Digital pay as you go

What is Northern Digital Pay As You Go? (PAYG)

We have launched our exciting new Digital Pay As You Go trial, designed to make future journey payments smart, simple and always at your fingertips.

Using GPS technology, the PAYG app tracks journeys in real time and charges you for your train travel at the end of the day. This means you will not need to buy a ticket. Just use your phone to check in and out on your journeys.

If you regularly travel this route and would like to volunteer for the trial, please sign up below.

Sign up for the trial and download the app to get started

Why use Northern Digital PAYG?

The digital pay as you go initiative is designed to give you a simple and flexible way to pay for your travel, whether you go one way, make a return trip or take multiple journeys across the network. For the purpose of the trial, you will only be able to use pay as you go between Leeds and Harrogate.

The table below makes it easy to see the fare for your journey between Leeds and Harrogate. Just check your start and end stations to find the cost, with separate prices for peak and off peak travel.:

DPAYG Peak Single	Harrogate	Hornbeam Park	Pannal	Weeton	Horsforth	Headingley	Burley Park	Leeds
Harrogate		£1.90	£2.20	£3.50	£5.20	£6.00	£6.10	£6.40
Hornbeam Park	£1.90		£2.00	£3.20	£4.80	£5.80	£5.80	£6.10
Pannal	£2.20	£2.00		£2.20	£4.50	£5.20	£5.20	£5.30
Weeton	£3.50	£3.20	£2.20		£4.10	£4.30	£4.30	£4.70
Horsforth	£5.20	£4.80	£4.50	£4.10		£2.10	£2.20	£2.60
Headingley	£6.00	£5.80	£5.20	£4.30	£2.10		£2.00	£2.50
Burley Park	£6.10	£5.80	£5.20	£4.30	£2.20	£2.00		£2.30
Leeds	£6.40	£6.10	£5.30	£4.70	£2.60	£2.50	£2.30

DPAYG Off-Peak Single	Harrogate	Hornbeam Park	Pannal	Weeton	Horsforth	Headingley	Burley Park	Leeds
Harrogate		£1.60	£1.90	£2.90	£4.40	£5.10	£5.10	£5.40
Hornbeam Park	£1.60		£1.70	£2.70	£4.00	£4.90	£4.90	£5.10
Pannal	£1.90	£1.70		£1.80	£3.80	£4.40	£4.40	£4.50
Weeton	£2.90	£2.70	£1.80		£3.40	£3.60	£3.60	£3.90
Horsforth	£4.40	£4.00	£3.80	£3.40		£1.80	£1.80	£2.20
Headingley	£5.10	£4.90	£4.40	£3.60	£1.80		£1.70	£2.10
Burley Park	£5.10	£4.90	£4.40	£3.60	£1.80	£1.70		£1.90
Leeds	£5.40	£5.10	£4.50	£3.90	£2.20	£2.10	£1.90

Join Northern PAYG to get £15 introductory travel credit

We will be giving £15 introductory travel credit via the Northern PAYG app to anyone taking part in the trial. See below for full terms and conditions.

The promoter of this promotion is Northern Trains Limited (trading as Northern) of George Stephenson House, Toft Green, York YO1 6JT (the “Promoter”).

The “Promotional Route” means any journey made on any service on the route between Harrogate and Leeds as part of the Digital Pay as you Go trial scheme in partnership with the Department for Transport and Tracsis.

You will be given a £15 credit against your account (“Credit”). The Credit will apply only to new users who do not already have a DPAYG account. There is a maximum of one Credit applied to your account. The Credit will be a one off set off against the value of tickets bought for Services on the DPAYG Network until the one Credit is exhausted

How to use Northern PAYG

Click to play video

Northern PAYG Overview

Please see below for a full list of Northern Pay As You Go terms and conditions

General Terms for “Pay As You Go” Ticketing

Our Pay As You Go ticketing service (“DPAYG” or the “Services”) is a feature of our App operated by the Rail Delivery Group’s service partner, Tracsis Rail Technology & Services Limited (03949810).

The Services are offered to you, the customer (“you”, “your”), by us, Northern (Northern is a trading name of Northern Trains Limited, company number 03076444), (“we,” “us” or “our”), via our Northern mobile application, through the DPAYG functionality, as updated or supplemented from time to time (the “App”).

