Ticket machines to be removed after drop in use
DECLINE THANKS TO MORE WAYS TO PAY
NOTTINGHAM City Council will start removing on-street Robin Hood ticket machines due to a “significant” decline in use.
The decommissioning process will begin at the start of April.
After their removal, customers will still be able to top up Pay As You Go cards via the Robin Hood ticketing app, at the Nottingham Travel Centre, or at a NET tram stop machine.
The council said it had observed a drop in use after upgrades to the ticketing app.
This has allowed passengers to top up on the go, rather than needing to use the on-street machines. Machine usage dropped further following the introduction of Nottingham Contactless, which offers passengers more ways to pay for travel.
A decision was made following the council’s budget consultation to switch off the machines given the reduced usage and the range of alternative payment options available.
Councillor Angela Kandola, portfolio holder for highways, transport and planning, said: “We are really proud of the evolution of the Robin Hood Network in the city and the variety of ticket and payment options now available to passengers.
“The on-street machines served a purpose for a time – but technology moves on, and there are now more convenient ways to top-up cards or pay contactless for your journey, so we can no longer justify the ongoing maintenance costs. The public were supportive of this move in the budget consultation with over 60 percent of respondents in favour of the decision, so we will begin to close down the machines from the start of April.”
The Robin Hood Network offers multi-operator travel on bus, train, and tram within the Nottingham urban area and can be purchased as day tickets, season cards or Payas-you-go cards. The on-street machines offered people the ability to buy adult Pay-as-you-go cards and top up all other products but transactions are down to 10 percent of the 2019 levels as new ticketing options have become available.