A pay-as-you-go smartcard has been launched for train travel across the Bristol area. GWR launched the scheme yesterday (August 31) and it said it will offer "effortless travel".
GWR said that travellers will be able to "simply tap in and out of stations across the region" and they will automatically calculate the best fare. Smartcards will also allow travellers to keep all tickets and payments in one place, as well as going completely paperless.
The smartcard will be valid on GWR, CrossCountry and Transport for Wales rail services in the pay-as-you-go area which goes as far as Chippenham, Cheltenham Spa, Weston-Super-Mare and Severn Beach. GWR said: "Adding the pay as you go feature to your GWR touch smartcard takes away the need to buy a train ticket before you jump on a train in the pay-as-you-go travel area.
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"You need to just tap in and tap out on yellow smartcard readers on the ticket gates or platform validators for the journeys you make and at the end of the day you’ll be charged the best walk-up fare. You must always tap in at the start and tap out at the end of your journey so we can charge you the right fare.
"You can break your journey, but please remember to tap out and tap back in again when you resume your journey. If you do not tap in or out, this will generate an incomplete journey which we will notify you of by email.
"If you don't then complete your journey by confirming in your online account, we will charge a £25 incomplete journey charge. You can self-complete 3 journeys online in a 28-day period."
Travellers will also be notified if their journey was delayed and whether they are eligible to claim "Delay Repay", among other features. You can find out more on GWR's website here.
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