Great Western Coffee Shop

TfL have launched a consultation (https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/cashless/consult_view) on its proposal to remove the option to pay by cash on all its bus services.

I found the following section particularly interesting, given the potential effects if you were to roll it out elsewhere:

I thought this already happens? Tube users have certainly seen negative balances....maybe bus usage is just following suit?

MY problem is having to keep an Oyster topped up, and the minimum can only be loaded at cash ticket machines in tube stations! Feel for those on benefits with so little spare cash....

Aren't buses supposed to be public transport, not transport for those who have previously aquired a piece of technolgically advanced plastic?

Cash transactions on London buses are quite low in percentage terms of a journeys made, the vast majority use either Oyster, CPC, Travel Cards either season ticket type or single day. 

Cash collected on buses puts the staff on board collecting at risk

Most newsagents in Greater London will also top-up Oyster cards.  Even out here in the outskirts of Zone 6, every newsagent offers Oyster.

I do see quite a few people using cash, especially older people who forget their Freedom Pass.  Not everyone has a contactless credit/debit card, or don't know that they have that feature.  The increased fare is, in my opinion, enough to discourage cash use as much as possible, except for those journeys that are absolutely required without an Oyster card.

I find this rather strange in the FAQs: "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people - This group may fear being left behind because they cannot purchase a ticket on-board."  Any suggestions as to why this has been suggested, surely someone's sexual orientation plays no role in their ability to purchase a ticket?   ???

 ;D ??? ::) ::)

Now that IS odd......! No, no idea at all.

Zone 1 is already cashless - you have to buy at a machine before you board. Are they suggesting removal of these ticket machines?

Removal of the zone 1 ticket machines was already consulted on separately and AFAIK has already happened:

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pay-before-you-board/consult_view

Paul

There's still one outside Marylebone station....

There are cash fuelled ticket machines outside Paddington station as I noted a few weeks ago one Saturday morrning and getting frequent use, mainly from foreigh tourists that had presumable arrived by train. I pointed out to one who understood English that it would be cheaper to buy an Oyster card from the tobaconist shop opposite but she did not understand what an Oystyer card is as I suspect is the case for many other tourists. Incideenmtally, I was using my Oxon CC national concessionary bus pass. In Oxon, the pass is scanned so that the bus operator can claim its financial reimbursement from the authority. However London bus drivers just wave you on.I wonder how they get paid for my travel.

There is a button they should press to record journeys made on non-London concessionary passes or paper Travelcards (in a similar way to operators outside London who don't have smartcard readers do).  However as I found with my paper Travelcard, 9 times out of 10, the journey would go unregistered.