How Traverse Theatre Created a Flexible Mobile Box Office

Traverse Theatre is a producing theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its basement location and long entrance hallway meant that the old, static box office did not offer audience members the warm, accessible welcome the team wanted.

The static sales point felt out of step with the flexible, welcoming experience the team wanted to create. Traverse Theatre decided to reconsider the entire audience journey – from accessing tickets to entering the theatre, checking in, and purchasing refreshments.

The team replaced the static box office with a mobile box office built around flexible points of welcome. Digital tickets, online payments, and automated offers made it possible to sell tickets from anywhere, while a configurable setup helped the team respond to the needs of different events.

This approach helps Traverse Theatre make better use of its space and welcome audience members as soon as they arrive.

Traverse Theatre found that over 90% of audience members arrive with their tickets already on their phones. The Digital Passes functionality in Spektrix makes it easy for them to download mobile tickets and store them securely in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

With most audience members using mobile tickets, Traverse Theatre no longer needs a box office full of printers.

The team is working towards a setup where team members only need a tablet and PIN pad to meet audience members where they are.

For the ten per cent of audience members who need to collect printed tickets, Traverse Theatre maintains one static printer.

The team has also been trialling receipt roll printers to quickly produce QR codes, which are scanned as audience members enter the theatre.

This simple process requires minimal equipment, helping Traverse Theatre remain flexible while supporting its wider sustainability goals.

To create reliable, wireless points of sale, Traverse Theatre needed a cloud-based payments provider. The team chose Spektrix Payments.

Traverse Theatre moved to Spektrix Payments in 2024. The change saved money and removed the need for its old chip and PIN readers.

Using tablets and Wi-Fi, the team can now create a point of sale almost anywhere in the building. Previously, they relied on Ethernet cables to avoid crashes. Since introducing wireless PIN pads, Traverse Theatre has experienced no crashes or errors, even on its busiest days.

Traverse Theatre’s basement location presents mobility obstacles for some audience members. Some have access requirements but do not describe themselves as disabled.

To understand each audience member’s access requirements more fully, the team has enabled people to select relevant access options through the Traverse Theatre website.

Audience members can log in to their online accounts and select the access requirements that apply to them, whether that is a pre-show touch tour, a guide dog, or open captions.

Their selections are stored against their account as tags, so they do not have to enter the same information each time they book.

Traverse Theatre keeps its seating plan unreserved and issues general admission tickets. Instead of blocking off seats, it has a flexible Accessible Seating Area that audience members can book from the general pool of tickets.

This gives audience members with access requirements the flexibility to choose a suitable seat – whether that means sitting close to the stage, choosing a wheelchair-accessible seat, or sitting near an exit.

Before each event, the Front of House Team reviews a clear report of audience members‘ access requirements.

This helps the Front of House Team prepare to support audience members with their access requirements.

When audience members check in, their access tags become visible to the Sales and Welcome Team.

Team members can then suggest options based on each person’s access requirements, rather than making blanket recommendations to every accessible ticket holder.

By recording access requirements through self-selection rather than ticket type, Traverse Theatre can offer a welcome that is inclusive, personal, and respectful.

By bringing digital tickets, payments, and access information together, Traverse Theatre has created a warmer, more connected audience journey. Its former sales points are now streamlined points of welcome and assistance.

The team is also making better use of the former box office. It now serves as a meeting room and will become an intimate black box theatre designed for immersive interaction.