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From Sunday week people in Bristol will pay less for a day's bus travel on First's extensive network.

Bus operator First West of England has today announced that the price of the Bristol Inner Zone Day Ticket will reduce to ^4 on Sunday 18 October.

The reduction will shave 40p off the current ticket price, which provides unlimited travel across Bristol^s Inner Zone which covers the vast majority of Bristol, it stretches from Aztec West in the north to Whitchurch & Long Ashton in the south as well as Avonmouth & Pill in the west and Warmley, Keynsham & Downend in the east.

The Inner Zone Day Ticket comes down to ^4 for adults, ^2.80 for students and young people* and ^2 for children (between 1900 and 0429 the price reduces to ^3) and is valid from 0430 ^ 0429 the following day. All other ticket prices will stay the same.

Two years ago First in Bristol embarked on a radical review of its fares. The ^Fairer Fares^ initiative changed the way customers pay for travel on board First buses. The impact of this in the Bristol Inner Zone has been overwhelmingly positive with many routes showing at least a 20% rise in passenger numbers.

James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England said: ^We are announcing this fare reduction because our passenger numbers have continued to rise as bus travel in Bristol has never been more popular - some services have seen up to 70,000 more customers using the bus each month compared to this time two years ago, which is really amazing. ^

He continued: ^Making the ticket ^4 will also speed up boarding times as it makes it easier for our customers to have the right change. We hope that this reduction will encourage more and more people to make bus travel in Bristol their first choice, this is beneficial not only to our customers but to everyone in Bristol, taking more cars off the road and improving the environment for everyone.^

Most people buy their ticket on the bus and now customers can also buy it using First's mTicketing smartphone app (available on The App Store (for iPhones), Google Play (for Android Phones) or Windows Store (for Windows Phones).

* - Student & Young Person ticket includes Students of any age with a valid student card and young people aged 16-21 who have a First Young Person^s Photocard (available at First Travel Shops). Child tickets are valid for anyone aged between 5 ^ 16 years old (under 5s travel free)

Making the ticket ^4 will also speed up boarding times

But by nothing like as much as introducing smart card or contactless payment. Like First operate in London. I'm no fan of conspiracy theories, but I'm beginning to think that Bristol is being held back here to make MetroBust look like a good idea when it finally chugs onto the scene.

Er...

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/touchsmartcard/index.html

In correspondence I have been told that day tickets will soon be available on 'touch'.

I haven't used one as I find the smartphone app more convenient.

It is a start, and a positive one.

Few bus operators outside London offer day tickets on their smart cards. Fewer still have a Pay As You Go scheme. So criticism of First in Bristol for not doing so is a little unfair.

You would have enjoyed James Freeman's presentation at the TravelWatch SouthWest meeting in Taunton a couple of weekends ago ...  ;) :D ;D

Please go on...

...chugs...

The target for my vitriol is not First, at least they are not the main target. The "back office" for smart cards in Bristol has been in existence for some years. In the mayoral hustings in 2012, candidate Jon Rogers said he had had the chance to introduce smart cards when he held the Cabinet transport brief, but let himself be conned out of it (he did blame First, but what politician doesn't point the finger away from himself?). Our LEP's Joint Transport Executive Committee have been too busy pouring our cash into MetroBust to be bothered with speeding up boarding on "ordinary" buses. There is little interest in improving journey times until MetroBust comes to save the day, because if they did, it would look to the world that they had squandered ^200 million of taxpayers money on an environmentally destructive white elephant.

Meanwhile First (a bus company in London) have an excellent system which allows the use of contactless debit / credit cards (and I got 3% back on my Santander credit card, too!). How difficult would it be to copy that system in Bristol?


Please go on...

I think you can only get non-contactless debit cards on special request now. The problem with them instead of operator-specific smart systems would presumably be recognising weekly and longer tickets.

Meanwhile First (a bus company in London) have an excellent system which allows the use of contactless debit / credit cards

OK - I may have misunderstood, but I thought the system used by TfL recognised your usage pattern and gave you the best fare, i.e. if you travel every day it gives you the season rate. Is that not the case?

and between 19:00 and 04:29 the price reduces to ^3.

I actually travelled by bus today! Got inner zone day passes (or whatever the actual name is ^ I've thrown them away now so can't check) for ^4 and ^2 for a return journey from Gloucester Rd to Cribbs, as apparently this is cheaper than specific tickets. Increased the cost of my son's AirHop (yes, it's still half term ^ back to school tomorrow, and about time too!) by 50%.  :o Train to Patchway would have been cheaper, I think, but slower (unless we walked to Stapleton Rd or TM) and less frequent, as well as involving a bit of a hike at the end.