Those of you travelling by train would have recently noticed the appearance of contactless terminals on the platforms at Rye station (see photo).
A Southern spokesperson said: “We are putting in equipment ready to extend the use of our smartcard ‘The Key’ beyond its current end point of Bexhill to cover stations to Ashford International. The system will be switched on later this year, once technical work is complete.
“There are many benefits to using our smartcard: passengers don’t have to queue to buy or renew season tickets; if their card is lost or stolen then we’ll block it and reissue it free of charge; and there is automatic compensation for delays.”
The stretch between Bexhill and Ashford is one of the final bits of Southern’s network not on The Key: The Key Smartcard area map. Rye News will endeavour to keep you up-to-date on its roll-out.