From Monday (1 September), rail passengers travelling on East Midlands Rail between Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham will be able to take part in new ticketless train trials, with more taking place in conjunction with Northern Trains in Yorkshire from the end of September.
The digital ticketing trials will allow passengers to check in and check out seamlessly on rail journeys, using a location-identifying app on their phone.
The app will track journeys using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology and then automatically charge passengers the best fare at the end of the day. For ticket inspections and to go through ticket barriers, a unique bar code will pop up in the app to be scanned.
This technology replaces the need for paper tickets or more commonly used mobile tickets using QR codes bought online or in-app ahead of your journey. Doing away with the need to plan and book journeys in advance, the app tracks your journey and determines which trains you took, detecting when you’ve left the rail network.
Up to 4,000 passengers can take part in these trials by simply signing up via the relevant train operator’s website, taking advantage of simpler and more flexible train travel, and a guarantee of the best value fare on the day.
This technology has already been tested widely in Switzerland, Denmark, and Scotland; however, this marks the first time these trials are being brought to England’s rail network.
“The railway ticketing system is far too complicated and long overdue for an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century. Through these trials, we’re doing just that and making buying tickets more convenient, more accessible, and more flexible,” said Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy.
“By putting passenger experience at the heart of our decision making, we’re modernising fares and ticketing and making it simpler and easier for people to choose rail.”
From the end of September, thousands more passengers will be able to take advantage of the simplified ticketing, with trials running on Northern services to Harrogate, Leeds, Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley.
Northern passengers are already moving to modern ticketing, with January figures showing Northern hit a monthly average of almost 78% usage of mobile tickets and reached a single-day high of 89%.
In June last year, Northern reportedthat the growing preference for mobile tickets amongst its passengers had led to a reduction of 2.3 million orange ‘magstripe’ tickets across the previous 12 months.
Backed by nearly £1 million of government funding, the trials are part of plans to modernise our transport system, putting passenger experience at the heart of every journey and encouraging more people to take the train.
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