Oyster Cards for Sheffield?

[Andy C]

 

Since July this year, London buses no longer accept cash fares - you have to use a season ticket, an Oyster Card or a "contactless payment card" to travel on them. It's made the bus drivers' job a bit safer because they are no longer being robbed for the money in their ticket tills.

 

There's always a downside of course. People have lost their jobs because ticket offices have been closed down and the automatic entry and exit machines have done away with the need for human beings checking tickets at entry and exit barriers. Speaking entirely selfishly though, I welcome any inititiative that reduces the time, cost and complexity of travelling on public transport

 

and the system is less user friendly..

[nekuth]

I love how Sheffield does have an Oyster Card, or Smart Travel pass, and people are still complaining about it......

 

The Smart Pass has been active for at least 2 months. However it only covers a week or month pass at the moment.

 

However, it does cover all 3 methods of travel, Bus, Tram and Train so they are interrogated.

 

But, sadly the transport executive have buggered up the advertisement, NO ONE has a clue that it exists or what it does. I've had bus drivers ask what it was all about (I sometimes work in the Bus station), so if even the bus drivers don't know about it, then how will the public?

 

Instead, they believe that a few machines in the bus station (their not even in the train station yet) is enough to advertise this, but the machines are just marked "Smart Travel pass" and have a few images of a green bubble creature (presumed to be a Frog) with large square glasses, to which I dubbed "Pervert the Frog"

 

The other beautiful thing about this smart pass, is that while the card is electronic and reusable, only very few buses have adapted to accept the swipe feature....so you still have to keep the paper side of the pass to show the validity..... as it may take up to 3 years to adapt everything to accept this.....

[Guest]

 

However, it does cover all 3 methods of travel, Bus, Tram and Train so they are interrogated.

 

 

Well there are many unanswered questions about this.

[Cyclone]

The Oyster card is great. I've lived and worked in London since the late 70's and since the Oyster card was introduced a few years ago, public transport is cheaper -in real terms - than it has ever been. I visit my family in Sheff 3 or 4 times a year and I am always shocked and horrified how much more expensive and complicated it is to travel on Sheff public transport than on London public transport.

 

I really believe that Sheffield would benefit from Oyster or a similar scheme. It's very simple, it's valid on buses, trains, tubes and the trams in and around Croydon. You can use Oyster on a "pay-as-you-go" basis if you only travel on public transport occasionally, but by far the cheapest option, if you travel daily, is to top it up with a weekly or monthly "season ticket". This allows unlimited public transport journeys within the travel zones you've pre-paid for.

 

I do between 4 and 6 separate bus/tube and train journeys every day for my work and hop randomly on and off buses tubes and trains as much as I need to when out seeing friends at weekends. Most weeks I'm doing between 25 and 40 separate public transport journeys within a 3-5 mile radius of central London - and all for £23.60 a week. London has it's many faults, but it's public transport is pretty good and comparatively cheap compared to most big British cities I've visited.

 

Affordable public transport encourages people to get out and about more - and the more profit public transport makes, the more it invests and the better it gets. Increased travel on buses, tubes and trains also reduces the amount of cars on the roads, reduces congestion and reduces air pollution. It's a win-win situation all round!

 

I use Oyster when I'm in London, but I really don't see how Sheffield public transport can be described as 'expensive and complicated'.

As an occasional traveller you won't be buying any sort of commuter monthly ticket in Sheffield, so you're probably buying a bus ticket on demand, using the widely accepted "cash" payment technique, and maybe a dayrider on the tram, again using "cash".

What's complicated about that?

[sheffbag]

The Oyster card is great. I've lived and worked in London since the late 70's and since the Oyster card was introduced a few years ago, public transport is cheaper -in real terms - than it has ever been. I visit my family in Sheff 3 or 4 times a year and I am always shocked and horrified how much more expensive and complicated it is to travel on Sheff public transport than on London public transport.

 

I really believe that Sheffield would benefit from Oyster or a similar scheme. It's very simple, it's valid on buses, trains, tubes and the trams in and around Croydon. You can use Oyster on a "pay-as-you-go" basis if you only travel on public transport occasionally, but by far the cheapest option, if you travel daily, is to top it up with a weekly or monthly "season ticket". This allows unlimited public transport journeys within the travel zones you've pre-paid for.

 

I do between 4 and 6 separate bus/tube and train journeys every day for my work and hop randomly on and off buses tubes and trains as much as I need to when out seeing friends at weekends. Most weeks I'm doing between 25 and 40 separate public transport journeys within a 3-5 mile radius of central London - and all for £23.60 a week. London has it's many faults, but it's public transport is pretty good and comparatively cheap compared to most big British cities I've visited.

 

Affordable public transport encourages people to get out and about more - and the more profit public transport makes, the more it invests and the better it gets. Increased travel on buses, tubes and trains also reduces the amount of cars on the roads, reduces congestion and reduces air pollution. It's a win-win situation all round!

 

So you travel regularly in London on various forms of PT using a pass providing unlimited journeys for the cost of £23.60 a week

If you travel regularly in Sheffield on various forms of PT then you can get a pass providing unlimited journeys which will cost you £24 for a week or £83 for 28 days.

 

So whats your point?

Edited September 30, 2014 by sheffbag

[No User Name]

The point being that £23.60 a week in London is much much less than £24 a week in Sheffield when you factor in the general costs of living.

 

If you travel between two Zone 1 stations in London at peak time and choose to pay a cash single fare for it, it costs you almost a fiver. Not on an Oyster card though.

[Andy C]

AVAILABLE ON SMART CARD IN SHEFFIELD

 

Travelmaster - any bus, train or tram in Sheffield

week £24.10

28 day £83.20

Annual £889.00

 

Travelmaster Gold also available for all of South Yorkshire.

 

Citywide - any bus or tram in Sheffield (COMING SOON)

Week £17.00

28 day £63.75

 

Stagecoach Megarider - Stagecoach bus services in Sheffield & Dronfield/Eckington/Killamarsh and Supertram

week tram only £10.00 (promotional ticket for limited period)

week tram & bus £13.50

Monthly Xtra - tram only £31.50 (promotional price for limited period)

Monthly Xtra - bus only £42.00

Monthly Xtra - tram & bus £46.00

 

Also available is Megarider Plus (includes buses in Chesterfield) and Megarider Gold (includes buses in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Gainsborough).

 

Travelmaster/Citywide tickets are sold by smart machines and travel information centres.

 

Megarider tickets are sold online at http://www.stagecoachbus.com/sheffield

Edited September 30, 2014 by Andy C

[Twiglet]

So you travel regularly in London on various forms of PT using a pass providing unlimited journeys for the cost of £23.60 a week

If you travel regularly in Sheffield on various forms of PT then you can get a pass providing unlimited journeys which will cost you £24 for a week or £83 for 28 days.

 

So whats your point?

 

I don't know when Firethorn was travelling but a week zone 1 only is £31.40, and zone 1-3 (approx 5 mile radius of central London, the only area many can afford to live) is almost £37.

[Andy C]

just to update the 7 day and 28 day Citywide ticket is now available on Smart cards from the Smart Kiosk machines at Sheffield Interchange, Arundel Gate Travel Information Centre, Meadowhall Interchange and Hillsborough Interchange.

 

Citywide offers unlimited travel on any bus or tram in Sheffield, regardless of operator.

 

Prices:

7 day £17.00

28 day £63.75

[adamf]

Because outside London, the bus services were deregulated in such a way that it has been much more difficult for the authorities to make the bus companies cooperate on an integrated scheme like this.

 

That's the real problem --- we need publicly accountable "public" transport.