Buses getting smarter?

A bit of a non-story on This is Plymouth but I am sure it will be welcomed by Citybus:

INCREASES in the price of fuel have led to local bus company Plymouth Citybus putting up prices, but this has come with the introduction of many new schemes.

Peter Oliver, General Manager at Plymouth Citybus, said the most noticeable cost is fuel, saying: "By the time we hit July this year the pump price for us will have increased by 30% in just under 12 months." He added: "We use 12,000 litres of fuel every day. So 9p per litre additional fuel tax is a lot of money to recover."

The age of a young person's ticket has recently been raised to 23-years-old to attract more students. This has proved to have been very beneficial. Peter Oliver said: "When we decided to increase the age to 23, it was to attract students at University who are just starting out."

Plymouth Citybus users can also expect the introduction of M-Ticketing in the future allowing users to buy a ticket online using their smartphone. They will receive a code as proof of purchase, which will be shown to the bus driver in order to travel.

This is Plymouth

I guess its the last line which is most interesting. We have promises of great mobile ticketing options on the way for First Group and contactless cards etc so its good to see that we will get mobile options for Citybus too at some time in the not to distant future. I do hope that we we get it its worth the wait.  All to often what is promised and what is actually delivered are very different. Just look at so called real time displays on Plymouth bus stops to see what I mean there. The technology is out there and available now. We should be able to see when the next bus is due at almost all bus stops, not just a select few. It should be in real – real time on every bus for every bus company. We should be able to have one smart card we can use in Plymouth on all bus companies – even if it comes at a small premium over single company tickets.

First Devon and Cornwall stated last September:

FirstGroup intends to be the first bus operator outside London to offer customers touch in touch out contactless payment. The new ticket machines, designed to read contactless debit or credit cards, in addition to ITSO smartcards such as concessionary bus passes, will be introduced to First buses in Devon and Cornwall from the autumn and will initially allow customers with an ITSO smartcard to touch in. Contactless bank cards will be accepted from late 2012. Unless I have missed something have any of the new ticket machines been installed yet? Is it still on the cards for contactless cards for late 2012?

---

Elsewhere on the net

• CFR Caile Ferate Române ("Romanian Railways") TGP
• Aiming Higher with the Millbrook Flyer [2] Competition Collusion or Collapse Again. Public Transport Experience
• I'm not sure if it only seems that in Britain we always get horrible weather on Bank Holidays when people want to enjoy themselves, but this one in August in the late Eighties was a shocker. Busworld Photography
• The Azure Window (Maltese: Tieqa Zerqa) is a natural arch in the Maltese island of Gozo featuring a table-like rock over the sea. It is situated near two other famous natural landmarks - the Inland Sea, and Dwejra Bay. The stunning geography of the area was created thousands of years ago when two limestone caves collapsed. TGP
• First Hampshire has never been so interesting. The management deserve great credit in reviving the First brand and leading the way in First. Southern England Bus Scene
• This week's Snap on Sunday comes to you from picturesque Par, taken along the river at the Middleway crossing, with First Great Western's 150239 doing the honours on the run down to Newquay. PTOTPA
• A revolutionary new bus service from First or a commercial disaster? Public Transport Experience
• What do you do to refresh a brand that is effectively totally rainbowed? As yet there is no sign of a new standard livery but Trent Barton is pushing itself and its name just that little bit harder. Omnibuses
• As yet, there’s no such 24/7 service across the Poole-Christchurch conurbation, in spite of the three large anchor towns, the densely packed population between them, visitors, and a rejuvenated night time economy. Dorset Bus Blog
• I have owned three LH buses, two were ex Devon General. Two were restored but the third remained “as bought”. She passed her MOT when sold last year ! TGP
• First Western National seemed to be the destination for many old double-deckers from other fleets Busworld Photography

At the forefront

PLYMOUTH was said to be "at the forefront" of a new 'smart' ticketing system which would improve its bus services, council chiefs have claimed. Plymouth City Council's cabinet committee heard that a successful bid for millions of pounds of Government cash would help the transition to smart bus ticketing.
The 'smart ticketing' project would be delivered through a new not-for-profit company – South West Smart Application Ltd – hosted within the Institute of Sustainability Solution Research (ISSR) at the University of Plymouth.
It involved different ticket products, such as day returns or annual passes, being loaded onto a smart card which is then tapped onto a card reader on the bus.
Councillor Kevin Wigens, cabinet member for transport, said the Government grant of £2.98million would help progress the scheme which put the city "at the forefront of smart ticketing".
He said: "We are one of the leaders throughout the whole country, which has already been nominated for an award at the national transport awards.
Full story This is Plymouth

I am not really sure I fully understand what is happening here. Why does the City Council feel the need to introduce a new smart card of its own? Plymouth Citybus has a brand new smart card of its own. The Key is a Go Ahead project shared across all its operations. It may be a bit limited at the moment but but in time I am sure it will expand and offer more payment possibilities such as pre-paid cards by amount rather than for a specific time scale.
First have also just announced a large scale project to offer a whole range of payment options on their new contactless smart card system which if it delivers what it promises then it really will be a class leader.
With both operators systems being able to read other itso smart cards do the council really need to pay out a large sum for one of their own? The existing Green Travel Pass is currently supplied by Citybus as part of The Key so surely as long as all local operators can read it then why not just carry on with this kind of arrangement?
It would be great if the council can put together a scheme which would allow travel on both operators services at all times so maybe this is just the start of a move in this direction. Oh hang on, the Green Travel Pass already offers this, although it is currently limited in availability. Couldn't they just try to extend this pass and make it available to more passengers?
I am not trying to put a damper on things as any investment by the council with the aim of increasing bus use in Plymouth is very much welcomed by Plymothian Transit. I am just not sure I fully understand what they are doing here.
Creative Commons licensed flickr photo shared by AdmiralPR
Go Ahead made a song and dance of The Key in the North East. Will the City Council do the same with their new scheme, whatever it is?

