Great Western Railway (GWR) is to launch a smartcard for the Severn Beach Line as part of a pilot which could see combined rail and bus travel in a single ticket offered across Bristol.
The trial will initially allow passengers to add weekly, monthly and annual season rail tickets to an electronic card. It is being run in partnership with Bristol City Council and if successful could form part of a wider, integrated scheme, including MetroWest, and local bus services.
Bristol City Council Councillor, Mark Bradshaw, commented: “Piloting the smartcard on the Severn Beach Line and Temple Meads is a big step forward for Bristol.
“It will also help us move towards comprehensive and convenient smart-ticketing across the bus network; local rail network and on Metrobus.”
While carrying the same branding as the First Bristol, Bath and West bus touch smartcard, bus tickets will not initially be available to be added to the GWR touch card.
It is anticipated that the pilot will begin in May and conclude in September.
Later phases will allow a combined rail and bus ticket to be added to GWR touch smartcard, followed by any suitable smartcard, including First Bristol, Bath and West bus touch or the Travelwest smartcards.
Funded entirely by GWR and FirstGroup, if the pilot is successful, the company expects to expand the technology to all the customers in Bristol.
