RAIL passengers in England can travel on trains ticketless for the first time as part of a new trial that tracks the location of passengers instead.
The location-tracking digital ticketing trial starts on the East Midlands Railway between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham from today (September 1).
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Instead of a physical or pre-purchased digital ticket, passengers can use an app to check in and out of rail journeys as they need.
GPS technology is used to track trips and automatically charge people at the end of the day with the “best-value fare”.
Whenever passengers pass through barriers or have a ticket inspection, the app will instantly generate a unique bar code that can be scanned.
Only 4,000 people can sign up to try the new app first, called Digital Pay As You Go, by registering on East Midlands Railway’s website.
The rail operator says it will find “the best, on the day fare, for your journey”.
And if you do the same journey several times during the week you won’t pay more than the cost of a seven day season ticket.
“The railway ticketing system is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century,” said Rail minister Lord Peter Hendy.
“Through these trials we’re doing just that, and making buying tickets more convenient, more accessible and more flexible.
“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.”
Oli Cox, head of commercial strategy and business planning at East Midlands Railway, said “more than 500 people” had already registered an interest in taking part in the trial.
More tests are expected to take place in Yorkshire from the end of September, with Northern Rail services between Harrogate, Leeds, Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley.
The trials are set to run for nine months as part of Government plans to overhaul rail services.
Most rail services are being re-nationalised, with the aim of a new Great British Railways body to manage the rail network.
How to save money on your train ticket
HERE are some top tips to help you save cash on rail fares.
Split tickets
If you’re taking a lengthy train journey then you could save hundreds of pounds by splitting your tickets.
You won’t need to change trains and National Rail lets you split your ticket as long as the train calls at the station you buy the tickets for.
One site that works this out for you is Splitticketing.co.uk.
Buy a season ticket
Regular travellers should be able to save by purchasing either a seven day, monthly or annual season ticket, which will allow them to make the journey an unlimited number of times as long as it’s valid.
If you’re making the same journey on three or more days a week, then a seven-day season ticket is likely to save you money, compared to buying a new one every day.
You can check to see if a season ticket will save you money on your trip with National Rail’s season ticket calculator.
Consider Carnet tickets for London travel
If you often travel back and forth to London on the train but you don’t go regularly enough to buy season ticket, you might save with a Carnet ticket.
They offer a 10% discount on plenty of routes.
Tickets are valid for three months and you can buy books of peak (anytime) or off-peak tickets.
Book at least 12 weeks in advance
Network Rail releases its timetable 12 weeks in advance, so ticket firms usually make their fares available at this time.
Just like plane tickets, the earlier you book the lower the price you’ll pay for your seat.
You can sign up to the Trainline’s ticket alert service and it will tell you when cheap advance tickets go on sale for a particular journey.
Also, the National Rail’s future travel chart shows the furthest advance date that you can buy tickets.
Save money with a Railcard
If you’re a regular traveller then a railcard should shave a third off the price of your ticket.
Just make sure you’ll make more in savings over a year than the price of the Railcard. See Railcard.co.uk for more information.
Image credit: Alamy
