Hi everyone and Happy New Year from us all at National Rail Enquiries. I wanted to let to tell you about a great new feature we have introduced onto our Smartphone apps and some news regarding our Season Ticket Calculator and Cheapest Fare Finder.
Cycle information on App
Since 2009, the number of cycle-rail journeys have increased massively from 14 million to a record 39 million a year. With this in mind, we wanted to make it easier for cycle users to plan their rail journeys. Working alongside The Association of Train Operating Companies’ (ATOC) Integrated Transport team, National Rail Enquiries has included cycling information in our smartphone apps.
The app upgrade is a joint project by the Cycle Rail Working Group and has been funded by ATOC, the Enabling Innovation Team, the Department for Transport and the Bicycle Association of Great Britain (BAGB).
The app provides cycle information for train journeys and stations such as cycling facilities at stations.
As each train operating company operates slightly different policies and restriction times for taking bicycles onto the trains, you can search for the policy by train operating company. This information is now easily accessible on the app by clicking the cycles tab at the bottom of the app screen. You can also find out whether reservations are required to bring your bicycle onboard.
When you are planning a journey using our app either using the journey planner or the live trains tab, you can view the restrictions and facilities available for a particular journey.
By clicking on the station details, you will able to view details of station facilities which will include information such as the number of cycle spaces availablections and facilities available for a particular journey.
We’d love to hear how you find the new feature so let us know in the comments section below. If you’ve got any ideas for more features we can include on the app, why not share your idea on our Community.
Changes to the Season Ticket Calculator
Recently we’ve introduced a feature which tells you the average price of your journey when you travel on a weekly or annual ticket. The aim is to make it easier to compare with the cost of buying separate tickets and other ways of getting to and from work such as driving. Get started now by looking up your journey here.
If you want to know how we work out the average journey cost, you can find all the details are here.
Cheapest Fare Finder
Finally, we’ve recently removed access to the Cheapest Fare Finder. My team are currently working on some improvements to the way it works, and it will be available on the site again within the next week-or-so.
