Pay-as-you-go on rail to be expanded to all of Cornwall by end of 2025
10 October 2025

Just under two years ago, GWR launched tap on/tap off facilities on the railway in west and mid-Cornwall (from Penzance to Par), badged by them as pay-as-you-go or PAYG. I tried it out and it seemed to work fine with correct pricing for the journeys made. As far as I know, they have not run into some of the problems that the bus operators have had with their tap on/tap off systems, although if anyone knows different, please let me know.

GWR promised that it would be extended to the whole of Cornwall plus Plymouth as part of the funding package for the Mid-Cornwall Metro. Now that the infrastructure of the so-called metro has been built, I enquired of Cornwall Council what was happening with the tap on/tap off expansion. They replied as follows:
"Phase 3 of the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) scheme will extend PAYG ticketing from the west of Cornwall across the east of Cornwall, up to and including Plymouth and will include the mainline and branch lines between Par and Plymouth. This scheme is in the latter stages of delivery with a small number of platform validators awaiting install. A short period of testing will then be required to ensure that the user experience is consistent with the existing scheme. A launch date will be determined shortly as the outcome of supplier discussions concludes. However, the current timeline will see this delivered by the end of this calendar year.”

Hopefully, this timeline will be met and passengers can look forward to being able to use it soon. It should be noted that there are advantages to using pay-as-you-go in that the price of single fares is cheaper than purchasing normal off-peak or anytime singles. For example, compare the following prices currently being charged:
Truro-St Austell, anytime day single £8.20 but using pay-as-you-go, it is £5.10.
Penzance-Truro, anytime day single £9.20 but using pay-as-you-go, it is £7.90.
For those passengers who have a railcard such as a senior railcard or a Devon and Cornwall railcard, these can be linked to your pay-as-you-go card so that you still receive the usual level of discount off the PAYG prices.

Update
19 November 2025
It has now been confirmed by GWR that, as from 18 November, pay-as-you-go has been extended across the whole of Cornwall including the branch lines to Newquay and to Looe, and to Plymouth and the branch line to Gunnislake.
See schematic map below.
All of the prices that you would be pay using PAYG and the comparisons with normal prices can be downloaded from
PAYG prices.