These terms and conditions (“Terms”) constitute a legally binding agreement made between you and us, concerning your access to and use of our App for the purposes of using the Services. By using the Services, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by all of these Terms and, if you buy tickets using the Services via the App, that you also accept and will comply with the National Rail Conditions of Travel.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the Services.

These Terms should be read together with our website terms and conditions available at Conditions of Travel and Booking Service Terms, and our Privacy Policy. We may change these Terms from time to time. Each new version will take effect when first published on our Website ("Website"). Each new version will take effect from the time it is first published on the Website, and from then on will apply to you.

Data Protection

Under data protection legislation, we are required to provide you with certain information including:

who we are,
how and for what purposes we process your personal data,
your rights in relation to your personal data, and
how to exercise those rights.

This information is provided in our Privacy Policy, and it is important that you read that information. By using the Services, you consent to such processing and confirm that all data provided by you (including when setting up your account as referred to under ‘Account Registration and Authentication and App Functionality’) is accurate.

During the trial we will be working with the Department for Transport (“DfT”) and third-party trial evaluation partner to manage the trial. This partner is Ipsos (Market Research) Ltd (“Ipsos”). If you agree to these terms and conditions, you give your consent for us to share your data with Ipsos for the DfT’s evaluation. According to data protection legislation, DfT are the data controller for this evaluation, which means they are responsible for how your personal data is used. The lawful basis for processing the data will be the DfT's public task. Ipsos are Data Processors for the evaluation of your travel data, working on behalf of DfT. The categories of personal data processed by Ipsos include all of the data completed on your registration form along with your travel history, app usage data and any dispute data. Ipsos will keep your personal information confidential and securely delete it once the evaluation is complete. Further information about how Ipsos will process your data on behalf of DfT is available in their privacy notice here.

Using the Services

Access to the Services is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue, or change all or any part of the Services without notice. You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Service.

We do not guarantee that the Services will always be available or be uninterrupted. We will not be liable to you if for any reason the Services are unavailable at any time or for any period.

Technical Requirements

You are solely liable for the functionality of your mobile phone, such as:

guaranteeing the technical settings and the proper functioning of the device (including network access and power supply),
ensuring that the device is carried on relevant journeys,
ensuring that the device is charged, functional and able to display the ticket for inspection when travelling.

We do not provide any warranty as to the level of connectivity you will receive using your mobile device and we are not responsible for any connectivity issues you may experience.

You shall be responsible for having an operational data connection and for having activated ‘location services’ on your mobile device during the ‘start journey’ process. Location services must remain active for the duration of the journey and sufficient power supply must be available for the whole duration of the journey. Activation of the power saving mode is not advised, as this can negatively influence the precision of the localisation and journey determination. Processes can only be conducted where a data connection is available. If for any reason the app does not allow you to ‘start a journey’ due to technical issues customers must purchase tickets by other means.

Due to the wide variety of mobile phone handsets and networks we are unable to offer technical support or assistance. You may incur data usage charges from your mobile phone operator. You should check with your network provider as to what charges may apply.

DPAYG functionality can only be used on Android operating system 10 and above and iOS 15.6 and higher.

Account Registration and Authentication

To use DPAYG you must create an account by registering certain personal details and linking a valid credit or debit card.

DPAYG is for users who are at least 18 years old. You must not use the Services if you are under 18 years old.

Information you provide on the App must be complete and accurate. You must not impersonate any other person or entity or use a false name or a name that you are not authorised to use. The Services available through the App are only for use by the registered user.

We will send you a verification email to ensure your email address is correct. The instructions within this email must be followed before registration can be completed.

We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of these Terms.

Payment Registration

For security reasons, the payment method details that you register/link when registering your account will be captured directly by our payment service provider and will not be stored on your mobile phone. If for any reason you are unable to register a valid payment method, you will not be able to travel using DPAYG.

By registering your payment method within the App, you agree that we may automatically take payment for journeys made using DPAYG.

You must ensure that the registered payment method has sufficient funds to pay for your tickets and prevent the payment method from being blocked.

