BR FARES LTD.

What BR FARES LTD. does

BR Fares Ltd. is a privately held UK company, founded in 2012 (incorporated 2014) and headquartered in Reading, that operates a rail fares information platform for the British rail market. Its core consumer property, www.brfares.com, allows passengers to look up fares for any train journey in Great Britain and presents restrictions, validity, and ticket conditions in a format the company describes as clearer than other available resources. The platform is supported by three sister consumer sites: BR Times (train times and on-train facilities), LT Fares (London Oyster and Contactless fares), and FastJP (journey planner).

Underlying the consumer surface is a rail fares database and API platform. Since 2021 the company has built a portfolio of paid APIs distributed primarily through the Rail Data Marketplace (raildata.org.uk), including the Easy Fares API (walk-up, PAYG, restricted, unavailable, and historical fares), the Season Ticket Price API, the Rovers & Rangers API, the Seat Reservation API, and a Legacy API that exposes the original internal database structure. The company monetizes through API licensing and royalties on data delivered to train operators, accredited ticket retailers, rail industry suppliers, and software developers integrating fares into their own products. It sources canonical fare data under an RSP Data Licence from Rail Settlement Plan Limited and an NRE Service Licence from Train Information Services Limited, and uses a freemium trial account as a developer onboarding mechanism.

The business is bootstrapped and founder-led, with a team of 1-10 led by Technical Lead Paul Kelly, and operates without external funding or a parent company. The company is actively operating as of late 2025 based on continued blog publishing and live API status pages.

Name

BR FARES LTD.

Legal name

BR Fares Ltd.

Website

https://brfares.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BR Fares Ltd. is a UK data company that operates brfares.com and sister sites providing British rail fare lookups, and sells premium rail fares APIs (Easy Fares, Season Ticket, Rovers & Rangers, Legacy) to train operators, ticket retailers, and software developers via the Rail Data Marketplace.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Rail Travel Information APIs

NAICS

Support Activities for Rail Transportation (48821)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHALAJAE

Rail Content Aggregators & Connectivity APIs

Travel & Hospitality/Travel Technology & Distribution Services/Travel Connectivity, APIs & Aggregators (Content, Inventory, Interlining)

SECONDARYTHALAEAJ

Price Tracking, Alerts & Deal Discovery (Fare Prediction/Watchlists)

Travel & Hospitality/Travel Technology & Distribution Services/Travel Metasearch & Fare Comparison Platforms

SECONDARYTHAIAMAH

Fare Capping, Best-Fare & Account Reconciliation

Travel & Hospitality/Rail, Bus & Ground Passenger Transport/Passenger Ticketing, Fare Collection & Transit Payment Systems

Keywords

• Rail fares data
• Fare lookup APIs
• Ticketing data services
• UK train fares
• Rail data licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Reading

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. API Access and Licensing: Premium APIs are sold through the Rail Data Marketplace to software developers, train operators, and industry suppliers who need to integrate accurate rail fares data into their websites or applications. The company also offers direct registration for API access credentials.
2. Data Licensing: BR Fares Ltd. operates under RSP Data Licence and NRE Service Licence agreements with Rail Settlement Plan Limited and Train Information Services Limited, providing data to end users while maintaining licensing obligations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

BR Fares Ltd. operates a suite of British rail fares information products. At the core is www.brfares.com, a public website where any passenger can look up fares, restrictions, and validity for train journeys in Britain. Alongside this, BR Fares sells a portfolio of premium APIs (Easy Fares API, Season Ticket Price API, Rovers & Rangers API, Seat Reservation API, and Legacy API) to software developers, train operators, and rail industry suppliers via the Rail Data Marketplace, breaking down complex RDG data into structured, integration-ready endpoints. Companion sites (BR Times, LT Fares, FastJP) extend coverage to timetable, London Oyster/Contactless, and journey planning use cases.

Product overview

BR Fares Ltd operates a suite of rail fare information products centered around its core www.brfares.com website. The main website allows users to look up fares for any train journey in Britain, presenting comprehensive fare details including restrictions and validity. The company also provides premium APIs (Easy Fares API, Season Ticket Price API, Rovers & Rangers API, Seat Reservation API, and Legacy API) available via the Rail Data Marketplace for software developers and industry players. Related sister sites include BR Times (train times), LT Fares (London Oyster/Contactless fares), and FastJP (journey planner). The APIs are designed to break down complex rail fares data into manageable chunks, providing accurate and streamlined data for ticket selling, fulfilment, and research purposes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BR Fares APIs: Premium APIs for software developers to integrate accurate fares information, including Easy Fares API, Season Ticket Price API, Rovers & Rangers API, Seat Reservation API, and Legacy API.

