Digital ticketing role for Karen

THE age of digital ticketing has resulted in a new role being created at Reading Buses.

Karen Marshall has joined the Finance and Customer Service Teams at Great Knollys Street as Digital Ticketing Administrator.

The function is described by Tony Pettitt, Reading Buses Chief Finance and Information Officer, as an important and growing area of the business.

He said: “We try to offer our customers a choice of ways to pay for travel on all our services. Over the years we have been at the forefront in introducing interoperable smartcards and, more recently, the popular ‘mobile ticketing’ facility, which is part of our multi-featured Reading Buses travel app. We have accepted payment by contactless bank card since last year.

“Karen will provide a focussed service for customers using these products, overseeing all the online and mobile accounts. It’s an area of our business that we expect to see continuing to grow as more and more people turn to these non-cash payment options.” Ms Marshall said: “A lot of tickets are now being replaced by cards on which trips can be preloaded so I am also setting up direct debits. “The pre-loadable card can be topped up on-line and as more and more payments are made on-line I don’t see there being much cash in the future.”