Many platforms to depart from, but only one route to better buses

A seminar on public transport ticketing technology organised by the Local Government Association’s Public Transport Consortium heard that bus users are now able to both buy and carry their tickets on a number of different platforms, but that all the various types of technology share a common goal: to get more people onto buses. Rik Thomas reports

Rik Thomas

04 November 2011

Suffolk County Council has been working to enable commuters to both buy and store bus tickets on their mobile phones

Some people see dedicated smartcards as the future of transport ticketing, but not Peter Lee, business development manager at Suffolk County Council. “We looked at smartcards, just like many other local authorities, and we were shocked at the cost of the infrastructure investment,” he told the LGA PTC event. “Something like £2,000-3,000 per bus is required and neither local transport operators nor local authorities are willing to make that investment.” So if not...