Contactless - Hover or Touch in? - Stagecoach Midlands

I am used to using contactless / Oyster in London, which is marketed as touch in touch out.

I had a rare occurrence of boarding a non London bus seeking a single fare today.

I had done my homework on fares and timings and payment methods and on the Stagecoach Midlands website it says.

Then, board a bus with the contactless symbol and instead of paying with cash, simply tap your card or contactless-enabled device onto the reader and wait for the beep.

Contactless On Buses | Contactless Bus Payments | Stagecoach

Pay for your bus fare quickly, easily, and securely with contactless on all Stagecoach buses. Check your card for the contactless symbol before using.

www.stagecoachbus.com

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Upon boarding I stated my destination and touched the reader, which rather than being accompanied by a beep, was instead accompanied by a rather brief and patronising lecture that IT IS CONTACT-LESS so lift it up and this time don’t touch. That’s why it’s called contact-less.

Useful advice, I suppose, if accurate, if a little, I felt, rudely given (driver seemed a bit irritated) but it does show how automated I’ve become with the touch in touch out msg.

That said, touching my card works perfectly well in supermarkets, restaurants, shops.

Is there something different about how the pad on non London buses work?

Yes I do have bigger things to worry about!

The machines typically used on Stagecoach tend to be a lot more finicky about how things are held to them. Applying essentially any pressure whatsoever to the reader has a tendency to make it have a mild meltdown.

The Ticketer machines used on many larger operators elsewhere are less fussy and will usually accept either a tap or a hover.

From experience on other operators that may well use the same kit, you also have to wait until the reader is fully set up to take a payment. Present the card too early and the reader doesn't seem to notice it even when it has gone to the payment stage. You do though then risk the grumpy driver who complains that you're not offering up the card quickly enough.

A further complication is operators that have both contactless Tap On Tap Off and contactless payment for a ticket. If you present the card too soon the reader will record a Tap On even if you'd been intending to buy a ticket. All a bit clumsy unless you know what options an operator offers.

Segedunum said:

The machines typically used on Stagecoach tend to be a lot more finicky about how things are held to them.

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Not for much longer, they're about to start replacing their Vix machines with Ticketer.

Ralph Ayres said:

A further complication is operators that have both contactless Tap On Tap Off and contactless payment for a ticket. If you present the card too soon the reader will record a Tap On even if you'd been intending to buy a ticket.

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Not fallen foul of this myself, though I do remember seeing a Grant Palmer passenger tap immediately on boarding (intending to buy a paper single) and being quite displeased when the driver told them what they actually did.

Stagecoach Vix ticket machines do tend to be the most awkward to use with regards passes. If you hold it too close the light goes red. That’s besides the constant paper jamming on them.

Thankfully the Ticketer machines that are due to replace them are much simpler in that you put the card/pass on the screen & it reads it