Fares please, sorry Madame, can't accept real money.

They say that you will be able to buy travel cards/tickets in shops.

I'll use my bus pass

 

It's what they do in other European cities, people seem to manage. Maybe after having hopped on and had a few free rides before anyone said anything but they'll manage....

 

I've only ever found them in London!

Not quite true! I travelled on one when I was in Java

 

Good morning ,two of my sons are London Bus drivers and when I asked them they said "no comment"

But I do think it will gradually spread to other areas,I shall also use my bus pass

 

Oh that's nice JJ,if at the end of there shift the drivers are short they have to make up the difference and the money is deducted from their wages

 

At first, I will admit that I thought this was a bit of a bonkers idea, however I can now see the logic in it; back in the day, when I was a driver [cue Dvorak's Largo 'Going Home' ] I have seen me pay in anything up to £350 or £400 at the end of a busy day, and that is when the fares were still well below £1. However, nowadays, I'd guess that the average paid in is around the £30 mark, as the vast majority of journeys are now made using an Oyster card.

To be fair to TfL, it works in everyones favour too - the cost of handling the cash is now way more than the cash value itself, its safer for drivers not to be carrying cash around with them whilst they are travelling to or from their bus or on a meal relief, and its better for the passengers as they get to board much more easily (no more rooting around for change) as well as having their daily expenditure capped so once the passenger has spent the maximum amount determined by the cap for a day, all subsequent journeys are free.

Oyster cards are freely available in all sorts of shops, including little newsagents, and can even be ordered online in advance of a holiday. I have even made use of the pay as you go Oyster idea for visitors - much easier to give them a pay as you go Oyster card pre-loaded with enough money for however many days travel and then just let them have freedom to travel wherever and whenever than burdening them with trying to work out the fares structure (and currency if they are not from the UK!).

And even then, if you don't have an Oyster card, you can still 'touch in' on a bus using your credit or debit card, as most of those now support contactless payments anyway.

 

Although I think it's a good idea, and it doesn't impinge of me as I have a bus pass, I find it is already frightening people that I know. They only go up to London very occasionally (helps prove the 1% ) and, sometimes, that is very impromptu.

As long as the system allows them to easily purchase a day ticket, or something similar, then I don't see too much of a problem after they have got used to it. Tickets need to be available at train and/or tube stations or it won't work very well for them.

I know that when we buy a ticket at our train station we can buy a one day travel card that will cover our journeys from home to London and then through London on the tube/bus. Unfortunately, because of the stupid system that operates at the moment, it is more expensive to do that than it is to just buy the train ticket to London and buy the tube ticket when we get there! I presume it's the same for busses but I don't know as I have my bus pass. They'll need to make sure that doesn't happen under the new system.