to think this new arrangement re bus fares is unfair?

[EmotionallyWeird]

I live in an area where most of the buses are operated by Stagecoach. For the last few years (since I started my current job which is too far to walk) I've bought a monthly travel card. At first it was a physical piece of cardboard and you had to get a new one every month, then it became a smart card (which looks like a debit card) which you had to top up online.

Today I found out that the system is changing again and when my current top-up expires, it will only be possible to buy an in-app version of the weekly or monthly cards, which you have to show on your phone. This doesn't really affect me as I can cope with the change, although I would rather it had stayed the same. But not everybody wants to carry a phone all the time, not everybody has a smartphone, and not everybody who has one has their own data - some just use WiFi when they can get on it (which you can't on the buses in this area). Does anyone else think that making this new system compulsory is rather unfair, as it will force some people to make a lifestyle change they might not otherwise have wanted to (or pay more for their travel by buying single or day tickets)?

I was going to post the same thing

You asked about moving bus stops to places that had WiFi. This is was a response to say why that is not an issue

I agree. In my area they axed a service many people relied on because it didn’t make them enough money. They don’t give a damn about their passengers, and they can get away with it. That’s what privatisation is about, especially when one company ends up with, effectively, a monopoly. Up till the 1980s, public transport was rightly seen as an essential service.

Whilst I agree it shouldn’t be solely on mobiles, the website says you can still buy a smart card online.

• Online - When you buy a “Smart Online” ticket from Stagecoachbus.com and request a new smart card , you will receive your ticket already loaded onto a smart card. Please allow 3-5 days for delivery.

It can then be topped up on the bus (or online).

I’ve mentioned this a few times, but no one cares. It’s more fun to moan, I guess.

This would annoy me op as I detest having a mobile.

I actually got rid of it for a year and it was bliss.

I thought this was the case.

Also you can download the ticket at home on wi-fi and then show it - and battery packs can help with batteries. However I still prefer the card/actual ticket option though have used phone tickets.

I'm more bothered by them slowly getting rid of ticket types - they got rid of monthly 28 day tickets to nearby town you can only get a regional one - so it's tripled in price. They've also got rid of returns for adults- doubling the price to nearest town. Lucikly they do have special college option - and we now pay less and kids used debit cards now so no more faffing round for exact change.

That was meant to quote a post criticising Stagecoach.

There is too much cross posting going on, on this thread now.

Let's just hope they keep physical passes available for those iof us need rhem, whatever our individual reasons are

So, you accept that OP is mistaken and they are not, in fact, being withdrawn?

What makes you say that? I said nothing of the kind. Try reading my post again.

Try reading my posts where I attach screenshots from the Stagecoach website. You did, after all, ask me for proof.

What if their battery dies?

Your screenshots do not prove stagecoach are not going to remove smart cards.

They prove that, contrary to OP’s claim, there is no “new arrangement”, and passengers are still able to obtain, and top up, smart cards.

Portable chargers are a great asset!

I wish the 60+ cards were available on an app instead of a physical card - even the option of app or card if they're concerned about older people not having smartphones.

Where are the places that have WiFi, do you mean somewhere like a McDonald's? I don't know anywhere near me that I could easily go to for WiFi if I'd run out of data and as a PP said what if they aren't at a bus stop?

I use an app for my train ticket and this happened to me!

Yeah but now you requre people to have a certain type of mobile phone (I know people who use brick phones still) AND now a charger that is ideally charged.
Getting on a blooming bus should not mean you need a rucksack full of equipment that allows you to board.

What if there is no place that has wifi?

People are bending over backwards to find some convulted solutions while there is an easy fix- allow people to have a physical card that they can top up like in the good old days, not everything has to be an app.

Good news: people are still allowed to have a physical card. Problem solved.

I know, Im just replying to the person who though (if this was not the case) you can magically conjure up a cafe with free wifi they are happy to let non customers use or ideally predict your future in advance to know on what days of the month you may have to use public transport.

Most chain restaurants have WiFi, places of worship, busses themselves, libraries , banks, post offices, my village just has general WiFi around the entire village that is free.

there will be places where there is no WiFi but people generally don’t choose to not pay for data on their phones if they don’t have access to free WiFi.

people who run out of data and are in a place with no WiFi will be the minority and will probably just have to pay for a ticket on the bus instead of using their passes.

Do you live in England?

I know some buses around me have WiFi but I've never heard of churches or banks or villages that have it, that's quite the thing