Unicard News
Product spotlight: Accredited Rail Ticketing
Unicard’s unique solution allows local authorities to raise revenue from rail ticketing
August 3rd 2023 by Unicard

The UK Government’s Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail white paper has recommended that local authorities become more involved in RDG-accredited rail ticketing, and this provides opportunities for creating revenue for local authorities through commissions and for improving connectivity for travellers. Unicard’s software offers a unique solution that can add rail tickets to their existing portals and apps, or create a new Rail TIS (Ticket Issuing System) from scratch.

Our rail ticketing modules allow local authorities to easily add the retailing of RDG-certified rail ticketing into their smart ticketing and Mobility-as-a-Service schemes. Uniquely, our solution allows the local authority to hold the retail licence with RDG and gain the commissions on each ticket sold, which can be a key element of generating revenue. The system also supports the use of Schedule 26 licensing from Train Operating Companies.

The modules can be used to enable:

  • Unicard’s own retail portal and mobile apps
  • Third-party ticket retail portals
  • Ticket Office Machines
  • Ticket Vending Machines
  • Mobile apps, including Mobility-as-a-Service apps

Using our pre-built modules dramatically reduces the time to market for rail ticketing projects. Unicard will also assist with the RDG accreditation process, providing access to our library of certified test evidence to reduce the risk of non-compliance.

Existing customers using our rail modules include Solent Transport (Future Transport Zone) for the Breeze Mobility-as-a-Service app, and Transport for West Midlands for the Swift scheme.

Unicard's heritage in rail ticketing has been established since Rail Delivery Group (RDG) chose Unicard’s fully managed HOPS to support the smart ticketing requirements of Train Operating Companies (TOCs) across the UK back in 2021.

The Unicard HOPS solution – a cloud-hosted, multi-tenanted platform – was the first of its kind in the rail sector. Secure, scalable and supporting multi-modal ticketing across rail and other forms of public transport, our HOPS allows RDG and TOCs to streamline the processing of smart rail tickets, monitor travel patterns and reduce costs.