South Yorkshire Bus Service Needs Improvement

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

   Paper tickets will becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

   There will be fewer of ticket offices and ticket vending machines and some the train companies (TOCs)are already charging extra for paper tickets.

   The TOCs are already lobbying for a change in the rules over combing types of tickets and restricting 'breaks of journey'. Other subtle changes is the release of 'cheaper' advance tickets on random dates and lengthening peak time  periods.

    

Very strange - I can only get 'paper tickets' for my regular trips to Sussex, due to some strange restriction on 'cross-London' routes, even though I don't cross London in the manner they think. I have a question open with the Rail Ombudsman over this, as EMR were not prepared to give me any reasonable explanation as to why this was the case.

[Irene Swaine]

6 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

   Paper tickets will becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

   There will be fewer of ticket offices and ticket vending machines and some the train companies (TOCs)are already charging extra for paper tickets.

   The TOCs are already lobbying for a change in the rules over combing types of tickets and restricting 'breaks of journey'. Other subtle changes is the release of 'cheaper' advance tickets on random dates and lengthening peak time  periods.

    

They won't be able to get rid of paper tickets and cash payments without a fight. The RMT will want to defend the jobs of ticket office staff for a start.

[RollingJ]

1 minute ago, Irene Swaine said:

The X78 route is now officially branded as Mainline, look at the side of one of those red and yellow buses on the X78 and you will see it says Mainline.

Next time I go to Doncaster (maybe later this week), I'll check.

1 minute ago, Irene Swaine said:

They won't be able to get rid of paper tickets and cash payments without a fight. The RMT will want to defend the jobs of ticket office staff for a start.

I think ticket office staff are mainly TSSA?

[redruby]

1 hour ago, Annie Bynnol said:

 

The TOCs are already lobbying for a change in the rules over combing types 

    

Over combing?  Absolutely, that’s not a good look

Edited June 5, 2023 by redruby

[Resident]

58 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

Already in use in Doncaster and working well. No immediate plans to introduce it to Sheffield.

Doncaster is Tap & Cap which only utilises one scanner and is limited to just DaySavers IIRC.  ToTo expands on this system.

 

56 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

They ARE in use at various places, East Sussex, Edinburgh and Doncaster to name a few. All the ones mentioned have been running for several years and work well.

Several buses have been moved between Doncaster and Sheffield to comply with the emissions zone and some still retain their tap off devices.

Also some Sheffield buses need to be fitted for their very few trips on the X78.

ALL of First South Yorkshire's fleet is fitted with ToTo devices. 

 

 

[redruby]

I think it’s correct that it will be difficult to remove cash and paper tickets.  Whatever opinion we have individually, I suspect it will be considered discriminatory to some groups.

Edited June 5, 2023 by redruby

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, redruby said:

I think it’s correct that it will be difficult to remove cash and paper tickets.  Whatever opinion we have individually, I suspect it will be considered discriminatory to some groups such as the elderly.

The 'elderly' usually have ENCTS passes, so I don't see the issue for them.

[Annie Bynnol]

21 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Very strange - I can only get 'paper tickets' for my regular trips to Sussex, due to some strange restriction on 'cross-London' routes, even though I don't cross London in the manner they think. I have a question open with the Rail Ombudsman over this, as EMR were not prepared to give me any reasonable explanation as to why this was the case.

   The explanation by ThameLink:

"As the London underground does not have barcode reader capability, we are also unable to offer eTickets for fares that cross London or include a London travelcard. This includes instances where you are passing through London on a single Thameslink train just in case your journey is disrupted, so you need to cross the capital via an alternative route.

eTickets are available for advance, off-peak and anytime fares. Season tickets are not currently available direct with us, but we are working hard to make this happen!"

    

 

 

 

 

[RollingJ]

15 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

   The explanation by ThameLink:

"As the London underground does not have barcode reader capability, we are also unable to offer eTickets for fares that cross London or include a London travelcard. This includes instances where you are passing through London on a single Thameslink train just in case your journey is disrupted, so you need to cross the capital via an alternative route.

eTickets are available for advance, off-peak and anytime fares. Season tickets are not currently available direct with us, but we are working hard to make this happen!"

    

 

 

 

 

But they usually have staff on  the barriers - or did on the odd times I've used the Underground. In fact, most of my Underground trips have been in the company of an ex-BR staff member with a 'lifetime' pass which also will not scan, and we've never had an issue going through manually, so that seems a tad disingenuous.

 

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: Isn't it time LT got into the 21st century?

Edited June 5, 2023 by RollingJ
Additional comment

[redruby]

True, the elderly usually have bus passes but not always, such as before 9.30 I believe. And there are other groups that could be discriminated against on cashless public transport https://naacp.org/resources/cashless-retail-transactions-promotes-discrimination-our-communities