enter the market. Tourexpress.ca was among the first to secure approval under these updated regulations, navigating strict requirements for driver certifications, certified vehicles, and extensive government reporting. From the outset, the company prioritized a robust, scalable reservation system that could handle bookings, connect with OTAs, and simplify compliance avoiding the pitfalls many transportation upstarts face by delaying technology adoption
How Zaui Outshines Other Platforms: A Winning Solution for Tourexpress.ca with Modern Design and Powerful Features
Tourexpress.ca chose Zaui for its free model, user-friendly interface, and seamless OTA integration that ensured visibility across Quebec and Ontario. This tech-driven approach set the business up for success right from the start.
Here are some of their favorite features in Zaui that have allowed Tourexpress.ca to scale quickly:
- Homepage Booking Widget: “It gives our website a professional look, and customers can search and book in under a minute, which is fantastic.”
- Dynamic Pricing: “Dynamic pricing is crucial for competing in transportation. Zaui makes it easy to adjust prices based on trends, helping us sell more tickets faster.”
- Channel Management: “Zaui simplifies inventory management with OTAs, letting us allocate 10% of seats to Expedia with a single click, no complex Excel work or special training needed.”
- Automated Reporting: “Other systems required custom coding and manual Excel fixes, taking days to complete compliance reports. Zaui’s automated tools cut this to under a day, saving significant time.”
- Customer Self-Service: “Zaui’s self-service ticket editing lets customers manage their bookings, reducing our staff costs and call volume while scaling with demand.”
While exploring competitors, it became clear that many platforms relied on static interfaces and outdated Excel-heavy processes. “Other reservation systems had static interfaces and Excel-based processes, which felt 20 years outdated.” the founder says. Zaui’s modern design and frequent updates stood out. For example, he explains how other platforms required custom developers to extract data to create the monthly compliance reports he needed. This could take approximately 3-4 days and still required a lot of spreadsheet corrections. Many systems still use manual Excel files (downloading templates, making changes, then re-uploading the files to the system) to perform tasks like inventory management and dynamic pricing changes. Zaui’s intuitive interface eliminated those complexities with simple, one button solutions to create activities or make changes.
“Dynamic pricing is crucial for competing in transportation”
Dynamic pricing in Zaui is real-time, not dependent on manually downloading and uploading Excel files. Channel management when connecting to various OTAs is a simple percentage setting on Zaui that does not require third parties, extra developers or multiple steps. Reports are generated at the press of a button, not pieced together over days with lots of manual calculations. Zaui made everything work right within the dashboard.
The founder of tourexpress.ca also notes, “Zaui’s phone and email support quickly resolve any issues, unlike other systems I have tried that have slow or non-existent support. I love that you can call Zaui on the phone. Most of the time, support can quickly solve my issue but if they can’t the developers always have a fix.”
Proven Growth with Zaui: 75% Reduction in Reporting Time, Top 5 Google Rankings, and Growing Sales
Zaui’s advanced technology is the backbone of Tourexpress.ca’s success in scaling operations:
- Scaled from 1 vehicle, 1 driver to 6 vehicles, 17 drivers in 4 years: Now with 79 daily departure times and 4 routes while keeping administrative costs low.
- 75% Reduction in Government Reporting Time: From 3-4 days to under a day with Zaui’s powerful reporting and analytics tools.
- Top 5 Google rankings for major search terms like “Montreal to Ottawa” with minimal ad spend and increased visibility through connected OTA platforms.
- Better Conversion Rates: The homepage booking widget’s streamlined checkout experience and cheapest-trip display boosted website conversion rates.
- Growing Sales: Dynamic pricing and OTA integrations drove bookings beyond projections, positioning Tourexpress.ca for a strong 2025 peak season.
“Zaui is a very efficient reservation system. It’s well-priced, especially the free model for new businesses, and its features help us sell more without affecting our bank account.” -- founder of Tourexpress.ca
Expansion Plans
As a pioneer of small-vehicle, point-to-point public transportation in Quebec, Tourexpress.ca plans to expand service to Montreal-Quebec and Montreal-Toronto routes, using Zaui to increase capabilities and meet rising demand.
“And then after that, we don't know…maybe we will open an airline company,” he smiles.
Zaui’s Future Enhancements
The founders of tourexpress.ca weren’t shy in suggesting some enhancements they would like to see in the future too. A GPS tracking feature to show customers real-time vehicle locations would further reduce their call volume and increase user experience, he said. “So, for example, the customer buys a ticket and he's waiting at the stop. He's like, oh, where is this vehicle? Sometimes people can wait for 30 minutes and there's construction everywhere. So, if there is this tracking app…it would reduce our extra expense and help the customer know exactly where the vehicle is, what's going on and how long it's going to take,” the founder says. Not surprisingly, Zaui does have an exciting GPS tracking solution in the works that is scheduled to be released to Zaui operators soon!
Winning with Technology: How Zaui Empowered Tourexpress.ca to Disrupt the Transportation Industry
Tourexpress.ca’s success proves that tech-driven startups can disrupt traditional transportation, offering a blueprint for operators nationwide.
- Streamline Online Bookings: Tourexpress.ca partnered with Zaui and quickly accelerated their sales and visibility by connecting to the most important OTAs like Busbud and Expedia.
- Regulatory Compliance Made Simple: Zaui’s robust reporting and analytics streamlined Tourexpress.ca’s compliance with Quebec’s strict transportation regulations, reducing reporting time from days to hours and ensuring accuracy without manual effort.
- Cost-Effective Scalability: Zaui’s affordable, feature-rich platform enabled Tourexpress.ca to scale from one vehicle to six with 17 drivers in four years, minimizing administrative costs while maximizing growth and customer satisfaction.
And most importantly, interprovincial travel between Quebec and Ontario is now more affordable and comfortable with Tourexpress.ca offering a seamless customer experience with more routes coming soon.
Ready to transform your transportation business? Explore Zaui’s cost-effective, scalable solutions and book a free demo at zaui.com or visit Tourexpress.ca to see their innovative model in action. For more insights into how Zaui empowers other transportation operators, read more case studies like Vegas Airporter and Fairview Limousine.
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