Stagecoach Cashless Trial - Illegal?

[Discuss223]

The government could look at some of these points about access for the financially excluded. For example a Jobcentre Plus scheme could give free prepaid cards to anyone on their roll for Universal Credit. Then it'd save them having to pay for the post office / Paypoint cash payment option for benefits / pensions, not that I think many people use that any more. The government should also look to allow free and instant access to prepaid cards for homeless people, or those living in refuges. Charities that already help those in these circumstances may already have something similar in place that could be beefed up.

Obviously, all of this takes funding and staff time, but frankly that's what taxation is there for. It is not for the bus industry or others to have to deal with this forever. I support keeping a cash option only in the short term.

The Government could protect the right to use cash as a method of payment, it would be far simpler.


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It's appropriate at this point in the discussion to highlight that local stopping buses are public service vehicles.

They are intended for use by any member of the public (subject to any bans in place).

Stagecoach do operate non-commercial services, tendered by the local authorities to serve all and sundry, not just those who are members of a bank or building society.

The de-regulation of buses was intended to enhance customer experiences by commercially improving the experience to the general public.

Taking away the option to pay with cash is detrimental to these experiences.

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I find it easy, quick and convenient to hand over a £2 or £3 coin to the driver for my journey, take my ticket, take a seat and ring the bell and thank him as I alight.

I don't have to faff around with getting a card signal or holding it at the correct range or delaying the bus as I alight to tap off again.

With cash, the offices of payment are only carried out once, meaning the bus can get on its way as soon as it takes me to my desired stop.

Contactless chips in virtual payment cards can damage and become defective easily.

A passenger with learning difficulties, depending on their specific needs, may not have the cognitive function to use a virtual payment app on their mobile phone.

School children also rely on cash-paid pocket money for their bus fares and lunch etc.

 

[Darandio]

I find it easy, quick and convenient to hand over a £2 or £3 coin to the driver for my journey, take my ticket, take a seat and ring the bell and thank him as I alight.

Fair enough.

I don't have to faff around with getting a card signal or holding it at the correct range or delaying the bus as I alight to tap off again.

What on earth is a card signal?

With cash, the offices of payment are only carried out once, meaning the bus can get on its way as soon as it takes me to my desired stop.

Such is the case with a normal contactless payment in much of the country.

Contactless chips in virtual payment cards can damage and become defective easily.

I think you're making this up.

A passenger with learning difficulties, depending on their specific needs, may not have the cognitive function to use a virtual payment app on their mobile phone.

Fair enough.

School children also rely on cash-paid pocket money for their bus fares and lunch etc.

In a minority of cases.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Government could protect the right to use cash as a method of payment, it would be far simpler.

The significant disadvantages of this (outside of an exact fare scheme which people complain about) have already been highlighted. Something can be put in place to allow smartcards to be loaded with cash at Paypoint/Payzone (basically every corner shop/newsagent) but cash acceptance on board needs to end.

 

[johncrossley]

Why is slow boarding considered so important in the UK, with attempts to change that so controversial? It doesn't seem such an issue in most other developed countries. Generally speaking, they either price their tickets sold from the driver at a premium to encourage off bus ticketing, or ban driver sales altogether.

 

[Worm]

The 'unbanked' argument is spurious at best, there is no reason in 2025 why you shouldn't have a bank account, banks have accounts and processes to help the homeless before that argument is made.

The 'pro-cash movement' is starting to border on conspiracy and sovereign citizen nonsense with the 'legal tender' argument.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Why is slow boarding considered so important in the UK, with attempts to change that so controversial? It doesn't seem such an issue in most other developed countries. Generally speaking, they either price their tickets sold from the driver at a premium to encourage off bus ticketing, or ban driver sales altogether.

It isn't the case that slow boarding isn't considered important. Moreover, it is a reflection on the commercial model that is being employed.

If you're less bothered about commercial income and cost control in your operational model as a contracting authority, as in many European countries, then you have the commercial freedom to invest in whatever emerging technology. The cost benefit analysis is completely different.

Similarly, if you're deciding to specify multi-door open boarding, then the specifying authority is baring the revenue risk not the operator who is merely paid to provide a service. That service specification can include the vehicle requirement for multiple doors so the tendering operators can cost up both the capital and ongoing costs of relating to those vehicles specs.

