Ticket barriers at train stations could be replaced by a new technology currently being trialled by Hitachi Rail.
The prototype technology would replace current ticket stations and barriers with sensors installed on train carriages, are capable of detecting an app on a passenger’s phone.
Via the app, the passengers would automatically be changed the correct fare dependent on their journey.
Following a successful trial currently being undertaken in Italy, the firm plans a UK roll-out which could be installed on buses and trams as well as trains.
It is hoped that the new technology will ease queues and bottlenecks around ticket barriers, while ensuring that the correct fares are charged.
In 2001 the firm created a card used across Japan, known by tourists in Tokyo as the Penguin card.
“This technology has the ability to transform public transport in every corner of the country, from rural buses to city centre train stations,” said Hitachi Rail managing director Karen Boswell.
“The common travelling woes of queues at ticket machines or trying to find the cheapest fare could be solved without even needing to reach for your pocket.
“We are now beginning to test this technology and looking at the possibility of one app working across large stretches of a country. For example, a passenger could use the app to take a bus in their local town and a train elsewhere in the country all in one day.”