Just go: Any train. Best fare. Instantly.

The Challenge: An Existential Threat
In 2023, the UK Government announced a bold ambition: expanding London’s “tap in, tap out” system nationwide under Great British Railways. For Trainline, this was a direct threat. If the government built the infrastructure themselves, Trainline risked being bypassed entirely. Our strategic response? Get there first with a low-cost, digital solution.

The Solution: Strava for Rail
We began developing Digital Pay-As-You-Go (DPAYG) and acquired Signalbox, a startup whose automatic train detection solved the industry’s hardest technical hurdle. While GPS can locate a passenger, Signalbox identifies exactly which train they are on. Think of it like Strava for rail: the app tracks the journey in the background and automatically charges the best possible fare after the ride.

My Role: Defining the Experience
I was brought in to lead the UX strategy while the technology was still in fragments and the business case was evolving. My mission was to define the passenger experience, identify the core audience, and establish functional boundaries. Managing two designers, one indirect report, and two secondments, I collaborated across UX Research, Content Design, and Public Affairs to turn a technical concept into a market-ready product. I myself reported into our Head of Design and a VP of Product.
I translated research into core scenario sketches that anchored our discovery sessions.

I facilitated these war room sessions, turning collective insights into a clear UX strategy.

I drove cross-functional alignment by mapping the service blueprint for UX and tech.

Learning from the Leaders
Before designing, we needed to define “excellence.” I led a discovery trip to Switzerland, France, and Germany with two developers and two product managers to test live GPS-based rail solutions as passengers.

The Insight: A Broken Handoff
We discovered a critical flaw: every competitor forced users to leave their app and use Google Maps to find routes or stations. This fragmented experience undermined trust at the exact moment passengers needed confidence. While Switzerland’s SBB included a basic map, no one had integrated native navigation that felt intuitive.

The Impact: Strategy Through Expertise
Drawing on my years in mapping and wayfinding, I recognised the difference between a map as a static feature and a map as an orientation tool. I advocated for a native map integration within the DPAYG experience. This strategic direction was subsequently adopted company-wide, enabling Trainline to provide coherent spatial context for the entire journey, far beyond DPAYG.

Picture below: I curated a ‘wall walk’ that combined field learnings and formal research to drive team alignment.

Defining the Design Strategy
Working alongside Product, I translated our findings into two core decisions that anchored the entire project:

The Target
We focused on the daily commuter—predictable, high-frequency trips under £35. This group offered the highest potential for friction reduction and the most credible scope for our initial trial.

The North Star: Zero Pre-planning
The experience principle was simple: walk into any station and board any train. No manual input, no pre-travel decisions. I tested every screen, notification, and edge case against this “Just Go” mantra: the system handles detection, fares, and payment automatically.

I leveraged these insights to initiate new discovery streams, scaling the project across multiple product and engineering squads.

I led collaborative workshops to transform our strategy into the project’s first wireframes.

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Building an ios app with Claude Code, Trainlines design system & Xcode for real life usertesting

From Direct Report to Design System Lead
I am proud to have mentored my direct report into her role as a Design System expert. By empowering her to advocate for her niche, we elevated the quality of the DPAYG project and she eventually secured her own budget and team and is currently very close to a promotion. Throughout, I maintained close oversight to ensure our work remained perfectly aligned with the core white-label design system.

Taking it to market: InnoTrans

I led the creative direction for Trainline’s presence at InnoTrans, designing the end-to-end stand experience. This spanned from DPAYG-specific branding and motion content to the physical coordination with our build agency, Spiro.
To make the technology tangible, I collaborated with engineering to build a live-data prototype. This allowed visitors to experience a DPAYG journey in a realistic, high-fidelity environment on-site. These efforts, combined with our exclusive EU side event, successfully converted industry interest into several significant leads.

What is InnoTrans? It’s Europe’s biggest rail fair with over 3,000 exhibitors and 140,000 visitors from 137 countries. Some would call it ‘The Davos of Rail’.

When & Where? It’s a biennial event held in Berlin, Germany. Last year, InnoTrans took place at Berlin Messe from 24-27 September 2024.

How did we do it? We had a beautiful stand throughout the entire fair, and we also held an EU side event in Berlin!

Outcome: We secured several promising leads, and our solution was ultimately selected by the British government for a trial with East Midlands Railway. This was a significant milestone for us, and the project officially went live on September 1.

The combination of working technology and visible market momentum shifted the national conversation. Rather than building the infrastructure in-house, the UK Government invited the private sector to lead, launching a formal bid for a national DPAYG trial. Trainline was selected as one of the key providers for the program. Crucially, based on the strength of our proposition and technical readiness, Trainline was chosen to launch first. We didn’t just respond to a tender; we helped create the conditions that made the trial possible.

The Outcome: Setting the Pace

On September 1, 2025, we led the national rollout by launching between Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester with our trial partner, East Midlands Railway. As the UK’s first digital pay-as-you-go rail ticketing trial, our execution became the benchmark for all subsequent providers in the program. This industry milestone received extensive national coverage from the BBC, The Sun, and Railway Gazette.

(Image source: Our work was shown on BBC News)

While the trial remains active and successful, I am currently unable to disclose specific user metrics or evaluation data. These details will be available following the official conclusion of the pilot.

References:
BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly702xd0edo
The sun: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/36517821/ticketless-trains-trial-east-midlands-railway/
Railway Gazette: https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/east-midlands-railway-begins-digital-pay-as-you-go-ticketing-trial/69501.article