Ticketless train travel using GPS to be trialled across English cities

East Midlands Railway (EMR) is to trial ticketless train travel that uses location tracking to calculate and charge passengers the lowest overall fare at the end of the day, the Department for Transport said.

The trial, which begins on Monday, will involve up to 1,000 people travelling on services through Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and the stations between them. The app uses global positioning system (GPS) data from users' mobile phones to record journeys and promises to automatically charge participants “the best fare at the end of the day.”

The Department for Transport said the system will consider multiple journeys and calculate whether a season ticket would have been cheaper, applying that calculation when finalising charges. The trial is the first time the technology has been used on England's rail network, although similar schemes have been tested in Switzerland, Denmark and Scotland.

CrossCountry services will also be included in the fare calculations, the department added. A separate pilot involving a further 1,000 passengers will run on three services operated by Northern in Yorkshire from the end of September.

Transport ministers and rail operators have framed the pilots as an attempt to modernise ticketing and simplify payments for passengers who make multiple journeys during a day. Supporters say location-based ticketing could reduce the need for physical tickets and streamline fare enforcement by calculating the most economical outcome for travellers automatically.

The technology requires users to install an app that records journeys via GPS. The Department for Transport and participating operators have said the trial will determine technical performance, fare accuracy and customer experience before any wider roll-out is considered.

Trials in other countries and parts of the UK have informed the designs being tested in England, with authorities citing those programmes when announcing the pilots. Officials said learnings from the EMR and Northern trials will feed into future decisions about whether to expand the approach across the broader rail network.

The Department for Transport did not set a firm timetable for a national rollout and said the pilots would be evaluated on technical reliability and passenger feedback. The outcome of the trials is expected to inform how and whether location-based ticketing could be integrated with existing fare structures and inspection regimes on Britain’s railways.