Key Growth

TWENTY per cent of Plymouth Citybus journeys are now made by passengers paying by smartcard.

The company introduced the Key season ticket smartcard eight months ago, and bosses are delighted passengers are using what they call a "more convenient method of paying for bus travel".

Citybus managing director Andrew Wickham said it was hoped that with discounted travel offered through the Key, 60 per cent of journeys would soon be prepaid on a smartcard. Already other companies within the Go-Ahead group are hitting that target. Mr Wickham, who leaves Plymouth this week to head Go South Coast in Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle Of Wight, said: "Over the last eight months we have seen an 11 per cent growth in the number of journeys made on our enhanced network using the Key smartcard.

Just last week, Go-ahead, which paid £19million for Citybus in December 2009, said introduction of smartcard technology was being credited for "solid" trading during the first quarter of 2012. An interim statement said bringing in smartcards had, "as expected", reduced the average yield per customer. But the firm stressed the move had provided the opportunity for long-term growth. Nevertheless, it said it would have to look at pricing and cost efficiencies during the next quarter.

Citybus's new managing director, Richard Stevens, joins the firm this week. He was previously operations and commercial director for Stagecoach South West.

This is Plymouth

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A Key Moment

On the Citybus web site: We are currently experiencing problems with our on-line top up facility for the key. We are working as fast as we can to make sure the site is up and running as soon a possible. You can still top up your key in our travel centre in Debenhams, or if you already have a 1 week ticket on your card, you can top this up on the bus via the driver. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep you updated on our progress in getting this issue resolved.

It seems to have been a national issue with The Key rather than just local to Plymouth. Certainly on the Go North East Facebook page there has been a lot of attention paid to the problems it is causing.

We've had a technical problem over the weekend which is preventing Key cards from activating. We're currently looking at this issue and trying to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Unlike in Plymouth where there seems to have been little comment, Go North East saw an avalanche of comments.

Go North East We have a procedure in place where the driver should be taking the last 4 digits of the card and allowing travel.

It seems though that many drivers were unaware of these procedures:

This is ridiculous, I've had 2 cards in 6 weeks and not been able to use either, customer service I've spoken to haven't got a clue and bus drivers I've encounter are plain rude and look at you like your lying, and on top of that I've had to borrow money for busfare because my fare for the month is on my card! Before we know it the snow will be down and won't have buses on the roads again so not much chance of using them! IF it gets sorted I won't be using it again that's for certain! Oh and the driver didn't ask for my card today - I had to pay!

It does appear that the problem has been fixed now though

We have been notified that the on-line system is now up and running. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

It does show that for all the benefits these cards bring, when they don't work it causes massive headaches. The company have have all the back up procedures in place but unless the drivers are aware of these then as far as the passengers are concerned then they don't exist. I have not had any problems with bus pass but I do know what it is like when a bank card fails to work. The last time it happened to me the cashier got very snotty and very loudly explained that my card had been declined and I would have to pay. This was not possible so I had to leave the goods behind. By the time I left everyone in the shop was aware that my card had been declined. When I got home a quick phone call to the bank confirmed it must have been a faulty card as there was no issue with my account, which is what the cashier had very loudly implied. The next day I got a new card. This was quite a few years ago but I still remember it as if it was yesterday! It sounds as if a lot of passengers up North had the same experience with their Key Cards.

From the lack of comments on the Plymouth Citybus Facebook page it seems that Plymouth passengers have been treated better. Either way I am sure many passengers and no doubt many drivers were all harking back to the good old days of printed bus passes that didn't need computers to work!

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The Key to using The Key

A nicely produced video from Plymouth Citybus on how to use The Key.

 

It is good to see the bus company using video like this as it can often be easier to show something than to explain it.  I have often seen such efforts ridiculed by the press (and bus enthusiasts!) as teaching people to suck eggs – but there are a lot of people out there who do need this kind of helpful information.

Thanks to watching this I have only just realised that I can view all the Citybus journeys I have taken since I got The Key. Found that my 07:39 bus on the 50 has varied between 07:38 at the earliest and 07:48 at the latest. It has also highlighted a few differences in how the same journey is recorded. Most of the time it is shown as Asda, Plymouth, which s correct as its the main stop before mine. A few are Keswick Cresent Shop (the next stop from mine) a few are down as Bampton Road and recently there are a few down as Miller Way Shops!

