Dickson Welcomes Translink Card Payment Pilot

East Antrim Alliance MLA, Stewart Dickson, has welcomed Translink’s announcement that it intends to introduce card payment facilities on the rail network in the coming months.

The information came to light following an Assembly Written Question to the Minister for Infrastructure. Mr Dickson said: “The Larne Line Passenger Group, who are strong advocates for good quality rail services to East Antrim, were concerned about passengers being unable to pay by card on the train, and conductors threatening them with fines if they were stuck without cash.

“Translink have informed me that they are currently piloting an on-train card payment system. Assuming this goes well, Translink staff will be trained with the new EMV machines and we will see on-train card payments across all trains in the next few months.”

Mr Dickson welcomed the steps being taken: “Most transport services in Europe already provide such facilities, so it is great to see valuable improvements being made to our own public transport services, I hope this trend will continue in the future.”