You confirm that you have authority to use the payment method you provide for the purpose of settling any payments you owe to us.

The prices quoted on the App are in British pounds sterling (£). If you pay for your tickets using a foreign credit or debit card, we are not responsible for the exchange rate and you are advised that changes to your ticket or refunds may be affected by such exchange rate.

Railcard Registration

The following Railcard Discounts (the "Permitted Railcard Discounts") may be registered to your account through the App for use when using DPAYG:

16-25 Railcard
26-30 Railcard
Disabled Persons Railcard (for the card holder only, not a companion[OM1])
Senior Railcard
Veterans Railcard (for the card holder only, not a companion)

No discounts other than the Permitted Railcard Discounts listed above are available to use in connection with the DPAYG trial. If you would like to use another discount, you cannot take part in the DPAYG trial and must purchase a ticket via another means, such as via a ticket machine or from a member of staff. If you are in any doubt about the eligibility of a discount or railcard for use with the DPAYG trial, please contact the Northern Customer Service Centre.

The Permitted Railcard Discounts are only available for the card holder when using DPAYG. [OM2].

When using DPAYG the Disabled Persons Railcard or Veterans Railcard discount will only be applied to the App account holder, it cannot be applied to a second account. Any travelling companion entitled to the companion discount under the Disabled Persons Railcard or Veterans Railcard will need to buy their ticket using a method other than DPAYG in order to obtain the railcard discount.

A railcard can only be linked to a single account. You may not register the same railcard on multiple accounts.

When registering a railcard, you will be asked to enter the railcard expiry date. When the railcard expires, all subsequent journeys will be charged the non-discounted fare.

If you register a railcard to your account, you must carry either a paper or digital railcard whenever you travel using the railcard and show this when requested by a member of the Northern team. If you fail to produce a valid railcard when requested, you will have to pay the appropriate fare.

You may remove the railcard from your account. Removal of a railcard will prevent discounts applying to any journeys made on the day of removal.

£15 Bonus for New App Users

You will be given a £15 credit against your account (“Credit”). The Credit will apply only to new users who do not already have a DPAYG account. There is a maximum of one Credit applied to your account. The Credit will be a one-off set off against the value of tickets bought for Services on the DPAYG Network until the one Credit is exhausted.

Travelling Using the Services

Once your account is active, you may use DPAYG for travel.

All journeys are subject to these Terms and the National Rail Conditions of Travel. You are strongly advised to read these Terms and the National Rail Conditions of Travel, which contain limitations and exclusions relating to our liability in respect of loss caused by delays or cancellations, as well as loss or damage to, and delay in the delivery of luggage and its contents.

The App can only be used to make journeys within the stations of Leeds to Harrogate on the Leeds Harrogate railway line ‘Pay As You Go’ network area (the “PAYG Network Area”). You must not use DPAYG for a journey that begins or ends outside of the PAYG Network Area. If you try to do so, the journey will be considered invalid and incomplete, and you may be charged an incomplete fare. Stations within the DPAYG Network area will be indicated as part of the DPAYG zone within the App.

To make a valid journey using DPAYG you must ‘start journey’ in the app. Failure to do so is equivalent to you travelling without a valid ticket and subject to penalty fare. Once your journey has ended, the most accurate way to ensure your journey is determined correctly is to ‘End Journey’ in the app and check accurate determination in ‘Journey History’. Users have the chance to correct any journeys that are deemed inaccurate via the dispute process in the app. When a journey is not able to be determined for any reason including but not limited to lack of sufficient information from a user, a maximum fare may be applied.

Starting Your Journey

To buy a ticket using DPAYG, you must tap “start journey” in the App at your origin station. Capture of travel data begins when the ‘start journey’ button is pressed.
The App will present a list of possible stations and you must select the correct origin station and confirm that selection.
Upon selecting the origin station, a barcode ticket is issued in the App containing the origin station, the ticket type, the time and date of the purchase and any associated railcard details. At this point the ticket is valid for travel and you have committed to pay for any journeys made.

When beginning your journey through the App, please allow additional time in case of poor network performance or the time taken to identify your location.

If it is not possible to begin your journey due to technical issues, a corresponding message is displayed on the mobile phone. In this case, you will need to buy a ticket by other means. Otherwise, you are deemed to be travelling without a valid ticket.

