A trial allowing rail passengers in Yorkshire to travel without buying a ticket in advance has been extended, with the cap on participant numbers lifted until September 2027. The Digital Pay As You Go scheme, first launched in 2025 for 2,000 passengers on Northern services, uses a smartphone app to track journeys via GPS and automatically charges the cheapest available fare, removing the need to check in, check out or purchase tickets beforehand. Its expansion reflects a wider push by the Department for Transport to simplify rail fares, though it has drawn a mixed response from transport experts.

The scheme currently operates on two Northern routes, between Leeds and Harrogate and between Doncaster and Sheffield, where the Department for Transport says around 30,000 journeys have already used the system; a similar trial has also begun in the East Midlands, between Leicester and Nottingham via Derby. Any passenger on the participating routes can now join by downloading the app and linking a bank card, using a QR code for inspections and barriers, and the scheme is expected to expand to more than 100 additional stations by 2027. While Campaign for Better Transport welcomed the move as a step towards simpler ticketing, rail expert Sim Harris of Railnews warned it could create a divide between smartphone users and those without the technology, and questioned its reliability if a phone's battery runs out mid-journey.