Passengers across the Southeast from Shepperton to Shoeburyness will benefit from simpler, more flexible and better-value train travel as the next 53 stations are set to introduce exit fares. release later this year has been confirmed.

Thanks to a £20 million grant from the government, using a bank card or smart device to access while traveling will be made available to tens of thousands of passengers across the Southeast. Customers will no longer have to worry about planning ahead to get the best price or fumbling around on their phones and wallets to find the right ticket – instead, they can use their bank card or smart device. Just tap your reader to know they’re automatically guaranteed the best price available on the day of travel.

Pay As You Go is already available at more than 350 stations across London and the South East stretching from Reading and Gatwick Airports all the way to Shenfield and Welwyn Garden City. Announced today (July 4, 2023), in partnership with Transport for London (TfL), C2CSouth East, South West, North West London and Chiltern Railway, will see the total number of stations in the UK rise to more than 400 by the end of the year.

This follows the Transport Secretary’s pledge in Mr. George Bradshaw’s speech to reform and overhaul fares and ticketing on British rail lines, making them simple and flexible. more active throughout the network. In the past few months alone, the government has begun these reforms, such as unveiling the headquarters of Great British Railways (GBR) and pricing an extended hop over all LNERnetwork’s.

By encouraging more people to use our rail through simpler and more convenient ticketing, the government will not only help bring our railways into the 21st Century, but also enable more people to travel more to work and play, thereby helping to make our economy a priority.

Railways Minister Huw Merriman said:

One of the best ways to attract more people to our rail is to make travel as simple, flexible and convenient as possible and the government’s rail reform program is a key priority. that.

By removing the stress of finding the best deal in advance or having the right tickets ready at the barriers, the expansion of tap-in tap-out ticketing is the next step in rail reform. Ours and we’re working towards Pay As You Go being rolled out beyond the Southeast across the Midlands and up North.

Pay As You Go is widely used throughout London and surrounding areas with TfL data shows that more than 75% of all Pay on Metro and rail journeys are typically made with a contactless payment card or mobile device, compared with 25% in 2016.

Following this increase in popularity, the department is continuing its work with GBR transition team to expand Pay as You Go in the Midlands and North, as part of the Trailblazer transfer agreement announced earlier this year with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

The Transport Authority for Greater Manchester last week announced more details on a pilot plan to be agreed by the end of the year, subject to eventual government agreement and funding, for the contactless payments system. Manchester’s first exposure on the rail network.

Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at TfL speak:

The popularity of convenient travel through the Pay As You Go system has seen it expand and become increasingly popular across London and surrounding areas in recent years.

We are delighted to offer this expansion of Pay As You Go contactless to more than 53 other stations across the Southeast to the Ministry of Transport, helping to share our experience in ticketing with smart cards. with the entire railway industry. This will give people traveling by rail outside of London more flexibility and convenience, while providing broader support. UK economic recovery through easier access to rail travel.

Jacqueline Starr, CEO of Rail Delivery Group, said:

We have long called for fares to be made easier and more flexible for our customers – our extensive fare consultation in partnership with independent passenger watchdog Transport Focus in 2016. 2019 clearly demonstrated the need to modernize rail fares.

The introduction of contactless payments, Pay As You Go is an important step in the right direction. It eliminates the need to queue at ticket machines or pre-book paper tickets, allowing passengers to simply touch a card or contactless device to pay for their journey. We believe that the adoption of contactless technology will enhance the overall passenger experience and contribute to a more seamless journey across our network.

Pay As You Go tickets will be available at all of these terminals by the end of December 2023 with individual openings depending on the amount of technology available at the terminals. More information on when each station will introduce this will be available at each station.

Full list of stations that will have Pay As You Go technology later this year:

• Apsley
• Ashford (Surrey)
• Basildon
• sticks & balls
• Beacon
• dump truck
• Berkhamsted
• Bletchley
• wooden bricks
• chalk well
• Cheddington
• date
• Denham
• Denham Golf Club
• Blue Dunton
• East Tilbury
• I do not know
• Eynsford
• gaston
• Gerrard cross
• Hemel Hempstead
• Wycombe is tall
• How is the wood?
• Kempton Park
• King Langley
• Laindon
• Leigh-on-Sea
• Leighton’s buzzard
• Oxford
• Park Street
• Lace
• Seer Green & Jordans
• Seven oak trees
• Shepperton
• shoe burial
• Coast (Kent)
• South Central
• South East
• Monastery of St Albans
• dirty
• Stanford le Hope
• Sunbury
• Sunnymeads
• Thorpe Bay
• The town of Tilbury
• Tring
• Upper Halliford
• Virginia
• Watford North
• West Horndon
• Westcliff
• Windsor & Eton Riverside
• Wraysbury