Most heritage railways run out-and-back experiences from a home station — a set departure, a set number of seats, back to base. That's exactly what AddTransit's tour-style booking is built for: sell your running days and special events online, each departure with its own capacity so it can never be oversold, and a QR ticket your guards scan on the platform. No IT team, no marketplace taking your passengers, and nothing to pay until a passenger pays you.
A heritage railway isn't a weekday commuter timetable — it's out-and-back experiences from your home station: scheduled running days, Santa specials, dining and fish-and-chip trains, gala weekends and driver-experience days. AddTransit's tour-style booking is built for exactly that. Each departure is its own bookable experience, with its own date, time and fares, and its own capacity — so a sold-out Santa special closes itself while your ordinary running days keep selling, and you never oversell a train. Bookings can also close automatically a set number of hours before departure, so you're not still taking money for a train that's about to leave.
Passengers pick the running day and the departure they want and pay by card there and then. You set your own fares per departure — adult, child, concession, and family fares that cover several people in one price — and fares can be dated, so seasonal and event pricing sits alongside your regular running days. Running genuine point-to-point services along the line as well? Straight online ticketing also sells all-day rover, single-trip and point-to-point tickets, on the same 10% terms.
Heritage railways are run by volunteers, not software departments — so AddTransit is built to need neither. You keep your existing website and just point your Buy Tickets button at AddTransit. You keep your own passenger relationships and data, and card payments settle straight to your own account through Stripe. AddTransit is your booking engine, not a marketplace that resells your seats or sits between you and your visitors.
Every passenger gets a QR ticket by email as soon as they pay. On the day, your guards or platform volunteers scan it in seconds with the free AddTransit app on any phone or tablet (iOS & Android) — the ticket is checked and the booking marked as boarded instantly. No printed manifests, no card machines, no queues at the ticket hut.
A flat 10% commission on completed bookings — no setup fee and no monthly subscription for the booking engine. You only pay when a passenger pays you, and the rate stays a flat 10% as you grow, with no per-ticket surcharges or higher tiers. If you'd also like your services shown on Google Maps, or want real-time status and vehicle tracking for gala days, those are optional add-ons — not required to sell tickets.
Send us your running-day calendar and fares and our Setup service will build your departures, fares and capacities for you, at a fixed price agreed before we start — so your first running day of the season can go on sale without you touching a spreadsheet.
Do it yourself — free to start. Set up your running days, departures, fares and capacities, and start selling. It's a flat 10% on completed bookings and nothing up front — you only pay when your passengers pay you.
Create a free accountDone for you. Send us your calendar and fares and we'll set up your ticketing and departures for you, fixed price agreed before we start.
See setup packagesMore on how it works: AddTransit tour-style booking and online ticketing, and the free driver & guard app for scanning tickets on the platform.
