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Automated ticketing on trains?
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
SBB already have something like that using mobile phones, it uses wifi and GPS to work out what you did to charge you. But given how "zero tolerance" they are with their penalty fares I would be wary!
Transdev Keighley were also trialling something similar on their 662 Keighley-Bradford service a bit back, where passengers used a mobile app to track when they got on & off. In theory it could work well with using a local WiFi network at a station to activate the start & end of journeys, just basically a wireless version of tapping an Oyster card in & out.
Any particular reasons why some sort of system like this wouldn't work?
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
As I mentioned SBB have implemented one. More info:
https://www.sbb.ch/en/timetable/mobile-apps/sbb-mobile-preview/easyride.html
DelW
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A PAYG smartcard is an easier and more reliable way of tracking where passengers get on and off, but the railway industry has yet to implement such a system, or indeed the fare structure to go with it, anywhere outside the London commuter area, despite it having been on the cards
for years now.
MisterT
Member
NS (Dutch Railways) also did a trial with GPS/location based ticketing.
An Aztec-code was automatically generated as soon as the traveller entered the station (necessary to open the barriers, and for the train guard to be able to check the ticket), and the passenger was automatically charged after the journey.
I believe that the trials have ended, but I don't know the outcome.
According to some of the trial users, it worked pretty well, and in good cooperation with their existing subscriptions (only the parts that were not covered by their subscription were automatically calculated and charged accordingly).
An Aztec-code was automatically generated as soon as the traveller entered the station (necessary to open the barriers, and for the train guard to be able to check the ticket), and the passenger was automatically charged after the journey.
I believe that the trials have ended, but I don't know the outcome.
According to some of the trial users, it worked pretty well, and in good cooperation with their existing subscriptions (only the parts that were not covered by their subscription were automatically calculated and charged accordingly).
Kite159
Veteran Member
Didn't Chiltern do some trials using Bluetooth on the Marylebone - Oxford services?
A PAYG smartcard is an easier and more reliable way of tracking where passengers get on and off, but the railway industry has yet to implement such a system, or indeed the fare structure to go with it, anywhere outside the London commuter area, despite it having been on the cards
To be honest it might actually more expensive to install touch pads for smartcards than having a local WiFi network. But the principles are more or less the same, the system logs the start & end of journey and charges accordingly.
DelW
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Stations round my way (SWR) have had card readers for (from memory) at least ten years, though I've rarely seen them used in that time. Allegedly PAYG is due this autumn, but I'm not holding my breath.
Start at the beginning then listing what the holes are and why this wont work because it seems a great idea to me
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
One national scheme would have been better.
Since the TOCs find it difficult to keep seat reservation screens, wifi, toilets etc in working order on trains I'm not confident that charging fares via my phone (which is often switched off) is going to work.
Well then it isn't for you if your phone is off -mines always on and always connected
It's sort of national.
Called ITSO.
Different companies have different branded cards. All should be able to read and "clip" all tickets though.
It would have been better coming from "National Rail" (under the Rail Delivery Group) guise though, as you say, to make it a national scheme.
Well what about individuals wearing hoods or sunglasses. What about individuals who don't like using their smartphone as a payment method. There are numerous other holes in the idea.
We already have this with the Oyster/Contactless PAYG system in the London area.
It's more practicable to have the readers located at stations, rather than on trains, though.
You can only really track a card/device that a person has chosen to allow to be read; you cannot track the people themselves, if that is what you are suggesting.
What problem is it you are trying to solve, that hasn't already been solved by the existing PAYG system?
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