Plans to trial simpler and more flexible ticketing across the
North have taken one step closer this week with trials on track
for later this year.
The Government is kick starting the procurement process to find
the suppliers who will run the technology for the trials across
the East Midlands and Yorkshire. The successful bidders will work
alongside Northern and East Midlands Railways to deliver the
trials.
Unlike the previous rollout of pay as you go, these trials will
use GPS based technology. This will track your location on your
train journey, ensuring you pay the best fare for the journey you
take. For ticket inspections and to go through ticket barriers, a
unique bar code will pop up in the app to be scanned.
The use of contactless ticketing offers passengers simpler, more
accessible and more flexible train travel as well as a guarantee
of the best value ticket on the day. By saving both time and
money on a number of journeys, the trials will help to improve
living standards and make working people better off – delivering
on the Government's Plan for Change.
Backed by Government funding, the trials are part of plans to
modernise our transport system, put passenger experience at the
heart of the railways and drive more people back onto trains
building on the Government's mission to deliver growth.
Rail Minister, Lord said:
“We've seen the success that contactless ticketing has on making
journeys easier to navigate and attracting more people to our
railways.
“It's only right that we now look to expand contactless ticketing
to other major cities across the North, ensuring they can reap
the economic benefits that simpler ticketing offers and that
passengers are having a better experience.”
Jacqueline Starr, Chief Executive Officer of Rail
Delivery Group, said:
“We are proud to support the Pay As You Go trials in Yorkshire
and East Midlands. This is another step in making fares and
ticketing easier for everyone.
“We are committed to developing a simpler fare system that not
only meets passengers' expectations but also supports the
long-term growth of rail travel making customers experience of
the railway better.”
This follows the rollout of contactless ticketing at 53 stations
across the South East. In the first 6 months of contactless
ticketing being available at the first 6 stations, more than
268,000 entries and exits were made using contactless cards or
mobile devices – showing how popular the system is with customers
using those stations already.
The department is also working closely with Greater Manchester
and the West Midlands to develop their proposals for rolling out
contactless ticketing even further.
Alex Hornby, Commercial and Customer Director at
Northern, said:
“Historically, ticketing across the rail industry has been far
too complicated and so anything that makes the customer
experience simpler has my vote.
“We've already seen a huge swing away from physical tickets to
digital alternatives, which now make up over 80% of journeys on
our network. The option to ‘pay as you go' is a development of
that trend which we're looking forward to introducing on selected
routes very soon.”
Last week, the Government launched a consultation on a landmark
bill to rewire Britain's railways, including committing to
further overhaul of ticketing and setting up a powerful passenger
watchdog to give passengers a voice and hold train operators to
account.
