GWR launched pay-as-you-go as a way of paying for rail fares in mid and west Cornwall in 2023, see launch of pay-as-you-go. I tried out the system and it seemed to be working well.
In late 2025, GWR extended the system to cover the rest of Cornwall and to/from Plymouth and on the Tamar line.
Yesterday (2 March), GWR announced a promotion to push the use of pay-as-you-go by offering 10% off all fares paid by this method for 2 months.
Unfortunately, last week, GWR had changed their website and the change affected everyone who has an account with them. They asked customers to login and update their payment details in order to be able to continue to use pay-as-you-go. I did this, I thought successfully, but unfortunately, my touch card is no longer working. A half-hour conversation with customer support today was unable to resolve the issue. I have spoken to another pay-as-you-go regular user and he has had similar problems of GWR saying that payment cannot be taken from his bank account and they will close his pay-as-you-go account.
I am reasonably confident that we are not the only two passengers with problems with the pay-as-you-go system. I suspect that it is widespread and that many others are having similar issues. Whoever was overseeing the migration to their new website system has made a mistake somewhere.
It is disappointing that GWR has brought this problem on itself. In 2025, I highlighted major problems with overcharging on tap and cap on buses in Cornwall. It took 3 months for Go Cornwall Bus to sort it out. At the time, I thought that the railway’s tap on and off system was a good example of how such a system should work. Unfortunately, it also is now in danger of putting off passengers using what should be an excellent way of paying for public transport by messing this up.