Tap-in, tap-out rail ticket trial to streamline fares using GPS tracking

"Trials of digital rail tickets based on GPS tracking will begin on Monday as part of the government's plan to improve the rail network's complex fare system. Passengers will check in for travel on their phones with an app and have their journey tracked using satellite location technology. The app will automatically charge them the best fare at the end of the day's travel and provide a barcode when needed for ticket inspections or to pass through ticket barriers."

"The Department for Transport (DfT) said the technology, if it proves successful, would replace the need for paper tickets and mobile tickets using QR codes, which have to be bought before travel. Passengers will be able to travel without planning or booking journeys in advance. The technology, which has previously been tested in Switzerland, Denmark and Scotland, is being piloted in England first on East Midlands Railway services between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham."

"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."

Trials of GPS-based digital rail tickets will begin in the East Midlands, allowing passengers to check in via an app and have journeys tracked by satellite location technology. The app will automatically charge the lowest applicable fare at the end of each day's travel and generate a barcode for ticket inspections or barrier access. The system aims to remove the need for paper tickets and pre-purchased QR-coded mobile tickets, enabling travel without advance planning. The pilot will run on East Midlands Railway services between Leicester, Derby and Nottingham and will expand to Northern Trains in Yorkshire later in the month, with up to 4,000 participants. The Department for Transport frames the initiative as a passenger-experience and cost-saving modernization of fares and ticketing.

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