999tigger Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Most car park machines take notes and card payments. If the bus operators don't want to be messing with cash (a good idea) then they need to follow the lead of London. They need travel cards where you top up and where you are credited with the best deal depending on usage. That will make use of public transport more attractive, speed up the embarkation and disembarkation and lower costs. Issuing vouchers to encourage people to have the right change might have been a good idea in the 70's but it is a bit embarrassing nowadays. They will invest in such a system when it seems economically viable for them to do so. Issuing the voucher appears to be in the rare instances where they dont have the change to give them. Never happened to me and never seen it happen to anyone else. The alternative is not to let the people on the bus or if the person wants to give name and address and pay later or heaven forbid go with the right money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutch Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 You can pay with mobile phone now. buy tickets online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fudbeer Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Most car park machines take notes and card payments. If the bus operators don't want to be messing with cash (a good idea) then they need to follow the lead of London. They need travel cards where you top up and where you are credited with the best deal depending on usage. That will make use of public transport more attractive, speed up the embarkation and disembarkation and lower costs. Issuing vouchers to encourage people to have the right change might have been a good idea in the 70's but it is a bit embarrassing nowadays. Exactly right. Unfortunately Sheffield is years behind London in this area and we have only just introduced smart cards and there is no pay as you go yet. No cash on buses like London is the way forward better for the bus companys ,no need for cash on buses security ect and passengers quicker journey times BUT you have to have the infrastructure to back it up which currently we don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamo Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 They will invest in such a system when it seems economically viable for them to do so. Issuing the voucher appears to be in the rare instances where they dont have the change to give them. Never happened to me and never seen it happen to anyone else. The alternative is not to let the people on the bus or if the person wants to give name and address and pay later or heaven forbid go with the right money. You might not see it as a problem but to me it is embarrassingly Mikey Mouse. I suppose visitors might find it quaint (along with the cobble stone roads that seem to be reemerging) but it just shows how behind the times Sheffield is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
999tigger Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Fudbeer and zamo how many times a week do you use the bus? How many times have you been issued with a voucher? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamo Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 Fudbeer and zamo how many times a week do you use the bus? How many times have you been issued with a voucher? In London the public transport network is joined up and offers value for money by giving you the best deal according to actual usage. In Sheffield the network is disjointed and does not offer value for money. I therefore use public transport when I'm in places like London but not in Sheffield. If the ambitions of the PTE and operators is to simply retain existing customers, by maintain service standards based on their low expectations, then they are on the right track. If they want to encourage more people to use public transport then they need to try a lot harder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petemcewan Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) Why should bus conductors give change???? Your wife made a conscious decision to catch a bus....surely she would have known to have enough change to give to the bus driver....it's not rocket science. The giving of change hinders the bus.....and EXACT FARE should be tendered as it is in other places - I lived in London during the 1980s and if you didn't have exact fare you had to get change and wait for the next bus. I really don't get why you are upset at it....you got the change in the form of a voucher...so use it next time you travel....and have the right change to make up any difference.....simples And please bear in mind that if by VERY LOOSE CHANGE you mean all coppers and small....there is a legal limit to the amount you can tender in one transaction.....I don't think it's much more than 30p in coppers.....so be sensible and give the correct change to avoid having to receive another voucher. Next time I catch a bus and I don't have the right change....... I'll give the driver a voucher (made on me John Bull Printing Outfit ) promising to pay the fare next time I get the bus.`If I don't catch the same bus within a month I won't be obliged to pay any outstanding fare. Simples innit. Mutual coopperation between service provider and service user. ting-a - ling! All change ! Edited September 18, 2014 by petemcewan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
999tigger Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 In London the public transport network is joined up and offers value for money by giving you the best deal according to actual usage. In Sheffield the network is disjointed and does not offer value for money. I therefore use public transport when I'm in places like London but not in Sheffield. If the ambitions of the PTE and operators is to simply retain existing customers, by maintain service standards based on their low expectations, then they are on the right track. If they want to encourage more people to use public transport then they need to try a lot harder. So how often do you use the bus in Sheffield? How many times have you been issued with a travel voucher, which is what the OP is moaning about? Id think the ambitions of the bus companies is to make money. If they see that investing in a new ticketing system is beneficial on a cost/ benefit basis then I imagine they will do so. I cnat see any point in investing millions unless they are going to get enough back from that system. Their business and am sure they discuss such matters and know how their businesses work. London is an entirely different animal because its far bigger, far wealthier and always been far more integrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffbag Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) Most car park machines take notes and card payments. If the bus operators don't want to be messing with cash (a good idea) then they need to follow the lead of London. They need travel cards where you top up and where you are credited with the best deal depending on usage. That will make use of public transport more attractive, speed up the embarkation and disembarkation and lower costs. Issuing vouchers to encourage people to have the right change might have been a good idea in the 70's but it is a bit embarrassing nowadays. Do they? Go to any parking machine at the side of the road and pay with a card or a note. Even in sheff centre go to a 500 space car park (victoria quays) and try paying with a card or a note. You will soon have a queue of traffic behind you. I note you mention travel cards with capping. What point do you make the cap at? Day, Week or Month and is that against all operators or just one? Dont use London as the example as its all one operator and goes through one back office. If its a day then what about operators who dont have smart readers (and in a de-regulated environment such as south yorkshire you will never reach 100% smart enabled buses) Do you get your cap on them? No becuase you cant work it out. Everyone points to London system and yes London is different but it is different because they have forced the bus companies which TfL own to implement non-cash journeys. SYPTE cannot do that to a commercial operator and never will be able to. And even though I work in the industry and it puts food on my table anyone who says using a smartcard is quicker than using a flashpass travelcard is talking out of their backside. All this rubbish about speeding up travel using smartcards is a load of codswallop. You want the quickest method to get on and get off a bus? visual flashpass. Yes the operators run a revenue risk if the driver doesnt check each individual pass (and they dont with either system smart or flash) but if you had 20 people stood at a bus stop with ENCTS and Smart TravelMasters waiting to board your bus and i was parked behind you with 25 people with old style flash passes i would stake money that i would be pulling away first. Using a smartcard does not make people want to get a bus more and how exactly does it lower costs? ---------- Post added 18-09-2014 at 12:07 ---------- In London the public transport network is joined up and offers value for money by giving you the best deal according to actual usage. In Sheffield the network is disjointed and does not offer value for money. London is one company - South Yorkshire (for that is the network, not just Sheffield) is multiple companies. South Yorkshire is no different to the rest of the country so are we all "quaint and Mickey Mouse"? . I therefore use public transport when I'm in places like London but not in Sheffield. If the ambitions of the PTE and operators is to simply retain existing customers, by maintain service standards based on their low expectations, then they are on the right track. If they want to encourage more people to use public transport then they need to try a lot harder. How would you do it if you were running the PTE or even a bus service? not a trolling comment but a genuine question. What would you do for the potential passenger to get them to use PT? Edited September 18, 2014 by sheffbag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiderPete Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 If the driver has change he'll give it, the change voucher isn't replacing giving change, it's only used if there isn't any to give Yes I think everyone is missing the point here, it isn't replacing giving change. I was on the 52 bus last night and a woman got on with a £5 and the driver said he had no change as he just come on, and said he would issue vouchers, she got off the bus, I am guessing she waited for the next one, although giving £5 for a 70p journey is a bit stupid IMO. This was a stagecoach bus. In Edinburgh their bus services do not give change, they state this and if you over pay by 10p for an example you don't get it back. Obviously they must have been doing this for ages as everyone who got on the bus had change, no silly £5, £10 etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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