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Low Key launch for The Key

After much anticipation our new key smartcard will be launched on Sunday 14th August.
Existing young person card holders have been sent a new smartcard with 1 days free travel. All Adult customers have been sent a new card with existing travel credits transferred to the new card. Please check the balance on your new card to ensure the correct credit has been transferred and zone applicable to your travel. This can be done by clicking the Plymouth unlocked image above, and then logging on to your account.
For travel credit issues please send an email to thekey@plymouthbus.co.uk with your current freedom card number (written under the name on the card) together with your new card number (written under your name on the front of the pass), and we will check and update our records within the next 7 days.
Alternatively, please take your Freedom card and your new key to our Debenhams Travel Centre, where our staff will be able to assist you.
The ability to top up and purchase on line will be available next week.
All customers are advised to visit our travel centre in Debenhams to purchase new products. Customers with 1 week products on their card can top up their key on-board the bus. 1 and 7 day paper tickets will continue to be available from the driver, and from shops displaying the Paypoint logo.
If you have any other queries with your new card please call 0845 077 2223 and press option 2 where a service representative will be able to answer your query.
If you have not received your key, please let us know as soon as possible by email or by visiting our Travel Centre in Debenhams.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused whilst we launch our new key.
Plymouth Citybus

The Plymouth launch of The key does seem to have been quite Low Key (pun intended) compared with elsewhere in the Go Ahead Group. Go Northern have a few buses in a special overall advert livery for The Key while we just have a few normal adverts carried on a few buses. At Derriford Hospital staff received an email on Friday advising us to check with the company if we hadn't received our new pass. I only received mine on Friday and I know other staff were also still waiting for them at that time. Citybus have said that there will be a period of grace where they will still accept the old passes as I am sure many passengers will be unaware of the new Key and the need to change their passes. The first they will know is when they use their pass today and the driver points out they need a new one!
Many will wonder just why they need a new pass as in use the new pass does not seem much different to the older one. Of course this does assume that the new machines work properly! I guess I will find out on my way to work today...
I am sure there will be issues with the new cards this week. Any new technology product these days seems prone to breakdown. Oxford was just one of the areas where problems with the new pass hit the local headlines for a few weeks.
As I said Go North East launched their Key with a lot more publicity including a series of Flash mobs:

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A Key Moment for Citybus

One of the benefits of belonging to a larger group is having access to their IT services and products. Go Ahead have their own Smart Card brand which is being rolled out across all their national fleets and soon it will be Plymouth turn to have "The Key":
Plymouth Citybus is moving to a new smart card system known as the "key" from late July and early August we will be issuing new smart cards to replace the current ones known as the freedom card. Your new card will either be sent to the address we have on our records therefore it is very important that we have your up to date contact details, otherwise your new card could be sent to the wrong address meaning that you won't have your new season ticket ready to use when we switch over to the new system.
The new smart card system will bring to Plymouth many new benefits. For Students it will mean being able to purchase Student and child versions of our popular 7, 28 90 and annual tickets.
For all our customers purchasing our period tickets direct from us you will be able to manage your account on line via this web site. This will include the purchase of travel and seeing how you have used your card over a given period.
I am sure over the coming months we will see a lot more publicity for "The Key" but for now we have a few pages on the Citybus website:

• The Key Guide
• The Key FAQs

A bit more background information:
The Key smartcard allows passengers to buy their season tickets at self service machines in railway stations, or buy online and collect at stations in a one-touch transaction, meaning customers can enjoy faster passage through ticket barriers. In Oxford, Go-Ahead’s Oxford Bus Company introduced a full ITSO scheme last year, and there are now over 30,000 active Key smartcards in use. Five further bus schemes are due to be implemented at Go-Ahead this year – by Go North East, where a successful pilot has already been delivered, Go South Coast, Brighton and Hove, Metrobus and Plymouth CityBus. Source

As with any major IT implementation these days there have been problems across the group where the new card has been introduced but hopefuly most of these will have been ironed out before Plymouth gets going!

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