Doncaster passengers contribute to record-breaking year of rail travel as they swip right for mobile pay-as-you-go
Rail passengers in South Yorkshire have contributed to a record-breaking year for travel using mobile pay-as-you-go technology, Swiss digital ticketing tech company FAIRTIQ has revealed.
Mobile pay-as-you-go (mPAYG), also known as digital pay-as-you-go (dPAYG), allows passengers to travel using an app on their mobile phone instead of buying paper tickets or using smartcards.
Last November, FAIRTIQ launched on the Sheffield-Rotherham-Doncaster rail line in partnership with Northern Trains as part of the Department for Transport’s trial of digital pay-as-you-go technology in the UK.
Since launch, passengers have made thousands of miles of journeys successfully using the technology, with this new video explaining how the technology works for Yorkshire users.
The technology is now used in a dozen countries across Europe, and FAIRTIQ reports in 2025:
131m journeys made, an increase of 68% on total journeys in 2024
Almost 1.1bn miles travelled in total using FAIRTIQ technology – the equivalent of travelling from Earth to the sun and back six times
A new record monthly high of 1.7m people across Europe used the technology to travel in October
Using FAIRTIQ is incredibly simple for passengers: just swipe once to start a journey, then swipe again to end it. The FAIRTIQ app on their phone identifies the journey they have made, and calculates the correct fare. This means there is no need to queue to buy tickets, or to tap in or out on a card reader.
Steve Broadley, UK Lead at FAIRTIQ, said: “These are incredibly exciting times as South Yorkshire passengers are among the first in the country to get the benefits of mobile pay-as-you-go travel. 2025 broke all records for the technology, but this is still just the start of a journey.
“We’re forecasting new opportunities for passengers in Yorkshire and other areas of the country, as more people discover the ease of paying for their travel with just one swipe.”
Almost 340m journeys have been made on FAIRTIQ in total and the technology is operational in a dozen countries, including national systems in Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein.
In Denmark for example, whose population is similar in size to Yorkshire, within just 18 months FAIRTIQ’s 5*-rated app is now used for more than half of all public transport journeys in the country across all modes (Train, Tram, Bus and Subway).