Transport for Wales adds extra “convenience” to ticket purchases

Transport for Wales (TfW) is making selected rail tickets available in convenience stores for customers in the South Wales Metro Area.

The tickets cover local journeys and will be made available from 24 January at 90 locations.

The ambition is to make the tickets more readily available as well as give customers the option to pay cash should their station be unstaffed or use a card-only self-service machine.

It will use SilverRail retailing technology, and TfW will be the first train operating company to partner with Payzone to make the purchasing of rail tickets possible through its instore Payzone devices.

David O’Leary, TfW’s commercial and customer experience director, said: “This is an exciting pilot that gives customers additional choices about how and where their purchase their rail tickets.  This is the very first time in the UK that rail customers will be able to buy their tickets in their local convenience store and it also gives customers the added choice of purchasing with cash, especially if their local station does not have a ticket office or only has a self-service machine that accepts cards only.”

Noel Goulty, head of transport and ticketing at Payzone added: “This is truly a first for rail ticketing, bringing the retailing of rail tickets to the centre of Welsh communities.

“This strategic partnership with SilverRail will deliver a fully accredited system on behalf of Transport for Wales, which is exclusive to Payzone and allows passengers to buy rail tickets, whilst popping into their corner shop for some essentials!

“We are committed to innovating in this space to become the default high street network for cash ticketing. This is a genuinely exciting time for Transport for Wales and we are delighted to be part of the team delivering on their strategy.”

David Pitt, SilverRail’s head of UK, concluded: “We are very excited to deliver this pioneering retail solution alongside Transport for Wales and Payzone. Bringing rail tickets to the high street in this way will ensure nobody is left behind by the digital revolution and will provide convenience and a wider availability of tickets to the travelling public.

We believe it’s very important that rail retailing remains inclusive by allowing all types of travellers – from those who are confident with mobile ticketing to those who are less digitally adept – to be able to book rail journeys using cash or through more modern payment methods.”

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