Foot passengers travelling on Wightlink’s FastCats between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier will be using automatic entrance gates at both ports by early May 2024.
The gates will also accept electronic through tickets for customers combining cross-Solent travel with rail journeys.
Relax in the passenger lounge
Once customers have passed through the electronic gates, they will be able to relax in the passenger lounge until their FastCat is ready for boarding.
Port staff will be around to support and advise customers during and after the installation of the gates.
£500,000 investment
Wightlink has invested half a million pounds in the technology at its terminals to make foot passenger journeys easier and provide a direct link to rail ticketing systems.
The gates will be able to recognise rail tickets with barcodes or QR codes as well as Wightlink paper tickets, passes and online tickets on smart phones. Customers using rail tickets with magnetic strips will need them to be scanned manually by port staff as will adults travelling with children.
Greenfield: These gates will make it easier for people
Wightlink Chief Executive Keith Greenfield says,
“We are always looking at how to improve how our customers travel through our ports and these gates will make it easier for people with a combined rail and FastCat e-ticket.”
News shared by Karen on behalf of Wightlink. Ed
