UK: Swiss company Fairtiq’s digital pay-as-you-go ticketing technology is to be tested on the Sheffield to Doncaster route. Travellers swipe the Fairtiq app on their phone screen before boarding and when alighting, and the system uses GPS data to determine the journey made and calculate the best available fare, optimised on a daily basis.
If the passenger forgets to swipe out, the app sends a notification or automatically ends the journey.
The nine-month trial involves the Rail Delivery Group and Northern Trains, supported by TransPennine Express and CrossCountry. The trial is open to up to 1 000 people, who can apply to take part through Northern’s website.
The trial will look at whether the technology could simplify ticketing, enhance the passenger experience and encourage more people to use public transport.
‘By removing complexity from ticketing, we can make it easier and more appealing for people to take the train – benefiting passengers, operators and the environment’, said Steve Broadley, UK Market Lead at Fairtiq.
Wider deployment ambitions
If successful, the technology could be considered for wider deployment across trains, buses, trams and ferries. As part of efforts to encourage future adoption in the UK, Fairtiq has developed a simulated ticketing app which it is offering to transport company leaders who would like to try it out on their own travels without actually buying a ticket.
Fairtiq is not currently an approved ticketing platform in the UK, as the existing industry regulations did not envisage the technology that it uses. However it was intially developed for the highly regulated Swiss and German markets, and now operates in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Sweden and Switzerland, with more than 1 million active monthly users. It provides regional coverage in 25 areas and national coverage in four countries, and Swiss Federal Railways has integrated the technology into its EasyRide app.
‘Fairtiq began in Switzerland, where we created a solution that lets passengers travel seamlessly across trains, buses, trams, ferries and even cable cars with a single swipe’, said the company’s founder and co-CEO Gian-Mattia Schucan. ‘Passengers value the peace of mind, [with] no risk of buying the wrong ticket and always getting the best available fare.’
