A ‘PAY as you go’ scheme will be piloted at nine train stations in Tameside from next year.
The stations in question are Stalybridge, Newton for Hyde, Hattersley, Guide Bridge, Godley, Flowery Field, Fairfield, Broadbottom and Ashton-under-Lyne.
They will be among 17 in and around Greater Manchester that will be part of the initiative – the others are Glossop, Hadfield, Dinting, Ardwick, Ashburys, Gorton, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria.
Through the installation of barcoded ticketing technology, passengers using those stations will be able to use their bank cards or smartphone devices to ‘tap in’ and ‘tap out’ instead of buying a ticket. Rail users will also still be able to buy a traditional ticket if they wish.
But a passenger’s full journey must be between any of the stations named above and not beyond.
A date for when the pilot will begin in 2025 is set to be confirmed later this year.
It has been welcomed by Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, who described it as “good news”.
He added on his Facebook page: “Let’s hope it leads to smoother, better priced journeys.”
Train operators have been working with the Department for Transport, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Great British Railways Transition Team to agree on the pilot routes.
In a joint statement, the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Transport Minister Huw Merriman MP said the pilot “demonstrates progress towards our shared commitment made in the Trailblazer Deeper Devolution Deals announced by the Government in March 2023” which “should give regional authorities a greater say in how the rail network is run”.
They added that the pilots will lead the way for integrated smart ticketing to be rolled out to other stations in the future across the North and Midlands, help to simplify fares and ticketing, and encourage multi-modal trips.
A similar pilot to Greater Manchester will also run separately at 75 train stations across the West Midlands from next year.
Is this part of making stations unmanned? If it is this is a step backwards. Try being on a platform late at night and feeling threaten with no staff to help.
Most of the above stations are already unmanned. I think this is eventually going to lead to being forced not to use cash, all part of the new cashless society agenda being forced on us.
This should not take place. The Tories putting people out of work again. Get them out.
How do we get the discount with a senior railcard
You just tap or scan your railcard as well. This is fantastic news, the system works well on the Metro and will now make rail journeys simpler as well. The ticketing system is archaic and needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history despite the protests of the Luddites.
I think it’s a great idea and a massive step forward. I’d love to see a time in the future where you could just integrate all your journeys into on ticket ie. tram, train and bus. Well done. This is great news.
You can’t buy a train and bus ticket at a machine it’s not available
This will be confusing at Stalybridge as some trains go out of the area and people might not realise or remember which stations it’s valid for..
Works well on the trams but the whole network has it nit just certain stations and the trams don’t go out of greater Manchester
The ticket office at Hattersley train station has just been completely renovated at a cost of around £700k. What was the point if it’s going to be unmanned?