Ensignbus £10 contactless limit and Apple Pay / Google Pay ban

[Bletchleyite]

Surely (and I'm risking a 'surely'), the simple answer is a weekly cap? Ideally, a reducing daily cap until the weekly limit is reached. This is the approach taken by Brighton & Hove and Metrobus.

That's how Transit Mode is designed to work, it was basically designed for TfL's system. Each ticket is under £10, you just stop paying when you've bought enough to hit the cap.

 

[markymark2000]

Does Ticketer offer a "skinned" online sales feature and app to make it easier for small operators to do this? If not perhaps it'd be a good business opportunity for them.

No, they don't. There is MyTrip though which offers this kind of thing. They do just tickets on their app (like D&G) or larger packages including a basic website (Like Red Rose Travel). Prices start at £495 set up and 4% + 10p per transaction (so a weekly £10 ticket would cost the operator 50p). Also Rise Digital Media do standalone apps and website with mobile ticket sales (like Adventure Travel and Centrebus).

Even better still would be for Ticketer to do a deal with Paypoint and Payzone so seasons for all operators who use them could be sold from newsagents, that then covers cash sales too, reducing the amount of cash on board and thus improving driver safety.

Don't forget, these options have been around for a while but no one seems to like doing it. Arriva tickets can be bought at Paypoint and Payzone. Merseyside and Manchester offer tickets via these stores but most people tend not to buy tickets via these outlets. Instead preferring to go direct and buy on the bus or using official apps.

 

[Deerfold]

Don't forget, these options have been around for a while but no one seems to like doing it. Arriva tickets can be bought at Paypoint and Payzone. Merseyside and Manchester offer tickets via these stores but most people tend not to buy tickets via these outlets. Instead preferring to go direct and buy on the bus or using official apps.

When West Yorkshire's Metro launched the MCard there was no app or online purchases. They could be topped up with tickets at Bus Stations when open and at Payzones.

However, the online information about opening times was wrong for most stores. I used to arrive in Leeds from time to time on a long distance service and wanted to get a weekly ticket including the train and bus home from Leeds. I visited 4 different stores that were marked as open at various times to discover they weren't. I had to make my own list of when they were open. Complaining to PayZone had little effect.

My local Payzone store was a 10 minute walk from my home. I never managed to put a ticket on the MCard - sometimes they reported the machine wasn't working, or the person who knew how to use it wasn't there. After 2 years of complaints Metro proposed a solution - removing my local stpre from the list for those searching for just that function! I can see they they're not a popular option.

Being able to buy on the app was a godsend, especially when they finally added combined train and bus tickets (bus only were added fairly quickly) - and now you can choose to use your phone or a card.

 

[philthetube]

Did Ensign find a solution or are they still restricting it to £10?