UK: The Department for Transport has announced that the future Great British Railways will sell tickets online, while retaining a ‘thriving’ private sector market where third party ticket retailers can compete in an ‘open and fair’ manner.
Plans to create a centralised GBR online ticket retailer were outlined in the Conservative government’s May 2021 White Paper on rail reform. A change of plan came in December 2023, when DfT said train operators would to continue to sell tickets online and its focus would now be on lowering the barriers to entry for independent retailers.
Under the Labour government’s latest plan announced by DfT on January 22, GBR will bring together individual train operators’ ticket websites, while the private sector will ’continue to play a key role in driving growth through innovation and investment and encouraging more people to choose rail’.
More detailed plans are to be developed with the industry and private sector and incorporated into the planned rail reform bill.
Chair of the Independent Rail Retailers association Anthony Smith welcomed this clarification of the government’s plans, which he said ‘are expected to come into being in a number of years’ time’.
He said ’open and fair competition will help to drive innovation and reduce costs, and we look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the Department for Transport and the rail industry to make buying a ticket simpler, easier and better value’.
Mark Plowright of Virgin Trains ticketing said ‘there’s still much more work to be done to simplify rail tickets and make train travel less confusing for passengers’.
VTT has been campaigning for all retailers to have access to the full range of ticketing products and services, and Plowright said ’consumers should be able to make informed decisions about the best ticket for them and all ticket retailers should have access to the same deals and offers to enable this’.