You must begin your journey within the App before boarding or before entering the ticket required area at the station. You must register any railcard discount or concessionary status prior to travel. You should not begin your journey within the App once travel has already started, e.g. when you are travelling on a train. In this scenario you may be deemed to not have a valid journey for the full duration of your journey.

During Your Journey

During your journey the App will track your location.
Your barcode ticket may be scanned at gates or by inspection staff as required.
The App tracks activity and location data from sensors within your mobile phone. To avoid being charged an incomplete fare you must ensure that location services remain active with the highest precision available throughout your journey.

Ending your journey

To end your journey using DPAYG, you must tap “end journey” in the App once you have reached your destination station and are outside of the designated areas where a ticket is required.
Confirming the destination station ends the journey within the App and the barcode ticket will no longer be valid for travel.
Once your journey has ended the App will calculate your ticket and fare, applying ‘best value’ for journeys made during the day and week (see below under ‘Fare Calculation’).
Tracking of activity and location data ends up to 5 minutes after ending your journey within the App. The delayed deactivation is required to confirm your final location.

You should end your journey as soon as possible after alighting the train to ensure journey is determined accurately and the right fare is applied. When the app is unable to determine a journey for any reason including but not limited to lack of sufficient information from a user, a maximum fare may be applied. If you are unable or forget to end your journey within the App after travel ends, you will be allocated an incomplete journey. In this situation we may allocate an estimated journey end location or if this is not possible, the journey will remain incomplete. You may either adjust an estimated journey end location or provide a journey end location through the App stating the location and time of travel.

If a journey remains incomplete for a 72 hour period after the Monday to Sunday travel period ends, then you will be charged an incomplete fare of £15. We reserve the right to update the incomplete fare value from time to time.

Delays and Disruption

Each barcode ticket lasts for a maximum of three hours from the time when you start your journey. If you encounter delays during your journey so that your travel within the PAYG Network Area extends for longer than three hours, you will be prompted through the App to confirm if you are still travelling. If you confirm that you are still travelling, you will be issued with a new barcode ticket. If you confirm that you are not still travelling, you will be prompted to end your journey through the App.

The Service uses precise GPS location information in order to monitor your journey and calculate the right fare. If your journey involves using a rail replacement bus service, the Service may not recognise the route and may mark your journey as “incomplete”. If this happens, you can give details of the journey and update your journey details within the App.

Tickets

All DPAYG tickets are registered centrally by the App. You will receive a barcode copy of the ticket on your mobile phone.

Tickets are personal, non-transferable and cannot be forwarded to another mobile phone. You are not permitted to make your mobile phone available to third persons for transport.

We reserve the right to block travel using the Service for any reason and without prior notice.

Aborted Travel

If you choose not to travel, you may end your journey at the same station at which you began your journey. Please ensure that you have exited the ticket required area before ending your journey.

If we determine that you did not travel, then you will not be charged for this journey. We monitor metrics for aborted travel and based on these metrics we may decide that travel did occur and allocate an incomplete fare.

Ticket Validation and Inspection

You must ensure that you validate your ticket at the start and end of your journey at any ticket barriers you may encounter.

You must present a valid barcode to any Northern member of staff upon request.

If you are unable to show a valid ticket for the class of accommodation and service that you are using, or if the ticket cannot be checked due to the mobile phone failing to update or function properly, you will have to pay the appropriate fare.

All tickets shall be valid from the time you begin your journey. It is not possible to buy tickets valid for a later date.

Fare Calculation and Price Optimisation

Fares are based on the following ticket categories that can be bought on the day of travel via the DPAYG trial app only:

DPAYG Anytime Single
DPAYG Off Peak Single
7 Day Season Ticket
Daily DPAYG Cap Set at £12.80
Weekly DPAYG Cap Set at £52.90

For the purpose of this trial no Group Fare discounts, or split tickets will be offered to DPAYG users. We reserve the right to update the set of tickets offered within the App at any time.

The best value fare offer assesses available tickets and selects the ticket combination that offers the best fare for the journeys made. Fare restrictions, available discounts, rules on permitted travel and break of journey are applied to the journey combinations across the day or week to determine the lowest fare combination. Although we will try to ensure that the best value ticket combination will always be charged, we cannot always guarantee this.