---

Related Links

First Gets touchy Plymothian Transit September 2011

Low Key Launch Plymothian Transit August 2011

Key Moment Plymothian Transit May 2011

Buses getting smarter? Plymothian Transit October 2010

Elsewhere on the net

• "The town has little that, in itself, is attractive." Public Transport Experience
• In October 1986 Plymouth Citybus adopted a new livery. It was described as flame red, white and black. TGP Photos
• Might it actually be better, in England, to reduce the scope of free travel in order to help fund reductions in bus travel for younger people, even up to their mid-twenties. Omnibuses
• After being out of public view for the last 25 years, Lowestoft Corporation No 12 is now back on the road. East Norfolk Bus Blog
• When new these were powered by Leyland O401 engines. Several in Malta would appear to have had Perkins engines fitted thus making them LH6Ps ! Many have had instrumentation altered with at least one running with Swift instruments TGP Photos
• Apart from the occasional knot of American tourists searching for Anne Hathaway's cottage, Stratford's role has become that of a major transport "hub" Public Transport Experience
• Is it time to remove what has become an archaic restriction, to allow operators more flexibility in setting up new bases by having a national system? Omnibuses
• The East Anglia Transport Museum has been situated in the village of Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft in Suffolk since 1965 and, despite a relatively small site manages to pack in multiple forms of public transport, especially trams, trolleybuses and buses. Transport Illustrated

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!

---

Related Links

• Customer Contact Details Plymouth Citybus

Elsewhere on the net

• John Betjeman didn't like what modernity had done to the little settlement of Slough. Public Transport Experience
• The New Bus for London will be as individually English (well, Irish) as Marmite or Beefeaters Omnibuses
• Around 4 years ago now, First's Plymouth fleet said goodbye to the last of the R-TLM batch of Marshall bodied Dennis Darts, PTOTPA
• Five Hythes all with a railway connection? fbb's tenuous transport trivia ... Public Transport Experience
• I recently spent a day on the excellent Mid-Hants Railway, otherwise known as 'The Watercress Line', rounded-off by a quick stop-off in Winchester Transport Illustrated
• By contrast to last time this year's rally and running day attracted fine weather, despite showers being in the west of England on the day Transport Illustrated
• Sometimes the blogitis disease spreads virulently, almost out of control. In this case it began with a picture of Stoke Bruern station, without the concluding "e", in a book "Last Days of Steam in Northamptonshire" Public Transport Experience
• For the first time this month, on Saturday I managed to grab some bus photos on my first visit to Shanklin in three years, and it was great to get back out with the camera. Southern England Bus Scene
• Another of Plymouth Citybus' Volvo B7s has now been branded up, with this one being put into a livery advertising the Plymouth Summer/Winter Festivals PTOTPA

Buses getting smarter soon?

A "ticketing revolution" which could see electronic smartcards replacing traditional paper tickets for bus and train journeys across the South West is now well under way.
Transport minister Norman Baker launched a scheme yesterday to allow companies and councils to link up their schemes and create one multi-purpose card.
The £4 million regional "back office system", the first in Europe, should allow passengers in Bristol to add tickets to their cards for journeys in Devon and Cornwall via mobile phones, whilst on the move.
Ultimately, people could travel to school or work, visit a leisure centre, borrow a book from the library and then take a train home, without ever needing to carry cash.
The project, which adopts the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) protocols has been four years in the making, with involvement from the University of Plymouth.
Professor Jon Shaw, of the university's centre for sustainable transport, said the scheme reduces the initial capital costs and makes it easier to set up smart ticketing schemes.
"The operational efficiencies will ensure faster and more reliable services, which in turn will have a beneficial effect on transport flows and carbon emissions," he said.
"And the consumer will further benefit from better services and the flexibility to add tickets on their cards in Bristol and use them on buses in Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Dorset."
Since 2007 the Department for Transport has invested heavily in smartcard technology, requiring all English concessionary passes new rail franchises to be ITSO compliant.
At least 1,500 buses will be "smartcard enabled" for concessions and multi-purpose ticketing by end 2011.
A grant scheme was also unveiled yesterday, at a cost of £1.85m, to upgrade buses with ITSO smart ticketing equipment in the South West.
South West Smart Applications Ltd, a new mutual not-for-profit company established by bus companies and local authorities in the region, was also launched.
There will also be a free consultancy support programme, worth £120,000, for South West local authorities and operators, providing specialist ITSO consultants.
A dozen "interoperable" smartcard ticketing products are planned to go live in the South West by the end of next year. Full story This is Plymouth


Smartcard image by Cian Ginty (Creative commons)

---

where we display up-to-date photos of bus stop flags that are either ancient and bare the name of an operator of yesteryear or simply do not see any service call there now. Transport of Delight

The annual Wirral show took place last Saturday, initially amidst Showbus-style depressing rainfall but thankfully this eased in the afternoon to let the show blossom. Transport Illustrated