New contactless rules mean some rail users pay more

Train fares on some services have soared following the expansion of contactless payment systems, prompting concerns that passengers could be priced off the railways.

- NEIL LANCEFIELD

Rebecca Paul, the Conservative MP for Reigate, said that the new rules risk “pricing passengers out of rail altogether”. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the train operator, said that many passengers would save money and insisted the process was not designed to increase fare revenue.

Contactless ticketing, which enables people to pay by tapping a bank card or device on readers, avoiding manual ticket purchases, was introduced to 30 more stations in southeast England on 14 December as part of the Department for Transport’s Project Oval.

The price increases are a direct result of changes to paper ticketing time restrictions, which have been aligned with Transport for London’s contactless structure. Consequently, services that could previously be used with an off-peak ticket now require a more expensive peak ticket.

The first weekday London-bound Southern service from Reigate, Surrey, that can be boarded with an off-peak day travelcard ticket now departs at 9.28am, compared with 8.58am previously. But when the 8.58am train calls at Redhill just five minutes later, passengers are still able to board it with an off-peak ticket.

A day travelcard that can be used at any time from the stations costs £37.10, whereas an off-peak version is £20.60.

One member of the Reigate, Redhill and District Rail Users’ Association (RRDRUA) described the situation as “ridiculous” and said he will cycle to Redhill to save money. There are also new restrictions on travel between 4pm and 7pm.