Rotherham residents are set to benefit from a groundbreaking new way to travel by train thanks to a trial that is being backed by Rotherham Council.
The Council is supporting a trial by the Department of Transport utilising technology from Swiss technology company FAIRTIQ, which means passengers on the Sheffield–Doncaster rail line can enjoy pay-as-you-go travel using just their mobile phone - without having to buy individual tickets.
As part of the trial, 1,000 residents are being invited to sign up and receive £15 free travel credit, making it even easier to experience the future of rail travel.
This trial replaces traditional paper tickets with a simple app-based system. Passengers swipe once at the start of their journey – generating a QR code to be scanned by a conductor or barrier - and swipe again at the end. The app then calculates the best fare, ensuring convenience and cost efficiency for every trip. It's GPS technology includes safeguards to ensure that travellers can't abuse the system by checking out early or late.
Passengers don’t have to worry about forgetting to swipe at the end of the journey either – the app calculates when you’ve stopped travelling.
Councillor Chris Read, Leader of Rotherham Council, is one of the people taking part in the trial. He said, “This trial is an insight into the future of ticketing on public transport. You simply swipe on and swipe off, and the app does all the hard work for you. The technology is already widely used by millions of people in other countries, where it opens the opportunity to cross-ticketing on different routes, across buses, trains, trams, all on one app, working out the cheapest ticket for whatever journey you make. No more worrying about whether you need a day ticket, which operator is running the service, or anything else. I'd encourage anyone who's a regular train user to sign up so we can learn as much as possible from this trial."
The trial covers key stations including Rotherham Central, Meadowhall, and Swinton, and is backed by the Department for Transport and Northern Trains. It is one of four Department for Transport trials taking place across the country.
FAIRTIQ’s technology is already trusted by over 1.6 million travellers every month across Europe, including Denmark, where it accounts for half of all public transport journeys.
Steve Broadley, UK Market Lead for FAIRTIQ, said: “Not only does this make train travel easier, but it also eliminates common bugbears for passengers: no more queuing to buy a ticket, or worrying if your ticket is valid for the train you are on. We urge people who travel regularly on the line to get involved and start benefiting from a really simple travel experience delivered by cutting-edge proven Swiss technology.”
For more information on how to sign up, please visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/pay-as-you-go/sheffield-doncaster
