Arriva UK-owned Chiltern Railways is partnering with SilverRail Technologies to develop and pilot a new ticketless way to travel using just a smartphone.

The pair aims to enable passengers to use their smartphones to detect the beginning of their journeys and use Bluetooth to open ticket gates. Through this, passengers will be charged automatically at the ‘best price’ for their journey at the end of the day. Ungated stations will use geolocation tools to locate the customer and the trains they have travelled on.

Dave Penney, managing director of Chiltern Railways, said: “Customers want to travel easily with assurance that they have paid the best price; this app-based concept eliminates the need to purchase a ticket instead using Bluetooth and geolocation tracking to determine journeys taken charging the best value fare at the end of the day.”

The partnership also plans for the new app to offer ‘personalised, real-time travel updates, commuter advice and multi-modal journey options’. It will also provide journey history, prices and fare calculations.

The pilot will be conducted on Chiltern’s new route between Oxford Parkway, Bicester Village station, Bicester North and London Marylebone.

“Our goal is to remove uncertainty and frustration to create a relaxed, stress-free journey for Chiltern’s commuters” says Carmel Roche, head of mobile at SilverRail Technologies.

Last week, Chiltern began trialling beacons, in partnership with Proxama, on its Birmingham to London mainland trains in a bid to improve services.