Products and services

• BR Fares Website (www.brfares.com) Public-facing website enabling any user to look up fares for any train journey in Britain, presenting comprehensive fare information including restrictions, validity, ticket conditions, railcard discounts, and smartcard fulfilment.
• BR Fares APIs portfolio Portfolio of premium APIs for software developers to integrate accurate and clear rail fares information into websites or applications. Sold via the Rail Data Marketplace and direct registration.
• Easy Fares API API covering all fares not already covered by season, carnet, or rover/ranger APIs. Provides walk-up fares, PAYG fares, restricted availability fares, and unavailable fares, including all single and return fares, accurate ticket wording, railcard discount information, smartcard fulfilment data, and 2 years of historical fares. Accessible via free trial account.
• Season Ticket Price API API providing ticket fulfilment information, correct ticket issuing terminology, and data on fare changes including Flexi-seasons, carnet fares, and season tickets. Delivers highly accurate and streamlined season pricing data for industry players.
• Rovers & Rangers API API providing promotional information, restrictions, pricing, and area of availability for rover and ranger tickets, which offer unlimited travel within a defined period.
• Legacy API Original internal API that exposes the raw fares database structure. Intended for those who already understand fares and are interested in the underlying structures of fares. Differs from the Easy Fares API as it does not provide clear separation of walk-up vs restricted fares, or smartcard/e-ticket information.
• BR Times (www.brtimes.com) Companion website providing train times information for the British rail network, displaying departure details, facility symbols (1st class, reservations, buffet, restaurant, catering codes), and platform information.
• LT Fares (www.ltfares.com) London-specific fare lookup showing prices available using Oyster, Contactless Payment cards, or cash. Identifies Oyster-only and Contactless-only fares and distinguishes between payment methods for journeys in the London area.
• FastJP (www.fastjp.com) Journey planner for the British rail network, allowing users to plan train journeys across Britain.

Quantifiable outcome

• Web app operational since 2012, serving as trusted industry resource

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Rail Data MarketplacecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBR Fares premium APIs are distributed through the Rail Data Marketplace (raildata.org.uk), operated by the Department for Transport. This is the primary B2B channel for API access, providing industry-wide visibility and streamlined licensing for train operators and software developers.
• Rail Settlement Plan Limited (RSP)coreTechnology or IntegrationBR Fares Ltd. operates under the RSP Data Licence agreement with Rail Settlement Plan Limited. RSP is the ultimate source of fare data, and BR Fares is authorized to use this data to provide fares information services to the public.
• Train Information Services Limited (NRE)coreTechnology or IntegrationBR Fares operates under the NRE Service Licence with Train Information Services Limited, providing access to NRE data objects including restriction details, promotional information, and other content required for comprehensive fare presentation.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Trainline: The UK's largest independent rail and coach ticket retailer, operating a major consumer platform plus B2B APIs for retail partners. Highly comparable to BR Fares because both serve British rail passengers with fare lookup and present ticket/restriction data; Trainline operates at far greater scale and includes booking functionality.
• Realtime Trains: UK-focused real-time train running data service with both consumer-facing site and developer APIs. Comparable to BR Fares as a niche British rail data API provider, though Realtime Trains focuses on timetable/punctuality data rather than fares.

Broad incumbents

• Cubic Transportation Systems: Global supplier of fare collection, transit ticketing, and real-time passenger information systems used by major transit agencies. Comparable to BR Fares as a rail/transit technology vendor, though Cubic operates at the fare-collection infrastructure layer rather than consumer fare lookup.
• Scheidt & Bachmann: European provider of rail ticketing, fare collection, and station management systems, including the FAIRTIQ mobile ticketing platform. Comparable to BR Fares as a rail fare technology specialist serving operators, though Scheidt & Bachmann's solutions are infrastructure-level.
• Skyscanner: Global travel metasearch and fare comparison platform serving hundreds of millions of users. Comparable to BR Fares in the metasearch/fare comparison business model, though Skyscanner operates across flights, hotels and ground transport at vastly greater scale.
• National Rail Enquiries: Official UK rail information service operated on behalf of the rail industry, providing journey planning, fares, and live running data. Comparable to BR Fares as the authoritative source of rail information that BR Fares ultimately licenses data from under the NRE Service Licence.

Others

• Rail Delivery Group: UK rail industry body representing Train Operating Companies and managing shared services including RSP Data Licences. Comparable to BR Fares as a key stakeholder in the UK rail data licensing ecosystem — RDG administers the licences BR Fares depends upon.

Emerging players

• Citymapper: Multi-modal urban mobility application providing journey planning across rail, tube, bus, walking and ride-hail in major cities. Comparable to BR Fares's fastjp.com journey planner offering and as an adjacent consumer-facing rail information product, though Citymapper's scope is much broader than fares.
• TransportAPI: UK-based aggregator of public transport data offering APIs for timetables, fares, and journey planning across multiple modes. Comparable to BR Fares as a UK transport data API provider serving developers and operators, with similar target customers.

Regional players

• TfL (Transport for London): London's integrated transport authority operating tube, bus, Overground and the Oyster/Contactless fare system. Comparable to BR Fares as the underlying source of London fare data that BR Fares surfaces through its ltfares.com consumer site.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/br-fares-ltd.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BR FARES LTD.