UK: The Department for Transport is seeking suppliers to take part in trials of GPS-based pay-as-you-go ticketing in Yorkshire and the East Midlands later this year,
The successful bidders would work alongside train operators Northern and East Midlands Railways to deliver the government-funded trials, which will use GPS technology to track a passenger’s journey and then charge the best fare. An app will provide a bar code for scanning at barriers and by ticket inspectors.
‘We’ve seen the success that contactless ticketing has on making journeys easier to navigate and attracting more people to our railways’, said Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy on February 26. ‘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.’
Alex Hornby, Commercial and Customer Director at Northern, said ‘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.’
DfT is also working with local authorities in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to further develop local proposals for contactless ticketing schemes.
