East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Trains have both introduced sTicket technology across substantial sections of their routes with the support of Trainline
Commuters travelling into London, Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham get the opportunity to buy and fulfil season tickets directly to their mobile phones for the first time
Commuters travelling with East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Trains can now buy app-based barcode season tickets in a major extension of sTickets, the new technology developed for the rail industry by Trainline.
Barcode technology is already popular with customers for buying daily tickets, accounting for more ticket sales by revenue across the rail industry than any other fulfilment type. However season tickets have not been widely available by the same method until now.
To improve access to season tickets and the ease of purchase for customers, Trainline developed sTicket technology on behalf of the industry over the past year to provide a secure solution for barcode tickets. Accredited by RDG in May, sTicket is fulfilled in the form of a series of time-limited barcodes which cannot be copied or transferred between devices.
The new mobile barcode season tickets are available now across most routes for both operators. Each operator can retail mobile barcode season tickets via their own app platforms for any route across the UK that has been enabled for sTicket technology, which also includes sections of the GTR, Northern and TfW routes. The same routes are also available to passengers as mobile barcode season tickets via Trainline’s own app.
Mobile barcode is offered to customers as an addition to existing paper-free options for buying and fulfilling season tickets, such as Smartcards.
Following feedback and demand, our customers now have the ability to purchase their weekly or monthly season tickets and refund or change their journey options within the ticket wallet on the EMR app. We’ve been working with Trainline developing their sTicket technology to ensure a faster, smoother booking experience for all of our customers.
Neil Grabham, Customer Services Director for EMR
We are delighted that passengers travelling on our services can now use app-based barcode season tickets. Rolling out barcode technology for season ticket users offers an efficient and paperless experience for commuters across our network.
Jonny Wiseman, WMT customer experience director
Barcode ticketing has been a huge success story across the industry for daily tickets, and we firmly believe that the same will be true for season tickets. That’s why Trainline invested in developing this new sTicket technology, and we are ready to work with more operators and retailers to help them offer commuters their tickets via a channel that has already proven so popular with customers.
John Davies, Vice-President of Industry Relations at Trainline
ENDS
About East Midlands Railway by Abellio
East Midlands Railway provides over 450 train services per day, including fast Intercity services between South Yorkshire, the East Midlands, and the iconic London St Pancras International as well as regional services linking towns and cities across England
EMR Intercity operates to and from London St Pancras International, providing reliable and frequent services to Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln, Derby and Sheffield and other towns and communities across the East Midlands
EMR Connect is an all-electric service providing frequent commuter style services between London, Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering and Corby
EMR Regional provides local train services to towns and communities across England, including; Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, Peterborough, Ely, Grantham and Norwich
About West Midlands Trains
West Midlands Trains operates both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services.
London Northwestern Railway services operate between Liverpool and Birmingham, and on the West Coast Main Line to and from London Euston.
West Midlands Railway services operate to destinations across the West Midlands via Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.
For more information on these services visit westmidlandsrailway.co.uk or londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk
About Trainline
Trainline is the leading independent rail and coach travel platform selling rail and coach tickets to millions of travellers worldwide. Via our highly rated website and mobile app, people can seamlessly search, book and manage their journeys all in one place. We bring together millions of routes, fares and journey times from more than 270 rail and coach carriers across 45 countries. We offer our customers the best value for their journey and smart, real-time travel information on the go. Our aim is to make rail and coach travel easier and more accessible, encouraging people to make more environmentally sustainable travel choices.