A fifth of Virgin Trains customers have switched to mobile digital tickets after their launch on the West Coast route last summer. More than 1.5 million digital tickets have been sold in the last three months alone. Between March and May, 18% of Virgin’s ticket sales were for digital tickets, a dramatic increase on a year earlier when this represented only one in 20 sales.
Virgin Trains became the first operator to sell digital across all its routes in August last year. These utilise an industry-standard barcode which can be downloaded onto smartphones, Apple Wallets, the Virgin Trains app or printed at home. Their rapid take-up is a positive boost to Government and industry ambitions to roll out digital ticketing across the rail network.
“Digital ticketing is the technology of the future and we’ve seen how quickly customers switch when given the choice. We’re confident that we’ve established the right platform for the industry and are working with Rail Delivery Group and Government to help roll this out to other parts of the rail network,” John Sullivan, Virgin Trains’ Chief Information Officer on the West Coast route, said .
Virgin Trains is now working with the RDG part of its Barcode Enablement Programme to ensure that other parts of the network are upgraded to allow seamless travel across the country with digital tickets.
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