Conversely, in a commercial environment, operators have done the studies and sums relating to cost benefits. If the new technology has a payback period of five or ten years, then it probably isn't going to fly and certainly not when the technology is relatively untested and expensive (which explains why commercial firms are slower to be early adopters). Likewise, they have done the sums that show that any on-cost from slower boarding on a single door vehicle are outweighed by financial considerations in capital spend, through life maintenance, reduction in seated capacity and all manner of other factors.

So it's not correct to simply categorise UK operators as being stupid or ignorant of what happens on the continent. Similarly, we can point to instances where commercial fare structures have been employed to encourage moving from on-bus sales. First Bus definitely did discount their m-tickets in 2015-7 in order to promote a shift away from on-bus sales - they are my local firm and I can't comment on the strategy in other firms (e.g. Arriva, Stagecoach, et al) but it does happen in the UK.

 

[mangad]

School children also rely on cash-paid pocket money for their bus fares and lunch etc.

Not sure how many children you've been around recently, but I have two and you'll be amazed at how many DON'T get given pocket money in cash. A lot of parents don't even have cash themselves - they don't have the coins to give to the children because they use cards for everything themselves.

As for school meals, well that's increasingly cashless too. My son's secondary school, they have a prepay account topped up online, and the children "pay" by using their fingerprint. They do have the ability to top up their account using coins, but not to pay directly. School kitchens, like many organisations, find cash cumbersome and expensive to handle. Schools like online pre-paid systems as well as the children aren't carrying money around, and therefore it reduces bullying and theft problems.

I'm firmly of the opinion that we should keep cash. But there's a fundamental problem for businesses dealing with it. It's costly and the infrastructure to support businesses to take it, is dying on its backside. In rural areas small businesses often have no banks nearby to deposit it. I know one business where depositing cash would require about a four hour round trip. So they don't take it. And the more businesses don't take cash, the more the demand to use cash falls.

That's the problem you're up against. The problem is FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR bigger than Stagecoach not taking cash on a few bus routes. And that's far bigger a nettle than most people in power want to grasp. Sorry, but the idea that Stagecoach or any other business should be forced to take cash is now for the fairies.

 

[Sun Chariot]

A passenger with learning difficulties, depending on their specific needs, may not have the cognitive function to use a virtual payment app on their mobile phone.

As this thread's existence is due to the one Facebook post (Tuula Pile, whom none of us - except, perhaps OP? - know what her disability actually is), I'll share my own experience.

People with cognitive learning difficulties - based on all the staff and the students I met, during all the years of my son's suppprted education until he was age 21 - can manage a bus pass and/or contactless payment card on - for example - a neck lanyard, or in an easy to open flip wallet. They can scan the pass / contactless card on a reader.

Those faced with significant motor coordination difficulties, or disabilities, will - as the OP states - potentially struggle to access a phone app payment; although voice commands to unlock phone and open app, offer potential help.

None of the students I met, during all the years of my son's supported learning, had cash for buses / meals / etc. They either lacked motor dexterity to open up a coin pouch and hold coins, or they lacked the cognitive development to understand (or remember) which coin(sl were needed.

 

[Starmill]

The Government could protect the right to use cash as a method of payment, it would be far simpler.

Too many businesses have already withdrawn the cash payment option for this to be viable. Protecting access to cash (not it's acceptance) is sensible but only in the short term.

Perhaps 25 years ago the, Parliament could have made it a lawful requirement to accept cash. They chose not to. Realistically this would be too difficult today.

 

[AlterEgo]

The Government could protect the right to use cash as a method of payment, it would be far simpler.

Why would they do that?

Stagecoach do operate non-commercial services, tendered by the local authorities to serve all and sundry, not just those who are members of a bank or building society.

You don’t need to be a member of a bank or a building society to use cashless, as has been tediously and repeatedly pointed out in your thread. Which, I note, has one supporting argument in the form of a quote of a post from a locked “Keep Cash” group on Facebook.

The de-regulation of buses was intended to enhance customer experiences by commercially improving the experience to the general public.

Taking away the option to pay with cash is detrimental to these experiences.

No, you just prefer to use cash.

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I find it easy, quick and convenient to hand over a £2 or £3 coin to the driver for my journey, take my ticket, take a seat and ring the bell and thank him as I alight.

That takes about ten seconds per passenger. Perhaps more if printing a ticket is slow.

I don't have to faff around with getting a card signal or holding it at the correct range or delaying the bus as I alight to tap off again.

Just invented nonsense - it takes about a second to tap on or off.

