Southern Rail is trialling a new loyalty scheme for passengers, enabling them to collect points which can be swapped for rewards.
Next Level Rewards, which runs until March 5, enables customers to earn three points for every £1 spent on Anytime, Flexi Season and Season tickets. These must be bought directly at southernrailway.com and fulfilled via an eTicket or Key Smartcard.
The points can be used for rewards such as holiday breaks, self-education courses, mindfulness app subscriptions and discounts on cinema tickets, coffee and dining out.
Once passengers have purchased a ticket, they will be invited to register on the Next Level Rewards website to create an account. This will require a unique reward ID, which will be sent in a confirmation email.
Note that the travel date for the ticket has to be before 2359 on March 5, 2023 to be eligible. All rewards must be claimed from the website by April 2, 2023.
Southern operates services between London and the Sussex coast (Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Hastings) and parts of Surrey, Kent and Hampshire (Ashford International, Southampton, Portsmouth). If successful, the trial is expected to extend “more widely across the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) network,” which includes Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.
This move comes after research conducted by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) revealed that travelling into the office more regularly could boost confidence at work and improve wellbeing.
The research found that 66 per cent of respondents agree that the working environment is more enjoyable when there are other people around them, while 42 per cent found that coming into the office some of the time helps boost development at work.
The research also discovered how travellers choose to spend their commute, with 30 per cent listening to podcasts, 33 per cent taking a break from the screen and enjoying the view, and 34 per cent using the time to catch up on a book. Meanwhile, 17 per cent use meditation apps to make the commute more mindful.
Jenny Saunders, customer services director at Govia Thameslink Railway, commented:
“Passengers continue to steadily return to rail and although the industry has been through challenges recently, it’s good to see people mixing up their working patterns to get the most from home and office working.
“Our research tells us that people want to be rewarded for their journeys, so we’re delighted to provide added value to tickets with a new loyalty scheme. Customers can build towards a diverse choice of rewards, which can be used as part of their commute, or in their free time.”
