More on the buses

I have written to Liberty Bus about the move to the use of Avanchi Cards for school buses.  Copied below.

I also noticed the TTS minister is proposing having a free bus travel day. See http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/2013/11/13/free-bus-travel-day-aims-to-get-us-out-of-our-cars/

The aim of the move is very good, and I am all in favour of encouraging people to use less polluting, more fuel efficient forms of transport. So I do hope he has thought this one day proposal through.  Lets look at a couple of scenarios.

Say it is a roaring success and people pour out to use the bus service to get to work.  Has he mad contingency measures for the increased demand.  Already the number 8 and 9 buses  that arrive in town the latest before 9am are standing room only. A few more takers and those awaiting passengers closer to town will be left at the roadside for the next service, which in the case of routes  8 & 9 is not that frequent. The result is existing frequent users are let down and  discouraged, the exact opposite of what is required.

What if  there is no measurable take up, what will  he then do to meet his objectives?  I have observed that the morning bus has a distinct pattern of usage - greatest on Mondays and Fridays it seems.  The day he selects for free travel might be material.  Will the minster be able to determine the change in usage patterns, whether it is commuters, or casual users who are taking advantage of the free ride? 

What if, as I suspect, it is a qualified marginal success.  A small increase in use for the day of a couple of percent passangers, but the net lost revenue meaning it has cost hundreds of pounds for each new person using the service. Is that a success?  How much is a new bus user worth?  Will it be applicable to the school bus service too? Which reminds me - that letter re AvanchiCards.

                                                                                                                    LibertyBus
                                                                                                                    La Collette Bus Depot
                                                                                                                    St Helier
                                                                                                                    Jersey JE2 3NX

                                                                                                                    17/11/2013

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write to express some reservations I have  concerning the use of Avanchi cards for school buses.  As I understand the proposals the Avanchi Card will be the only accepted payment method on school buses next year.  I believe this is too limiting on students, who may have no other practical method to get to school.

The current pre-paid ticket systems offer rather more flexibility.  Students who have forgotten or lost tickets can readily borrow one from another pupil.  Similarly someone who seldom uses the bus but has some occasion to do so one day can acquire a ticket or two for the purpose from friends.  Having tickets available from school offices greatly facilitates  ad-hoc use, as seems certain to occur with the complicated and full lives students lead.

As I see it the Avanchi card negates many of those convenient features of the current pre-paid tickets.   As a simple remedy, please can we have cash as a payment option, thereby alleviating many of the shortcomings of restricting payment to Avanchi cards.

yours sincerely,