Bus operator Southern Vectis is scrapping its adult 7-day paper tickets later this year in a bid to cut down on a high level of fraud, and the impact on the environment.
The Go Ahead firm says that it wants to be more environmentally friendly by limiting the amount of paper and sticky wallets used, whilst also cracking down on fraud.
The move comes after a successful trial in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Instead of paper tickets, passengers will be able to use the mobile phone app or the tap-on tap-off functionality.
Paper tickets will be withdrawn on 1st November.
A spokesperson for Southern Vectis has said:
“We want to be more sustainable by reducing the amount of paper and sticky wallets we use, and we have unfortunately experienced a high level of fraud – which cannot continue.”
So yet again another company who assume, wrongly, that everyone owns a smartphone, and is quite prepared to discriminate against those of us who don’t. Just another reason why not to use public transport. The ways that people without “Tec” are discriminated against in this country is disgusting, and it is not all elderly people before the ageists start…
You don’t need a smartphone. Debit card is enough. Just tap-on/off with caps seems like a win-win for both usability and one less point of failure/forgery.
Most people who don’t own a smartphone are of the older generation, but they don’t have to pay anyway as they can get a bus pass.
They won’t do tap on tap off rover tickets you will need an app on a phone. Most of the remaining few who do not have a smart phone qualify for a bus pass anyway so the matter is moot (until they scrap bus passes).
I dont have a credit card ….now what ..??. Dumb ass vectis
The thing is, it’s a private company. Public transport is not really public in Britain.
And lack of truly public transport is always a bad idea because to quote Wikipedia article on SV:
> Southern Vectis has increased its fares in reflection of its strong market position and lack of effective competition.
Goverment could also easily ensure protection in law from this and require paper alternatives for all kind of tickets. But their buddies and CEOs of companies would be unhappy so tough chance with Tories.
And to be completely fair – most of affected are old people and they predominantly voted for Tories!
This has nothing to do with the environment and is entirely related to people passing on the remainder of passes when there holiday ends. Or when friends share them.
Seems like the obvious answer is for SV to lower prices. They are the real thieves.
Though the 24/7/365 bus pass is less than 40% of average yearly TCO of a car in Britain (£3000) and this allows you to ride all the time so majority of people need to pay even less – so not a bad deal.
But obviously more reductions are always welcome – we ought to be more like Germany with £43/mo all regional traffic pass (buses, trains, ferries) though that requires action on governmental level to steer away from car-dependency and an actual willingness to really level up and increase mobility of the nation.
Ignoring “24/7/365”.
A yearly bus pass costs £1,120 from Southern Vectis. It costs £480 from Blue Star. It’s the same company.
They don’t need need defending, they need to stop taking advantage of islanders.
Well said ,SV wont lower the prices.
Why can’t they just do something like the Oyster cards. People can then top up either online or at travel shop or post office. A lot of elderly people don’t have smart phones & they’re the ones using busses a lot.
SV have what they call a Key card which is the same sort of thing as an Oyster card but they are also stopping that in December and forcing every one to use the app in place of the key card. So you will need to rember to always have your phone charged otherwise you will be unable to board the bus. (unless you want to pay another way)
But elderly people travel for free under the national concessionary fares scheme so are not affected in the slightest
They could call it the key
“Elderly” people have bus passes.
Who hasn’t got a smartphone? Come on granddad, get with it. It’s like having magic in your pocket. Don’t you want to be a wizard?
And be under constant surveillance and EMF radiation.
That is the real aim: to control you and make you ill. Wake up!
Ooh. ‘Fraud’!! Really, Fraud??? A fookin cheap bit of bus ticket?!! A bit of paper? Green? Check out China’s emissions.. ffs honestly… SV… get a grip
Ok, so we’re all going to use the app.
But, what happens with all the school kids? They’ve all got smartphones, I hear you say, and they’re certainly not encouraged to carry cash or debit cards to school. And, yes, in the mornings the phones probably work fine but, by late afternoon, nearly every teenager’s phone in the country is running out of battery. How are they supposed to use an app on a phone to get on a bus with a dead battery?
At the moment they tap a card which has a VR code with probably a month’s worth of journey’s loaded onto it. But that’s going now, it’s all on the app. Except the app is useless if your phone battery is dead at the end of the day or you forget to charge it at night.
Just another example of a policed state …track where everyone goes no choices you have to agree with big brother or else ….