Gatley named as “Smartest” town in the North
- Gatley customers are “Smartest” in region with 99% using Smart season tickets
- Northern is revealed as number one issuer of Smart season tickets
- From today, Smart cards can be used at all Northern ticket machines and northernrailway.co.uk
Think you’re “Smart”? If you live in Gatley then rail operator Northern agrees, following research that found residents there are the Smartest in the North.
Coming top out of more than 150 areas across the North, 99 percent of local commuters at Gatley, Greater Manchester, now choose to put their season ticket on a Smart card instead of the traditional paper version.
The start of the working week is historically the busiest time to renew season tickets. Statistics show 83% of purchases on a Monday are made between 5.30am - 9.30am*. The new Smart season ticket beats the queues and offers an easier, quicker and smarter way to pay for your commute to work. So much so that Northern have already issued 100,000 season tickets on Smart cards, equating to over 2.5m customer journeys.
Available as a weekly, monthly or yearly electronic pass, the Smart season ticket offers a hassle-free 60-second process avoiding the stress of the Monday queue. It means you can renew at your convenience and on the device of your choice - smartphone, computer, ticket machine or booking office - saving you valuable time and getting you there faster. From today, all of Northern’s ticket machines can be used to validate or top-up your Smart card.
Mark Powles, Commercial Director, Northern, said: “We know time is a precious resource for everyone. So we’ve been working hard to make improvements across the network, including the introduction of new Smart season tickets which can be renewed online any time or at our upgraded ticket machines.
“Gatley is a great example of a community which has proved it really is Smart by embracing the new Smart season tickets. These customers now avoid the dreaded last-minute rush to renew and get to where they need to be with minimal fuss.”
Barry White, Chief Executive of Transport for the North said: “Traveling on public transport should be easy and convenient, and the high take-up of Smart cards across the North’s railways is fantastic. They’re already delivering benefits for the passengers who use the network day in, day out. Smart cards are simple but effective – congratulations to Gatley for embracing the Smart way to travel.”
To find out more about Smart cards visit www.northernrailway.co.uk/smart
Contact Information
Glyn Hellam
Media Manager
Northern
01904 568652
07795 008693
Glyn.Hellam@northernrailway.co.uk
@northern_pr
Notes to editors
Media are invited to attend an event at Bradford to celebrate Northern’s introduction of Smart ticketing. The event, which will be hosted at Bradford Interchange station on Monday 19 August, gives media the chance to talk to Northern and its customers about Smart tickets and their ongoing roll-out. Customers with Smart tickets will also be given free smoothies when they show their card.
Commercial Director Mark Powles will be on hand for any media interview and will be at the station between 7am and 9am.
For more information – or to request an interview – please call Northern’s press office on 01904 568652.
* Busiest purchase times: 43% of Season Ticket purchases on Mondays, 83% of those are between 5:30-9:30am.
Figures are based on percentage of season tickets issued on a Smart card at 154 Northern ticket offices in June and July 2019.
Top ten “Smartest” towns in the North are:
- Gatley 99.1%
- Sunderland 94.8%
- Windermere 90.9%
- Roby 90.4%
- Bradford Interchange 90.3%
- Handforth 89.5%
- Heald Green 89.4%
- Bradford Forster Square 88.9%
- Burnage 88.8%
- Halifax 87.9%