Online Rail Ticketing set for Shake-Up

A new rail ticketing website – www.MyTrainTicket.co.uk – has been launched today promising a shake-up in the market for rail tickets sold online, currently dominated by thetrainline.com.

MyTrainTicket-homepage

From today passengers booking their tickets online with MyTrainTicket.co.uk can collect one Airmile for every £10 they spend on train tickets.

MyTrainTicket.co.uk offers rail passengers a significantly-improved online booking experience. It enables passengers to quickly find the right balance between price, ticket flexibility, journey time and on-train facilities such as WiFi and catering. While price will always be important, passengers place a great deal of importance on these aspects of the journey too – something that is often ignored by other online retailers.

MyTrainTicket.co.uk simplifies the ticket buying experience with ‘one-click’ access to the best fares by price as well as by route, showing all available Advance, Off Peak and Anytime fares on one page. And, to remove a particular passenger irritation, the website shows clearly where two singles are cheaper than a return. Other MyTrainTicket.co.uk innovations include the ability to add a Plusbus ticket – giving unlimited bus and tram travel within the urban area of your destination – for over 275 towns and cities across the country. Business and leisure passengers can now reduce their carbon footprint further, and save money, by not having to jump in a taxi for the ‘final mile’.

Over the next few months the website will be further enhanced with additional information on facilities at train stations which will be particularly useful for passengers with specific needs, such as the elderly and those with disabilities.

Robin Wells, Executive Chairman, said “We are excited about the challenge of developing the rail ticketing market and encouraging more people to book train tickets online. In a near-monopoly marketplace choice is limited and MyTrainTicket.co.uk offers a new opportunity for people to book train tickets online and enjoy a better customer experience. Passengers appreciate the value of competition and we believe our innovative partnership with Airmiles will encourage more people to book online and to travel by train, helping to reduce traffic on the roads.

“Our vision is to transform the online rail ticketing market using our market-leading experience in delivering mobile and print at home tickets, which use barcode technology. The rail ticket market is worth an estimated £6 billion, yet currently less than 15% of rail tickets are purchased online; there is huge potential to replicate the transformation achieved in online ticketing for airlines, where more than 50% of tickets are purchased online. To help drive this transformation and to grow the market further we have significantly improved the quality of the online booking experience and invested in the latest technology. Our website is set up to accommodate a national roll-out of mobile, self print and Smartcard tickets as they are made available on routes by train operators.”

Airmiles Director, Andrea Burchett said: “We know that our Airmiles members love to travel and use trains on a regular basis. This new partnership with MyTrainTicket.co.uk represents a great opportunity for our members to collect Airmiles as they book their train travel to use on future travel and leisure rewards that we offer.”

Rail travellers collecting Airmiles on their rail ticket purchases can also collect Airmiles using a Lloyds TSB Airmiles Duo Credit Card account; through shopping at Tesco and exchanging Clubcard vouchers; purchasing fuel at Shell and opting into Airmiles; and from 200 popular online brands when accessed via airmiles.co.uk eStore – including johnlewis.com, Debenhams.com, Apple store and eBay.co.uk. Airmiles can be used for free flights that include all airline taxes, fees and surcharges, Eurostar journeys, hotel accommodation, tour operator holidays, car hire, and special days out including Legoland, Alton Towers and English Heritage annual passes.

Mr Wells added: “Passengers buying rail tickets in advance through MyTrainTicket.co.uk can save up to 80% compared to buying at the station on the day of travel. Our significantly improved booking experience is better than anything which already exists and our positive dialogue with the Train Operating Companies suggests the future looks bright for some major technological advances in online ticketing.”

For further information, please visit www.MyTrainTicket.co.uk