With cash, the offices of payment are only carried out once, meaning the bus can get on its way as soon as it takes me to my desired stop.

What does this mean? Cashless (and often ticketless) fare collection vastly speeds up boarding and dwell times. Operators wouldn’t be so keen on it otherwise; making out it is somehow less convenient for the operator, yet acknowledging they persist with cashless methods of payment defies logic.

Contactless chips in virtual payment cards can damage and become defective easily.

Literally never been a problem for me.

A passenger with learning difficulties, depending on their specific needs, may not have the cognitive function to use a virtual payment app on their mobile phone.

You don’t need to use an app.

School children also rely on cash-paid pocket money for their bus fares and lunch etc.

No they increasingly don’t. Many are now cashless! My niece’s school is fully cashless.

 

[renegademaster]

increases risk of assault for the driver

Have the driver unions (mainly unite i think? ) ever actually said anything against cash?

 

[stadler]

Too many businesses have already withdrawn the cash payment option for this to be viable. Protecting access to cash (not it's acceptance) is sensible but only in the short term.

Perhaps 25 years ago the, Parliament could have made it a lawful requirement to accept cash. They chose not to. Realistically this would be too difficult today.

It would not be too difficult. Norway has proven that it works. Norway only introduced a law last year on the 1st of October in 2024 requiring all business to accept cash and they previously had hundreds of cashless businesses. As a result dozens of shops and cafes and restaurants and hotels etc that were previously cashless have started taking cash. This seems to have worked fine there. It is not hard for cashless businesses to start accepting cash. Sure some might find it inconvenient but it is not difficult. I think it could easily work in the UK if our government introduced such laws.

 

[renegademaster]

It would not be too difficult. Norway has proven that it works. Norway only introduced a law last year on the 1st Of October 2024 requiring all business to accept cash and they previously had hundreds of cashless businesses. As a result dozens of shops and cafes and restaurants and hotels etc that were previously cashless have started taking cash. This seems to have worked fine there. It is not hard for cashless businesses to start accepting cash. Sure some might find it inconvenient but it is not difficult. I think it could easily work in the UK if our government introduced such laws.

The government is also spending a fair amount on subsiding "banking hubs" via the Post Office, that they can spend a few pennies subsiding commercial cash handling is not some radical step

 

[Starmill]

It would not be too difficult. Norway has proven that it works. Norway only introduced a law last year on the 1st of October in 2024 requiring all business to accept cash and they previously had hundreds of cashless businesses. As a result dozens of shops and cafes and restaurants and hotels etc that were previously cashless have started taking cash. This seems to have worked fine there. It is not hard for cashless businesses to start accepting cash. Sure some might find it inconvenient but it is not difficult. I think it could easily work in the UK if our government introduced such laws.

Perhaps the additional costs are acceptable to Norwegian businesses and government, they are in a very different position to us. Unfortunately they won't be in the UK, so it's not a realistic policy and it brings very minimal value. The alternatives I've suggested may cost more to set up but enable a long term efficiency. Not accepting electronic payments loses you a large base of customers who lack cash, and the processing costs of accepting both formats are meaningful in the long term.

You're free to advocate for a ban on refusal of cash if you like, but unfortunately you lost this one many years ago and you won't get anywhere with it now.

 

[cool110]

Similarly, we can point to instances where commercial fare structures have been employed to encourage moving from on-bus sales. First Bus definitely did discount their m-tickets in 2015-7 in order to promote a shift away from on-bus sales - they are my local firm and I can't comment on the strategy in other firms (e.g. Arriva, Stagecoach, et al) but it does happen in the UK.

For season tickets Stagecoach have an auto-renewal option that is the same price as the 4-week tickets but runs on calendar months. Blackpool Transport have online-only group and 1 hour tickets.

 

[Starmill]

The government is also spending a fair amount on subsiding "banking hubs" via the Post Office, that they can spend a few pennies subsiding commercial cash handling is not some radical step

The banking hubs are beneficial for lots of things that can only be done face to face such as mortgage appointments. Not only for the deposit of cash. It is reasonable they use them for that in the current transition away from cash use though.

 

[renegademaster]

For season tickets Stagecoach have an auto-renewal option that is the same price as the 4-week tickets but runs on calendar months. Blackpool Transport have online-only group and 1 hour tickets.

Metrobus Surrey also offer discounted weekly/monthly tickets if you buy online. 95% of people just tap on, 5% drop 3 quid in the tray and more complicated tickets that might cause a delay are quite rare to encounter. And they done this without having to ban cash. I dont understand the mentality that provincial bus services are suddenly going to be quick if we ban cash.

