After several years when it was just around the corner, contactless payment is likely to be an everyday feature by the end of this year, but as DAVID JENKINS reports, m-ticketing and smartcards are also fast replacing cash and the ticketing industry is developing products fast to meet these new expectations
The manufacturers and operators have been promising it for a long time, but 2017 finally looks to be the year when contactless payment will start to become normal on Britain’s buses.
The rapid acceleration has been brought about not only because the technology is now readily available, but it is also influenced by the increasing cost of handling cash, balanced by a reduction in charges for accepting cards.
Stagecoach is rolling out new Vix TP5800 ticket machines, which from the driver’s point of view, look and operate in almost the same way as their predecessors. Behind it though are additional levels of security necessary to accept card payments, as well as different processes in the back office. Early indications from Oxford are that up to one in five tickets are being paid for by contactless card.
Arriva’s preferred supplier, Parkeon, has launched Wayfarer 6, and the first deployment of these has…
