The way I read it is that when all the LCR borough franchises have commenced (which will be Autumn 2027) then Tap and Go will be introduced on the LCR Metro network.
It could indeed be as simple as me not understanding what you mean by 'tap and go'. So please could you explain what it means, so that I learn something?
Tap and go is what happens on the Arriva Merseyside non-franchise buses. You touch your card on the machine, it beeps, you sit down. No ticket is issued. The fare is calculated at the end of the day based on your journey history. Think how it works in London. Stagecoach don’t offer this.
Thanks. I think I understand now. So
Is perhaps something of an overreaction to having to take a ticket when paying by card.
Not if it's caused a significant increase in dwell time and therefore late running.
A high % of bus users in LCR will be using MetroCards of various varieties, where no ticket is issued.
The main consequence is that daily capping has gone. On non-franchised Arriva you just tap on and the system charges based on what you travel. Without tap-and-go there's no daily capping and so you have to commit in advance to a single or a day ticket.
I guess the reality is that public transport authorities will always be focused on the core rather than out of area.
What we need is a National Bus Company!
Looking ahead, I can see a problem on the X2/47 corridor when Sefton comes into franchising. I assume (maybe wrongly) that the services will be scheduled to give roughly a 15 minute service rather than the current two buses in competition every half hour: but there would certainly be confusion if capping worked on the 47 but not the X2: if the confusion was enough to put people off the X2 then we're not really any better off in effective service frequency.
And there will be different issues where the touchpoint is between two different franchised areas (essentially LCR and TfGM) and non-franchised (i.e. Cheshire West, West Lancs).
The reality is that politicians (as they're the ones driving this) will be generally focussed on their patch and the electorate that controls their destiny!
We had one - it was neither national nor very successful (but it did pay for my childhood).
That seems to match my experience the past couple of days, the 612 and 322 machines dont seem able to accept any saveaway/solo/concessionary but thr drivers looked at the card and let people on, so id guess they're getting the same information
That is similar to what happened over in Manchester. The franchise tickets are valid on the whole route of a franchised bus route, but are only valid in-area for routes operated by a non-franchised operator.
Quite. And Metro in most people's minds refers to trains.
Well in part because the overall idea is that public transport is public transport whether or not it runs on rails or has tyres. Bus and train are not in competition.
I think this is more appropriate
Because the majority of it operates outside of Merseyside and interworked with the 360 pre-franchise
Because majority of the route is outside of Merseyside, Metro did not see the 329 fit to be part of franchising as well as the 360.
I don't know. If you go to most continental cities, or even Tyne and Wear in this country, Metro means trains. And not just to enthusiasts. More likely it is the latter who think of bus services in British cities as Metros. Maybe in West Yorkshire, where they seem to talk about the 'Metro' region in many contexts, they will think of buses too. But where else?
Yes but it's a different mode. London has Buses, Underground, Overground etc. Same management, different modes. It's like saying 'I got the tube home' when in fact you came by bus.
There are. But how many are in the UK?
And if you asked most people in the UK, or at Kirkby bus station, would they know or care about these different Metro systems?
and, in the US, it refers to a metropolitan area which is probably why LRCA are using it.London still has separate branding ie London Underground, buses, overground and trams ...
And if you asked most people in the UK, or at Kirkby bus station, would they know or care about these different Metro systems?
Whilst Metro does literally mean a light rail system, the derivation comes from the French métro that is a shortening of métropolitan that comes from the ancient Greek "métropolis" meaning Mother City.
Metro is used by a bank, a newspaper, was a small car of dubious safety in the 1980s