One door operation and heavy, unpredictable traffic making timetables largely fiction are the main causes of slow busses.

 

[Starmill]

Similarly, we can point to instances where commercial fare structures have been employed to encourage moving from on-bus sales. First Bus definitely did discount their m-tickets in 2015-7 in order to promote a shift away from on-bus sales - they are my local firm and I can't comment on the strategy in other firms (e.g. Arriva, Stagecoach, et al) but it does happen in the UK.

Stagecoach definitely used this approach themselves in certain areas. I bought a Thanet ticket at a 20p saving in 2021.

 

[johncrossley]

It would not be too difficult. Norway has proven that it works. Norway only introduced a law last year on the 1st of October in 2024 requiring all business to accept cash and they previously had hundreds of cashless businesses. As a result dozens of shops and cafes and restaurants and hotels etc that were previously cashless have started taking cash. This seems to have worked fine there. It is not hard for cashless businesses to start accepting cash. Sure some might find it inconvenient but it is not difficult. I think it could easily work in the UK if our government introduced such laws.

But as mentioned before, the law in Norway has not prevented a huge premium to be charged for paying on board. Therefore, "on the spot" cash is as good as banned. Yes, this premium also applies to card payment, but those users have alternative off bus options so don't need to pay this premium. As I mentioned earlier, most countries charge a premium for on bus payment. Decades ago, long before apps, smartcards and contactless bank cards, many big cities outside the UK effectively "banned cash". Yes, it was usually technically possible to buy a ticket from the driver, but at high cost so few people did it. Most big city operators have found it impractical to spend a lot of time at bus stops selling tickets, therefore they were forced to price off most people from paying the driver. Some operators installed ticket machines at bus stops, others sold hugely discounted monthly tickets or strips of tickets from local shops or kiosks near bus stops.

On the other hand, British operators in the 70s and 80s didn't care how long ticket issuing would take. This is nothing to do with deregulation, because the state owned and run operators replaced conductors with the driver selling tickets instead. The deregulated operators merely copied what the regulated operators did beforehand. Whereas in the 70s and 80s big city operators outside the UK and Ireland had already mostly switched to off bus payment. Belfast and Dublin didn't have deregulation but stuck with driver payment regardless.

Stagecoach definitely used this approach themselves in certain areas. I bought a Thanet ticket at a 20p saving in 2021.

20p is nothing! The surcharge needs to be £1 at least. As mentioned earlier, in Oslo the on board surcharge is 20 NOK (£1.43). TfL were charging £2.40 for cash bus fares in 2014 when the Oyster fare was £1.45.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

The disability argument is null and void having worked with adults and kids with disabilities the ones who have the capacity to manage there own money are al.ost exclusively cashless or only use cash for very small purchases where card isn't accepted

 

[WideRanger]

This discussion is giving me flashbacks to a job a did a number of years ago, when I worked in the 'tricky problems' department of one the UK's largest (if not the largest) user of cheques.

The banking industry was proposing a clear programme for the phase-out of cheques, and because of our importance in the system, I was one of the people consulted as a representative of a major user. The arguments for the phase out were compelling - but there were respectable arguments against. However, there was complete uproar about the possibility of phasing out.

In the end, the industry decided that a clear programme of withdrawal was more trouble than it was worth, and so we still have the system of cheques in place, albeit with the backend completely changed, so that it is now in effect simply a paper record of digital payments to remove some of the worst costs of the system.

When was the last time you wrote or received a cheque? It seems the industry made a good call. After not many years, the system is functionally redundant, and works in an entirely different way. All the howls of protest at the time about the withdrawal of cheques are gone because they haven't been withdrawn, it is just obvious that hardly anyone now finds them the most effective way to handle their money.

Clearly paper/metal cash is going the same way, although I suspect it will be slower to fully disappear. All the talk I hear about 'legal tender' seems to be from people who satisfy both of the following conditions: 1) a reluctance to change from a system they are used to and 2) a lack of understanding of the philosophical and legal concepts of money (the short version: it's just a fungible token of value, as the promise on Bank of England notes makes clear). While sadly, condition 2 applies to most people in the UK, category 1 is a rapidly reducing set of people.

There will come a point when all but the most recalcitrant holdouts will decide that the pain of handling cash is more significant than their perceived (but ill-informed) principles about the sacredness of cash. And then it will be gone. Don't expect the process to be done with great fanfare.

