NORTHERN will use five million fewer orange 'magstripe' train tickets this year as passengers switch to digital alternatives.
The number of people travelling on smartcards and barcode tickets has now reached 54.8 million, up five million in the past 12 months. This represents 72.6 per cent of all Northern customers.
The five million tickets equate to five tonnes of rubbish saved from going to general waste.
Earlier this month, the Duo tickets were also put on digital platforms, meaning all the standard tickets are now available in an electronic format.
Mark Powels, customer director at Northern, said: "We saw a huge surge in demand for digital ticketing post-pandemic as online ordering became ‘the norm’ across the retail and leisure sector.
“Customer behaviour has certainly changed – people enjoy the flexibility of buying their ticket ‘on the go’ and being able to store it on their mobile phone or tablet."
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