RAIL passengers will save around a billion pounds in fares thanks to a new price-guarantee app, according to Virgin Trains.
The new technology is due to go live by the end of this year, and Virgin said it will ‘cut through confusing and outdated ticketing systems to ensure that customers are automatically given the best ticket for their journey at the tap of a button’.
Virgin is planning to make the app available for all National Rail journeys, and not merely on its own routes.
The app will also include a ‘seamless split-ticketing function, automatically calculating if a cheaper combination of fares for one journey is available’.
The best fare will be calculated retrospectively.
Virgin Trains managing director Phil Whittingham said: ‘The changes we’ve announced, which align with the Rail Delivery Group’s Fares Reform agenda, could save rail passengers around a billion pounds a year, and ensure Virgin Trains continues to deliver for customers whatever happens with the West Coast franchise.’
The revenue currently earned from ticket sales is around £11 billion a year.