More eTickets help rail passengers socially distance

Rail passengers will be able to socially distance more easily, helping prevent the spread of Covid-19, by using smartphone eTickets at 14 more stations on the Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink network.

Parent company Govia Thameslink Railway this month completes a two-year project which allows passengers to scan eTickets at 60 stations bought via their OnTrack apps or websites and displayed on their smartphones or printed out at home.

Barcode readers have just been added to 11 more stations with a final three to follow by the end of the month: Hove, Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Merstham, Radlett, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Hertford North; to be followed by Polegate, Bexhill and Epsom (see editor’s notes for a full station list).

Barcode eTicket sales have increased in the UK from 25% of UK rail ticket revenues pre-Covid to 33% now as passengers realise the benefits of non-contact travel. eTickets can help passengers travel with confidence and are ideal for advanced singles, peak and off-peak singles, and peak and off-peak day return tickets.

Season ticket holders looking for similar Covid-safe benefits are urged to use the free Key smartcard, which is now available over the ticket office counters and not just by ordering it online, a process taking up to five days.

Southern and Gatwick Express Customer Services Director Chris Fowler said: “These eTickets and the Key smartcard are simple to use and save our customers time queuing for tickets at the station. They also minimise contact, helping everyone to socially distance and travel in confidence.”

Robert Nisbet, Director of Nations and Regions for the Rail Delivery Group said: “Investment in smart ticketing across the network has made train travel quicker and easier as people can get their ticket straight to their phone without stopping at ticket offices or ticket machines.

“To make the most of smart tickets rail companies now want to work with government to rewrite outdated rail fares regulations to enable new types of ticket that better reflect the way people will work and travel in future.”

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Editor’s notes

The apps and websites will offer passengers an e-ticket if they are available on the route they want to travel. These are: Great Northern OnTrack app, Thameslink OnTrack app, Southern On Track app Gatwick Express Ontrack app and online at greatnorthernrail.com, thameslinkrailway.com, southernrailway.com or gatwickexpress.com.

E-tickets are available for advanced singles, peak and off-peak single tickets and peak and off-peak day returns, between any stations with a barcode reader on the ticket gates.

GTR stations with barcode readers where passengers can use e-tickets are as follows:

• 15 major stations: Brighton, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, London Bridge, London Victoria, London Blackfriars, City Thameslink, St Pancras International, London Kings Cross, Kings Lynn, Stevenage, Bedford, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans;
• 12 stations on the south coast - Chichester, Bognor Regis, Barnham, Littlehampton, Angmering, Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham-by-Sea, Portslade, Eastbourne, Lewes and Falmer;
• 19 others recent additions - Hassocks, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath, Three Bridges, Horsham, Crawley, Dorking, Leatherhead, Ashtead, East Grinstead, Oxted, Huntingdon, St Neots, Sandy, Royston, Letchworth, Hitchin, Leagrave and Flitwick;
• and the latest 14 added this month: Horley, Redhill, Reigate, Merstham, Hertford North, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Potters Bar, Harpenden, Radlett, Hove, Polegate, Bexhill and Epsom

These improvements are part of the ongoing national Barcode Programme that the Rail Delivery Group has been delivering with train operators, enabling passengers to use barcode eTickets on more journeys across Britain.

The Key smartcard is ideal for commuters with season tickets. Smartcards are now increasingly available from our ticket offices where customers can now register for a new smartcard and purchase smart tickets. Alternatively, passengers can buy smart tickets online and simply tap their smartphone to the smartcard to load it up. Smartcards have no magnetic strip to fail and they can be easily cancelled and replaced if lost. Passengers also benefit from automatic delay-repay compensation when travelling with a Key Smartcard and it can be used for pay-as-you-go journeys via keyGo.

Travel with confidence during the pandemic

Passengers can be reassured by measures in place:

• Our modern trains have air conditioning which replaces the fresh air in each carriage every 6-9 minutes
• Alerts will show busy trains in online journey planners such as National Rail Enquiries, where you can also subscribe to journey alerts and see information on busier services
• New ‘live maps’ service, which is available from the top right-hand side of each train service’s websites (Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern), shows the service status of each route
• Weekly Covid safety checks are carried out across trains and stations, looking at cleaning, passenger information, social distancing and the wearing of face coverings
• GTR sanitises all 2,700 of its train carriages every night and uses a long-lasting viricide across stations and trains which kills coronavirus for weeks at a time
• Independent laboratory results show that Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern trains are testing negative for Covid-19
• Over 1,000 touch-free hand sanitisers have been installed at stations since the start of the pandemic