The £10m scheme was finally unveiled in August after a long wait
The new gates at Moorfields (David Humphreys)
A major upgrade has been completed at one of Liverpool’s busiest railway stations as the roll out of tap and go technology continues. After years of waiting, a trial began earlier this summer across the Liverpool City Region for 50 people to test out a tap and go system that has long been in place in the capital and major cities around the world.
After successfully trialing the experimental phase, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram confirmed in August that at long last passengers will now be able to tap in and tap out on train journeys using a Metro card. The scheme removes the need to queue for tickets and guarantees the lowest fare on all journeys. Linking a bank account to a MetroCard takes just a few minutes.
It is the first phase of a staggered roll out of the project that will eventually lead to passengers being able to link their bank accounts to the network. As part of the preparation and continuing development of the MetroCard scheme, new gates have been installed at Moorfields station to get passengers through quicker and easier.
Trials to allow passengers to tap and go on the Merseyrail with smartphones and bank cards could begin as early as later this year.
The scheme was originally approved in January 2020 by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) as part of the Metro Mayor’s desire to create a London-style transport network.
The new gates at Moorfields (David Humphreys)
Passengers will need to tap in at the beginning and end of their journey to ensure a lowest price fare promise – capped daily and weekly through the smart system.
They will also still be able to buy season tickets, as well as daily and return tickets from rail stations and online via the Metro Portal. There had been hopes the project would have gone live last Autumn.
Mr Rotheram explained when we may be able to replicate systems akin to the London transport network. He said: “We’ll have the next phase of the trial at the end of this year so then we’ll go for the full smart ticketing.
“What we wanted to do is do it in two phases to embed what we’ve currently got and then you’re going to have, not just a small pilot trial but have an enormous amount of people who use it, and we have to educate people.”
The new gates at Moorfields (David Humphreys)
The new gates have been put in place over the last weekend.
More than 6,000 people signed up for the new in its first month. A total of 53,000 journeys have been paid for under the improved scheme which has cost around £10m to implement.