We only calculate the fare of any tickets when you complete your journey and payment for these will be taken at the end of the day. The calculated fare will represent best value for journeys made up until the last journey made for which the App has received data. Journeys made later in the travel week may adjust the ticket selection to offer best value in the context of these new journeys.
If repeated journeys are made throughout a day or roll up week, we may select one weekly ticket or cap to represent a set of journeys where this represents better value than charging daily single tickets.

Journeys are only optimised for best value within a Monday to Sunday travel week. If you make journeys that would be better optimised within a different seven day period or over a longer period, then you should use a different method to purchase your ticket.

The total fare for journeys made are charged to your account balance.

You may review your journey and payment history through the App. This information will include details of journeys made, tickets allocated, and the fares charged.

Payment Collection

Payment collection for any outstanding balance usually occurs on the day following the day of travel. The value of the payment taken may include a combination of past journeys and adjustments, so may not match the value of fares charged for journeys on the previous day.

We may make multiple attempts to take payment for any outstanding balance from the current payment method.

If we are unable to collect any outstanding balance, then the use of DPAYG will be blocked. The block will be removed once the outstanding balance has been collected using a valid payment method. Where DPAYG is blocked, your obligation to pay the outstanding balance remains.

We are not obliged to sell tickets to you if we have reason to believe you may be intending to use it, or the proposed method of payment, fraudulently. You acknowledge that you will be financially responsible for any journeys which are made through the App using your account details.

Notifications

We reserve the right to contact you by means of App notifications or email. These communications will be limited to content relating to your use of the Services or any updates to the Services. See our privacy policy at Northern Privacy Policy for further details.

You may turn off App notifications at any point through the account management facility within the App.

Help and Support

The App provides a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to help you use the App and the Services correctly and resolve any issues.

If the solution to your issue is not available within the FAQ section within the App, then you may submit a support ticket to our customer services department through the App.

Our customer services department will respond to your issue using the email address registered within the App.

Delay Repay and Refunds

If you are delayed in reaching your destination because of a delay or cancellation of a train service, you may apply for compensation for this delay.

To complete your delay repay claim you must submit a journey history screenshot from the App showing where you began and ended your journey and the cost of your ticket.

Customers can claim compensation online here https://delayrepay.northernrailway.co.uk, Alternatively you can collect a paper form from one of our stations or download it here and post it to us at Freepost Northernrailway.

If you choose not to travel, you may abort your travel as described above.
You may not apply for a refund of your ticket for any journeys.

If you believe you have been charged the wrong fare, you should contact us through the App including details of your expected fare. Where we agree with the adjustment, we will arrange any refund required.

Licence to use the Services and Intellectual property rights

We license you to use the Services as permitted in these Terms. In return for your agreeing to comply with these Terms you may use the Services for the purposes of using the Services only in accordance with these Terms.

All intellectual property rights in the Services (and any content we provide you with through the Services) throughout the world belong to us (or our licensors) and the rights in the Services are licensed (not sold) to you. You have no intellectual property rights in, or to, the Services other than the right to use them in accordance with these Terms. .

Acceptable Use and Licence restrictions

You must:

not use the Services in any unlawful manner, for any unlawful purpose, or in any manner inconsistent with these Terms, or act fraudulently or maliciously, for example, by hacking into or inserting malicious code, such as viruses, or harmful data, into the Services or any operating system;
not infringe our intellectual property rights or those of any third party in relation to your use of the Services, including by the submission of any material (to the extent that such use is not licensed by these Terms);
not transmit any material that is defamatory, offensive or otherwise objectionable in relation to your use of the Services;
not use the Services in a way that could damage, disable, overburden, impair or compromise our systems or security or interfere with other users;
not collect or harvest any information or data from the Services or our systems or attempt to decipher any transmissions to or from the servers running any Service;
not use the Services through automated or non-human means, whether through a bot, script or otherwise;
ensure that all registration information you submit is true, accurate, current and complete and maintain the accuracy of such information and promptly update such registration information as necessary. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse all current or future use of the App or the Services (or any portion thereof).