Train app offers split tickets, but critics call for a fix

A TRAIN firm has announced a splitticketing app to help passengers save money on trips, but the industry body has said that it fails to address the real issue.

Virgin Trains is launching a mobile app that helps passengers take advantage of split ticketing to save money on journeys, claiming it could save users £1billion.

Split ticketing involves buying multiple tickets for separate sections of one journey, with a combined price which is less than the standard fare.

In one extreme case in 2017, a Newcastle United fan bought 56 tickets to cover a return journey for him and his girlfriend to travel to Oxford for an FA Cup match, saving him £30.

The app, which will go live by the end of the year, will also introduce a fare cap similar to London’s Oyster card system.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators and Network Rail, welcomed the move but said “industrywide root-and-branch reform” of the ticket system is needed.

Jac Starr, chief operating officer at the RDG, said: “This move demonstrates that the rail industry is doing all it can to improve fares for passengers within the constraints of outdated regulations but we need to go further.

“The industry’s fares proposals would offer passengers more flexibility to mix and match travel according to their needs. They would drastically reduce overcrowding on some of the busiest long-distance trains and remove the need to buy multiple tickets to get the best deal.”

In February, the RDG recommended a series of measures to simplify the system, including an end to split ticketing. It said its plan would remove the need for the trick because passengers would always be charged the best-value fare.

Britain’s rail ticketing system is underpinned by regulations which are unchanged from the mid-nineties, and have not kept pace with technology or how people work and travel.

Virgin’s new system will also “automatically and retrospectively allow someone who has a peak-time return but who ends up travelling off-peak to pay the lower fare”.

Paul Whittingham, managing director of Virgin Trains, said: “The changes could save UK rail passengers about a billion pounds a year.”