More choice for residents travelling by rail

A new initiative is making it easier for Bridgend County Borough residents to purchase rail tickets and travel by train to access opportunities for work, training, further education and leisure.

Operated by Transport for Wales, the scheme involves stores in 90 different locations and its main objective is to make it easier and more convenient for customers to purchase tickets. It also gives them the option to purchase tickets with cash if their local station is unstaffed or has a card-only self-service machine.

Powered by SilverRail retailing technology, and partnering with Payzone to make the purchasing of rail tickets possible through their instore Payzone devices, Transport for Wales are the very first train operating company in the UK to provide this service. Train tickets are available from ReGenerate in Bridgend, based within the Bridgend Shopping Centre.

Work is also going ahead with plans to redevelop Bridgend Railway Station under the regeneration masterplan for Bridgend town centre. As part of this plan, a feasibility study has recently been commissioned to look at such improvements as a new railway station entrance from the eastern side of the track, opportunities on Station Hill, Court Road and Derwen Road and the creation of a Station Link – an active travel link between the railway station and Brackla Street.

Janine Nightingale, Corporate Director for Communities said: “Bridgend County Borough Council is excited to be working with Transport for Wales to improve local transport links and make it easier for people to travel to and from the town centre, especially for work or for training.

“This innovative scheme lets those people who don’t use a computer or apps to easily purchase train tickets with cash at a place of their convenience. We welcome ways to raise awareness of the scheme and hope more people will take advantage of It”.

The use of local convenience stores is in addition to purchasing tickets from ticket offices, online, through the app or by phone.

More information on the rail ticket scheme is available at the Transport For Wales website