Outside of London, Stagecoach Buses have launched contactless bank cards on their Oxfordshire services.
From Stagecoach Group
We’ve taken the first step on
our journey to provide contactless bus travel across the whole of our UK
services. Pioneering the use of this technology on buses outside of London,
contactless payment went live on our Oxfordshire services today.
All 180 buses in the Stagecoach
in Oxfordshire and Oxford Tube fleet have been fitted with state-of-the-art
ticket machines that allow customers to pay for travel with their contactless
credit or debit card. The ticket machines also accept payment by Apple Pay and
Android Pay, with no additional charge to our customers who choose to use
contactless payment.
Over 4,000 ticket machines have
already been ordered, with a further 3,200 scheduled to be delivered by
2017-18. By the end of 2018, the state-of-the-art technology will be live on
all 7,200 of our buses in England, Scotland and Wales - equivalent to nearly
one in four buses outside London.
The next stage of the roll out
will see contactless payment being offered in Ashford, Kent and Tyne and Wear
by the end of 2016, followed by Greater Manchester in early 2017. It’s not only
our customers in large cities and towns who will benefit from this exciting new
technology; rural and island communities such as Norfolk in England, Orkney in
Scotland and Brecon in Wales, will all have access to contactless payment in
the next two years.
Coming hot on the heels of the
launch of our new app, this investment in contactless payment further supports
our dedication to providing our customers with seamless travel – from planning
to payment to journey.
This is a stepping-stone towards a cashless society as London Buses also ditched their cash fares back in the Summer of
2014 because of the use of contactless bank cards.
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