From today, Monday, 1st September, passengers travelling on East Midlands Railway trains between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham can participate in a trial where Global Positioning System (GPS) technology will be used to calculate their cheapest fare.
Passengers taking part in the trial will need to check in and out on an app to enable the best fare for their journey to be calculated.
From the end of this month, the trial will extend to passengers using Northern Trains in Yorkshire.
By checking in and out on the app, GPS will track passengers’ journeys and be used to automatically charge passengers the best fare at the end of the day.
A unique bar code, which will pop up in the app., can be used to be scanned during ticket inspections and when passengers pass through ticket barriers.
When using the GPS technology, there is no need to purchase tickets online or in the app ahead before passengers start their journey, as there is no longer the need for paper tickets or mobile tickets using QR codes. In practice, the app tracks passengers’ journeys and determines which trains they took and when they left the rail network.
The trials will run for nine months, with up 10 1,000 passengers taking part over four routes. The initial trial covers East Midlands Railway trains between Leicester, Derby, and Nottingham, while subsequent trials will cover Northern trains between Harrogate and Leeds, Sheffield and Doncaster, and Sheffield and Barnsley.
Calculating fares through GPS technology is not new, as it has already been widely tested in Switzerland and Denmark. It has also been tested in Scotland, but this is the first time on England’s rail network.
“The railway ticketing system is far too complicated and long overdue 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. 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. Through our Plan for Change, we’re delivering growth in every corner of the country, and passengers across the Midlands and North will see real change in buying their train travel from today.”
Rail Minister, Lord Peter Hendy
Responses
So how does anyone know how much they are likely to be charged? All that sort of information will still need to be available to avoid someone being automatically charged an amount that they can’t afford.
How will this work with a senior rail card an other discount cards?