Emakina went far in developing the iDBUS website for SNCF

The iDBUS is a new luxurious coach service of the French national railway company (SNCF) for long-distance destinations. Its vehicles connect the cities of London, Lille, Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam. Recently SNCF added Lyon, Milan, Turin and Paris De Gaulle Airport to its offer and doubled the connections between Paris and Brussels.

Emakina was entrusted with the entire development of the iDBUS website, (serving as the service’s main sales platform), ranging from developing the concept to executing the plan. With all these exciting additions, Emakina already created a new version of the site, adding an interactive map to the pages.

The iDBUS offers a new alternative, which is simple and convenient for long-distance passengers who typically travel by car. The innovative service was conceptualised with a strong focus on client’s needs– offering high-quality tailor-made features which go beyond the old-school definition of transportation, and at an accessible price. When you travel by iDBUS, you are rediscovering travelling by road. Simple, accessible, and with respect for the environment.

Emakina and iDBUS joined forces and finished the project within less than six months. The result is a multilingual portal, serving clients in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and recently Italy as well. It is based on visual elements of the SNCF, adapted to the iDBUS values, being user-friendly, inviting, simple, reliable, human, well-balanced, and contemporary.

Emakina took care of all the entire site development process: editorial recommendations, functional analysis, information architecture, design and illustration, multilingual content creation, search engine optimisation (SEO), Emailing and ticketing ergonomics, web-analytics, and more.

The entire website is Drupal-based in order to keep it easily-adaptable to the iDBUS changing needs and aims to present its services in numerous European countries.

This first collaboration with the SNCF group turned out to be a great success story. Additional “destination” content in the near future will further enrich the online experience.

Emakina paid special attention to cultural sensibilities in each of the countries in which the iDBUS service is available. It was particularly important to take into consideration the current public perception of long-distance road transport in each of the target markets.

We are proud to have taken part in the development of such an innovative service, offering Euro-travellers ecologic and economic alternative to car transport, while redefining comfort and service standards.