 

[JKP]

This discussion is giving me flashbacks to a job a did a number of years ago, when I worked in the 'tricky problems' department of one the UK's largest (if not the largest) user of cheques.

The banking industry was proposing a clear programme for the phase-out of cheques, and because of our importance in the system, I was one of the people consulted as a representative of a major user. The arguments for the phase out were compelling - but there were respectable arguments against. However, there was complete uproar about the possibility of phasing out.

In the end, the industry decided that a clear programme of withdrawal was more trouble than it was worth, and so we still have the system of cheques in place, albeit with the backend completely changed, so that it is now in effect simply a paper record of digital payments to remove some of the worst costs of the system.

When was the last time you wrote or received a cheque? It seems the industry made a good call. After not many years, the system is functionally redundant, and works in an entirely different way. All the howls of protest at the time about the withdrawal of cheques are gone because they haven't been withdrawn, it is just obvious that hardly anyone now finds them the most effective way to handle their money.

Clearly paper/metal cash is going the same way, although I suspect it will be slower to fully disappear. All the talk I hear about 'legal tender' seems to be from people who satisfy both of the following conditions: 1) a reluctance to change from a system they are used to and 2) a lack of understanding of the philosophical and legal concepts of money (the short version: it's just a fungible token of value, as the promise on Bank of England notes makes clear). While sadly, condition 2 applies to most people in the UK, category 1 is a rapidly reducing set of people.

There will come a point when all but the most recalcitrant holdouts will decide that the pain of handling cash is more significant than their perceived (but ill-informed) principles about the sacredness of cash. And then it will be gone. Don't expect the process to be done with great fanfare.

Funnily enough, I wrote two cheques yesterday on behalf of a small charity of which I am treasurer and today received a cheque donating money to the charity! Cheques are certainly still used by many people, perhaps mainly in the older age group.

 

[lookapigeon]

What's wrong with a flat fare model a la TFL for one way journeys and then max cap equivalent to an all day bus pass (or equivalent)?

Seems to work for TFL, and the speed for boarding is very good. Only one tap to register the card, virtually no lengthy interaction required with the driver to buy a ticket. All this tap off just adds more unrequired friction in the experience, and the current setup of card payment and effectively the bus driver being the shopkeeper and having "ring in" the ticket details and then get the payment from the passenger. In my anecdotal experience this is the longest and error prone part of the experience - not the bus drivers' fault, but the passenger switching the ticket type, or dealing with the overly fussy card reader built into the ticket machine.

 

[JGurney]

These, of course, are all choices, and I see no reason, morally or legally, why choices should be accommodated.

Disabilities must, both by law and morally, receive reasonable adjustments. Refuseniks deserve neither. If they choose to eschew parts of modern life such as payment cards and the Internet .......

Cash acceptance on buses has major disadvantages. It slows operation, it increases risk of assault for the driver and the costs of processing it are high.

Having a limited income and no savings is not a choice.

Being ignorant of using the Internet or a smartphone is not really a choice either, especially in people who missed out on the early stages of their introduction and now face entering at the deep end with little support.

A level of anxiety which leaves someone very resistant to taking any risks, and to seeing everything unfamiliar as a risk, is also not a choice and might be verging on being a disability.

Of course there are people refusing to use the Internet or cards due to belief in various conspiracy theories (although in some cases I think those might be demonstrating paranoid delusions, which are arguably a disability), and those keen on cash because they are dodging tax, but there are also those held back by poverty, ignorance and fearfulness.

The friend I referred to in my earlier post probably could be led to grasp basic online operations via a smartphone, if she was supported by a patient and understanding tutor, but that soft of support does not seem to be made easily available. Payment via a smartphone would be much preferable to a card as the 'phone display could show her current balance, dealing with the fear of losing track of spending which comes with cards. This would need an app which would reliably make instant deductions upon each payment, so she could be confident that the balance shown was accurate and definitive. I do not know whether that sort of thing is available. My own debit card spending quite often involves delays before sums show as deducted: that does not worry me as the sums involved are well within my balance and do not put me at any risk of getting overdrawn, but I can see that it would be unsuitable to someone needing to watch the pennies.

I think those of us who are well-informed and with a range of skills, and who mainly mix with more of the same, can be unaware of the big deficits in knowledge and ability some others have.

