Contactless travel is launched

skylink Derby customer Sophia Zielinski-Keall (front) with her mum Dawn Keall. CUSTOMERS in Loughborough are the first bus passengers in the country to get truly tap-on tap-off contactless travel with their debit and credit card.

In a UK first, the Kinchbus innovation has come into force on the skylink Derby service which calls in at Loughborough, Hathern, Long Whatton, Diseworth, Kegworth, East Midlands Airport and Castle Donington.

Other bus companies have rolled out contactless payments, but it still requires the customer to state their destination, then the driver has to process the ticket and contactless payment.

The customer simply taps their debit or credit card on to the ticket machine when they get on skylink Derby and tap off before they leave. All of the customers’ contactless journeys will be pro- cessed overnight, and the best fare for those journeys will be charged to the customer’s card. Customers who travel contactless will also benefit from day and 28-day caps which will limit their travel costs.

Contactless is operating first on skylink Derby after which Kinchbus will listen to what its customers think before embarking on a full roll-out.

Kinchbus managing director Jeff Counsell said: “We’ve been pioneering advances in bus transport for decades, so it is with great pride and a lot of excitement that we are again bringing our customers the future first.

“It’s important to stress that we are not taking away other methods of payment. We are adding to the choices available to our customers.”