West Midlands set for Oyster-style travel cards

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A report by competition chiefs into Britain’s bus industry has supported work to introduce an Oyster-style smartcard in the West Midlands.



Centro, the region’s transport authority, has welcomed Competition Commission proposals on measures to improve ticketing schemes which allow passengers to easily transfer between services run by different bus operators.

Centro is already working on introducing smartcards that can be pre-loaded with cash which is then deducted as it is used on the public transport network, regardless of which bus company’s service passengers get on.

A test of the technology will be held in the New Year with a view to rolling it out across the West Midlands over the next 12 months.

Centro chief executive, Geoff Inskip, said he was pleased the Commission’s report had taken into account Centro’s views on proposals for new bus ticketing schemes and supported the view that smartcards would be key to improving the bus network.

He said: “We shall continue to work in partnership with bus operators in the West Midlands to develop the already successful nBus and nNetwork ticketing schemes with a key focus on introducing Smartcard ticketing, similar to Oyster, in the months ahead.”

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A new Oyster-style smartcard is being introduced for bus users in Coventry along with a host of new double-decker buses.

National Express is launching a £26 million programme of investment across the West Midlands including spending £4million on 20 new buses in the city.

The new vehicles – worth £200,000 each – will be driven by 60 new drivers recruited in a bid to get more women and young people behind the wheel.

The travel giant is splashing out its biggest investment programme in years after recruiting 650 new drivers across the region during 2012.

A new mobile phone app will also be launched for bus users in the second half of 2013.

Similar to smart phone apps for train services, the new app will give travellers valuable real-time information and help plan journeys using GPS tracking of vehicles from a new £1million control room in Birmingham.

State-of-the-art hybrid buses will be tried out in the Black Country and could be brought to Coventry in 2014 if they prove successful in driving down running costs there.

Peter Coates, managing director for National Express West Midlands, said: “These are expensive vehicles – they are around £300,000, but they will produce 30 per cent to 40 per cent savings on fuel costs.

“Fuel is our second biggest cost after pay and there was a big rise in fuel duty for bus companies last April.”

The smartcard payment system – similar to the Oyster card used on the London Underground – will be rolled out in late spring

New technology to combat vandals is also in the pipeline, providing hi-tech CCTV equipment triggered by motion detection which capture faces of culprits.

It comes a week after National Express West Midlands announced a series of price rises.

Fuel prices were among the reasons blamed by the company for the price of daysaver tickets increasing by 10p and travel cards going up by 50p a week.

Monthly travel cards increased from £54 to £55.50 but bosses said the rises would help pay for the new smart card system.

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'Oyster card' for Coventry launched by local bus companies



Coventry's answer to the Oyster card has had its official launch at the city’s Transport Museum.

The new electronic Coventry’n’Bus pass is the city’s first smartcard ticket and is the first of a raft of ticketing options to be made available by transport authority Centro on its new Swift smartcard.

The monthly pass costs £43.50 by direct debit and can be used on any bus in the Coventry area regardless of which company runs the service.

It means regular bus passengers in the city can save up to £18.50 a month on the cost of their travel, compared to a paper bus pass.

The launch follows the successful installation of smartcard readers on all of the region’s 2,400 buses and an agreement with Coventry bus operators including National Express Coventry, Travel de Courcey, Stagecoach and Johnsons Coach and Bus Travel.

Centro chairman Coun John McNicholas, who officially launched the new pass, said: “At a time when many families are struggling to meet the rising cost of living we hope this new Swift smartcard can offer a little financial help as well as making bus travel even easier and more convenient.

“The Coventry’n’Bus product is a great example of how smartcard technology allows us to offer more flexible, customised yet cheaper ticketing for passengers. Our priority now is to launch a range of ‘pay as you go’ products on Swift as soon as possible next year.”

The new pass is the first commercial product of its type to be made available on Swift anywhere in the West Midlands and marks a major step forward in Centro’s £14 million smartcard project.

Further ticket options for the city will go live next year, including one-week and four-week passes available on a ‘pay as you go’ basis.

Peter Power, managing director of National Express Coventry, said: “The introduction of Swift should make it even easier for people across Coventry to use buses to get to and from work, school and college.”

Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, added: “The launch of the Coventry’n’Bus option is a real milestone – you only have to look at London’s Oyster card to see how successful smartcard technology can be in encouraging people on to public transport by making it quicker, easier and, of course, potentially cheaper to use.

“Once fully rolled out Swift will enable fare paying passengers to do away with the need for cash all together and instead make their journey using 21st century technology.”