Barriers to bus and tram travel - lessons from Florence, from Facebook


The whole post goes into details of each point - here is a management summary - the headlines
1. Not Buying Your Ticket BEFORE You Get On
2. Forgetting to Validate Your Ticket
3. Not Knowing How Long Your Ticket Lasts
4. Not Signaling the Bus to Stop
5. Boarding from the Wrong Door
6. Thinking the Tram and the Bus Are Different Systems
7. Carrying Too Much Luggage
8. Assuming Children Always Ride Free
9. Ignoring Inspectors or Not Keeping Your Ticket
10. Not Using the Bus to Reach Places Tourists Walk To

Lots of lessons here ... helping overcome misunderstandings and making public transport easier to use - for tourists and locals alike!



Image is in Public Domain (?)   - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Florence_-_Bus_line_D_of_ATAF_%28Breda,_no._1505%29.jpg

I do empathize with that.

As a senior citizen resident in North Somerset, I recently registered for a bus pass, with an online photograph for validation. When the card arrived, I looked more like Alec Guiness as Obi Wan Kenobi than me. 

I then had to seek guidance from my daughter as to when and how I could use it from Nailsea, and from grahame as to when and how I could use it from Melksham. The whole 'tapping it in and out' requirement remains a mystery to me.

Thanks for posing that question, Bob.

Yes, we do have something of a tradition of 'doing things differently in North Somerset'. 

I can't recall the exact details, but I think I didn't need to tap out on my arrival at the Bristol Hospital, but I did have to at the Weston super Mare Hospital.

As a fellow N Somerset resident I have always tapped in and never tapped out in N Somerset, Bristol, Bath or elsewhere.

Even where English translations are provided, they can leave serious doubts. The instructions for the Danish Rejsekort (like Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) but national) included the instruction to check-in again when changing to a different type of transport. OK bus is obviously a different type from a train, but which of these are the same or different types?:
Metro
Letbane (new LRT/tram)
S-Tog (Copenhagen local rail network)
IC^▸ (Inter City train, or Internal Combustion engine, depending on context)-Tog
RegionalTog (some rural lines are privately operated; not DSB)
OresundsTog
Rail replacement bus.

Of the above, I know that Metro is different: only because fares are higher as there is a specific surcharge on top of the otherwise multi-modal zonal fare system.

Indeed.

For instance, both Lisbon and Bilbao have handy stored value travel cards which are much better value than debit card PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go). However in Bilbao, a family can  tap the same card on multiple times, whilst in Lisbon, every family member needs their own card. Fortunately the Lisbon revenue controllers on the trams seem clued up to the fact and will fairly patiently point out the error and point the user at the card machine.