 

[pint]

Cheques, thanks to banking apps on phones, are now a useful method to receive payment, for example i do some sopping for an older relative and in turn they write a cheque I use the banking app and in goes payment, after many years I have also written a few cheques as the person preferred that method - write cheque pay in by app, as there was less chance of a mistake

As for cashless, a lot of people get app based payments and contactless by card confused, so lets forget about mobile phone app based payments and look at cashless via cards and contactless and the advantages of cashless is obvious.
For boarding a bus tap on and go, no one is fumbling for change, the bus driver doesnt need to count the money given if its an assortment of coins, less chance of mistakes less chance of pilfering, and no cash handling.
Everyone who has a bank account will have some form of card almost certainly with contactless, and on top of that there are also pre pay card options - by a loaded card with a £20 note or whatever and off you go.
The only people moaning about cashless are usually the older generation/stubborn set, who seem to revel in confusing and mixing cashless and app based payments.

 

[yorkie]

Unfortunately, Stagecoach have decided to run a cashless trial for adult single tickets on some of their buses in Kent. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162980981610891&set=g.1509891715859513 .

This is a disgrace.

It's unfriendly to those with certain disabilities, both mental and physical.

I was under the impression that all bus services needed to accept cash payments for tickets in order for them to be deemed a public service vehicle, as accepting cash means a service is open to any person of the public and not exclusively to those who have signed up to an organisation .e.g. a bank.

It's abhorrent.

Is there any way that the legalities of this can be challenged?

Do you have any examples of conditions someone may have, which means they are unable to use cashless payments, but are not entitled to a disabled person's bus pass?

Also, are you aware of any successful legal action against organisations which implemented this a long time ago, e.g. TfL?

 

[Discuss223]

Do you have any examples of conditions someone may have, which means they are unable to use cashless payments, but are not entitled to a disabled person's bus pass?

I'm not going to disclose anyone's personal details regarding their disability.

Not every disabled person has an ENCTS card.

ENCTS cards are also not valid outside of the local authority issuer area on Monday-Fridays before 09:30 and after 23:00.

Also, are you aware of any successful legal action against organisations which implemented this a long time ago, e.g. TfL?

Transport For London have ticket offices where customers can purchase day travel tickets with cash, such as King's Cross Saint Pancras.

I see no mention in the poster that was shared about Stagecoach's trial of them introducing ticket offices.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Having a limited income and no savings is not a choice.

One does not require a large income nor savings to pay by card.

Being ignorant of using the Internet or a smartphone is not really a choice either, especially in people who missed out on the early stages of their introduction and now face entering at the deep end with little support.

It is not necessary to use the Internet or a smartphone to pay for a bus journey by card.

 

[Mainline421]

but cash acceptance on board needs to end.

No it doesn't.

The 'unbanked' argument is spurious at best, there is no reason in 2025 why you shouldn't have a bank account, banks have accounts and processes to help the homeless before that argument is made.

The 'pro-cash movement' is starting to border on conspiracy and sovereign citizen nonsense with the 'legal tender' argument.

Many bank accounts in other countries won't come with a Visa or MasterCard. One of my uni flatmates relied predominantly on cash for months recently as a result.

which implemented this a long time ago, e.g. TfL?

Thanks to Oyster paying cash for a bus fare in London is easy

Too many businesses have already withdrawn the cash payment option for this to be viable. Protecting access to cash (not it's acceptance) is sensible but only in the short term.

Perhaps 25 years ago the, Parliament could have made it a lawful requirement to accept cash. They chose not to. Realistically this would be too difficult today.

It's obviously viable as many countries have already demonstrated, in New York even Amazon Go accepts cash, contrary to popular belief the actual cost of handling cash is virtually zero. Just a couple months ago I saw one such UK business start accepting cash in front of my eyes when their card machine malfunctioned.

As it stands I pay for most of my bus fares in cash, it’s just more convenient especially since I generally have to bank cash a couple of times a month anyway. That said, if Ticketer accepted Amex I’d probably switch. I also end up paying for others at cash-only places almost every week (usually repaid in drinks)...

 

[Mag_seven]

As we appear to have quite a bit of overlap with this thread:

Cashless bus services.

The rip off hotel bus routes (GH1 and GH2) at Gatwick Airport run by BM Coaches have just gone fully cashless. They accept contactless only now. It seems a very odd decision as an airport is likely to be one of the top places where people will not have contactless. So lots of people will be...

www.railforums.co.uk

we will therefore draw discussion here to a close.

Please contine discussion on the other thread.