- Rail Minister launches consultation on possible roll out of
pay-as-you-go (PAYG) to more
rail stations.
-
PAYG, along with smartcards
and barcode options, can make passenger journeys faster and
more convenient.
- Aim is to build on ‘smart ticketing’ alternatives to paper
tickets that already cover almost all of the network.
The views of the travelling public will be at the heart of the
government’s renewed drive to make ‘smart ticketing’ on the rail
network the norm rather than the exception, Rail Minister
announced today (7 February
2019).
Launched today, a 12-week public consultation will seek views
from passengers and other rail stakeholders on the potential to
make PAYG - swiping
in and out at the ticket barrier with a bank or smart card –
accepted more widely.
With smart cards and barcodes already providing an alternative to
existing paper tickets across almost all the UK rail network, the
government’s ambition is to drive this even further forward by
seeking the public’s views on how to roll out PAYG to more stations.
Feedback from the consultation of passengers in the south east
will not only inform any roll-out of the technology in the
region, but will also be used when considering how to
implement PAYG more
widely across other urban or commuter areas in the future.
Rail Minister said:
We want to make rail journeys simpler and easier for
passengers. Smart ticketing is the modern answer - offering
simpler fares, fairer deals and less confusion for passengers.
This consultation is about finding out what works for people,
and we want to know how pay-as-you-go could make life easier
for passengers who make hundreds of millions of journeys each
year.
We have already invested £80 milion in smart ticketing
nationally and this has helped to speed up smartcard roll-out
so that smart tickets are available across almost all the
network.
Dependent on the outcome of the consultation, by 2020, the
government’s ambition is to see PAYG rolled out across more regional
and urban commuter areas, delivering the kind of system that
already exists in London.
As part of this, the Department for Transport (DfT) is requiring
new rail franchisees to introduce PAYG in commuter areas and is already
supporting Transport for the North’s ambitious plans to roll it
out across public transport in the north.
