Trainline has launched its new sTicket product that provides passengers with digital barcode season tickets for the first time. Following a successful trial with Govia Thameslink Railway, the sTicket is due to gain full industry accreditation from the Rail Delivery Group later this month (May), paving the way for a full rollout across the entire network.
Announced at RAIL's National Rail Recovery Conference on May 4, the sTicket works by issuing a series of time-limited, single-journey barcodes that regularly refresh from a secure central server.
These barcodes cannot be copied or transferred between devices, thereby avoiding a long-standing concern that high-value barcode season tickets could be targeted to defraud the industry.
For passengers, this will potentially mean a quicker way to buy a season ticket and deliver it to their phone. Trainline says the new product can be fulfilled immediately before travel, with no need to queue to collect the ticket or to carry a separate physical card.
Even though barcode ticketing is currently only available for daily tickets, the independent rail retailer reports that it has proven popular with passengers.
Following the launch of the first mobile barcode tickets in 2011, more than 40% of National Rail revenue is now said to be fulfilled by barcode technology - more than any other fulfilment type, including traditional orange tickets with magnetic stripes.
Meanwhile, more than 90% of Trainline’s own customers select a barcode ticket when given the option.
From a train operating company perspective, deploying sTickets is intended to simplify revenue protection and prevent fraud. Anonymous data gathered from passengers could also help operators to better understand how season ticket holders are travelling in the post-pandemic environment.
Speaking at the NRRC, Trainline’s Vice-President of Industry Relations John Davies argued that innovations such as the sTicket would play a crucial role in helping commuter traffic return to pre-pandemic levels.
Currently standing at less than 60%, its recovery has been sluggish compared with the leisure market, which is now thought to have returned to pre-March 2020 levels.
Once sTickets receive full RDG accreditation, Davies pledged to support train operators to offer the technology through their own retailing platforms, regardless of whether these are supplied by Trainline or by other providers.
“As an industry, we need to work collaboratively to meet the challenge of digitising season tickets, to deliver a richer, higher-quality ticketing experience for commuters and regular travellers and help encourage this key segment to return to rail,” he said.
“Developed as an industry standard, the sTicket has been successfully trialled on selected GTR routes in recent months. Both the technology and the customer proposition are now proven. sTicket is ready for rollout across the national network right now.
“We will be retailing sTicket through our app and website, but this is far from being a Trainline-only product. We have collaborated closely with the RDG in its development and together we want to encourage all operators to accept Seasons issued to sTicket across the whole network.”
Davies concluded:
“Fundamentally, Trainline wants to work in partnership with the industry to ensure that sTicket is a success, because it is in the interests of our customers - and therefore the collective interest of the industry - that we break down the barriers to commuters returning.”
