TICKET TO RIDE
New fare to cover FOUR bus firms
Political Correspondent A NEW bus ticket that can be used on all major companies in Glasgow is to be launched next month.
The Tripper ticket is being rolled out by First, Stagecoach, McGill’s and City Bus.
The ticket will be able to be purchased on board and used bus to bus and it is hoped to be contactless by the end of the year.
The impending launch was revealed by Ralph Robertson, McGill’s managing director at a meeting with Transport Minister Humza Yousaf at the SNP Conference in Glasgow.
Mr Robertson said: “We want to give an attractive bus service. We will have a multi-operator smart bus to bus ticket available next month.”
Mr Robertson said improving ticketing was one of the measures bus firms were implementing to try and halt the decline in bus usage in Glasgow.
He said: “Glasgow is the epicentre of bus patronage drop.”
The boss of the second biggest bus operator in Glasgow said 90 per cent of the problems are external that bus firms cannot control.
He added: “We have invested in the fleet and in ticketing to make it faster but still we see patronage decline.”
For many years passengers who change buses using difference operators or where the is a choice of operators on a route, have been calling for an integrated ticket that can be used on different bus companies.
Bus firms have recently been changing ticketing technology to allow such a ticket to be available.
The new tickets to be launched on the Tripper scheme will cover adult day and weekly, and child day and weekly tickets.
First Glasgow managing director, Andrew Jarvis, said: “We are tremendously excited to be part of this project, which will deliver great benefits to customers in Glasgow. We see multi-operator tickets as a great way to make journeys easier and more integrated for people, ensuring seamless travel between operators across the city.”
The meeting was held to discuss increasing bus usage to get people out of their cars in towns and cities to reduce pollution and improve air quality.
Professor David Begg, a former UK Government advisor of transport, said Glasgow had particular problems in encouraging people onto buses.
He said: “I can’t see any other city in the UK that has seen such a decline in patronage.”
Prof Begg said it was easy to park a car in Glasgow city centre compared to other cities, particularly London and Edinburgh.
He added: “There is a lot more car restrictions in Edinburgh.”
He said one reason for the decline was that the cost of car use compared to public transport.
Anna Richardson, Glasgow City Council convenor for sustainability and carbon reduction, said there was a difficult decision to face up to in the city. She said: “The horrible hard political truth is we need fewer cars.”
Ms Richardson said Glasgow wanted a clean air zone that affects all vehicles that come into the city centre.