First Bus and ticketer

[_toommm_]

So for those who don't know, First in South Yorkshire have got rid of the Almex and installed new ticketer ticket machines - all week and longer tickets are now put onto a smartcard, and all day tickets and m-tickets have a QR code with which needs to be scanned in order to use the ticket.

For those who have seen/used the machine, what do you guys think of it?

 

[Bungle965]

They seem to be ordered on mass at the minute with numerous operators going for them. I'm sure Ticketer can't get them out of the factory fast enough.
Allot (if not all) of Go-ahead's operations are using them (More, Southern Vectis etc) while they are the chosen choice for TfGM to be dished out to the smaller operators so they can implement their smartcard.
As for the usability of them I've heard mostly good things about them, some of the more top of the range models have the QR scanners and contactless, I've tried the barcode scanners in Bournemouth which worked fine, didn't really take any longer than showing the driver.
While the ability to pay using contactless is another benefit and was the reason that First have gone down the route of wholesale replacement as someone did the sums and realised that the amount that Almex was asking to implement contactless on the current machines was more than buying new.
The only thing that I've heard that is negative about the machines is that if you're wanting to pay by contactless you have to state that you wish to do so first and the driver then sets up the machine.
Sam

 

[Volvodart]

In Aberdeen you place the card on the reader and the driver just changes from cash payment to contactless on the Ticketer.

 

[D2007wsm]

The Ticketers are very good and far better than the previously used Almex machines. The Almex were forever freezing, jamming and getting cutter errors. They really were terrible, with another problem of the buttons falling out and the keys snapping in the lock when trying to remove a Almex from the base plate.

With a few tweeks set by the operator these could be improved as they settle in. It is also good how a branded service can have the logo for that service printed onto the ticket rather than 'First Bus'.

Incidently First West of England can still issue paper First Week, First Month and some First Ten tickets. It is customer preference what method they would like e.g. paper, Touch Card or Mticket. The smart products are however cheaper. Paper First Week, First Month and First Ten tickets are still stuck into ticket seels.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The Ticketers are very good and far better than the previously used Almex machines. The Almex were forever freezing, jamming and getting cutter errors. They really were terrible, with another problem of the buttons falling out and the keys snapping in the lock when trying to remove a Almex from the base plate.

With a few tweeks set by the operator these could be improved as they settle in. It is also good how a branded service can have the logo for that service printed onto the ticket rather than 'First Bus'.

Incidently First West of England can still issue paper First Week, First Month and some First Ten tickets. It is customer preference what method they would like e.g. paper, Touch Card or Mticket. The smart products are however cheaper. Paper First Week, First Month and First Ten tickets are still stuck into ticket seels.

Had the benefit of using (as a passenger) Ticketer on First Kernow and West of England. Really had no problem. The only issue is that when using an M ticket, your phone's screen must be illuminated. Once you know that, no issues!

 

[Bantamzen]

I've used my West Yorkshire MCard a few times with them, and I have to say I'm impressed. They certainly seem to read the card a lot quicker as well as being easier to place on the reader for the customer, and from what I've seen the bar code reader is equally as quick. There is a noticeable improvement from what I can see with boarding times on cross-Leeds services at least.

 

[_toommm_]

I'm glad people share the same opinion - my only other exposure to them prior to this was with TM Travel, and I do like First's setup

 

[Stompehh]

The only downside is that if you have android or Apple pay enabled, the machine detects your phone as a contactless card primarily and will not try to read the QR code of an mTicket. You don't get charged though. Hopefully they can iron this one out.

 

[nesw]

I understand that the roll out to all First Bus operations will be completed early next year.

 

[Andyh82]

They've just been rolled out across First West Yorks in recent weeks as well. I'm thinking the Almex machines didn't stick around that long, they seemed more short lived than the Wayfarer III before them.

The ticketer was the machine of choice for WY Metro to get the smaller operators in West Yorks to get smart enabled, but they are the ones without the QR reader.

 

[Kahuna47]

I believe that First Manc are getting them by the end of January. Funny how they're one of the last Greater Manchester operators to get Ticketer, despite the fact they've been in the depots ready to go since July...

Seen the West Yorks Ticketers this evening on the Calder Connects - look very snazzy!

K

 

[DanTrain]

First SY is a little bizarre at the moment. The 16-18 passes are scannable, and on some routes you have to scan them to get the 80p fare (and the drivers look irritated if you don't know this). Equally, other routes you don't need to scan and drivers look pissed off if you try to! I've been meaning to ask SYPTE about this for a while and haven't got round to it, anyone know what (if any) the rationale is?

 

[Harbouring]

First Hants were one of the first to implement them I believe and they have been in place for 4-6 months. I think they took a lot of getting used to but now drivers and passengers are aware of what they need to do passenger boarding is a lot quicker compared to Almex. Certainly the QR codes can be read quickly and they are quicker for ENTCS too.

 

[Observer]

Their Ticketer order has caused other companies having a significant delay in getting theirs sorted. Need a new machine? Need to wait a few months.

Used machines do come by once in a while (usually when a company goes out of business, take a look at the Nippy Bus auction for example) but they need to be reprogrammed before use and supposedly that is quite costly in itself too.

Decent machines though, they'll do anything you need them to do. No surprise why they are the dominant provider of ticket machines now.

 

[_toommm_]

First SY is a little bizarre at the moment. The 16-18 passes are scannable, and on some routes you have to scan them to get the 80p fare (and the drivers look irritated if you don't know this). Equally, other routes you don't need to scan and drivers look ****ed off if you try to! I've been meaning to ask SYPTE about this for a while and haven't got round to it, anyone know what (if any) the rationale is?

South Yorkshire as a whole has always been bizarre in terms of public transport - take the tram train project, it's 2 year trial should be coming to an end round about now but it's not even started yet!

 

[Volvodart]

There is a superfeature on First West of England in the new issue of Coach & Bus Week, on newsstands later this week In it, James Freeman says that contactless now accounts for around 40% of Bristol Park and Ride services transactions, having started in January 2017, plus with the m ticket pricing started in October 2016 now 25% to 40% transactions are now m Ticket in West of England (80 to 90% on university services), he says cashless could be on some Bristol city services by the end of 2019. He also mentions that the m ticket speed up has resulted in being able to take 15 buses out of the schedule this coming January without changing the timetable. There is also a separate smart ticketing feature in this issue, to keep the reply on thread.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

These Ticketers seem to be better performers than the naff Almex's that went before. It now takes around 45 seconds for the driver to issue me the standard West Yorkshire PAYG M Card flat fare of £1.90 than the previous 90 seconds on the Almexs.

 

[philthetube]

First SY is a little bizarre at the moment. The 16-18 passes are scannable, and on some routes you have to scan them to get the 80p fare (and the drivers look irritated if you don't know this). Equally, other routes you don't need to scan and drivers look ****ed off if you try to! I've been meaning to ask SYPTE about this for a while and haven't got round to it, anyone know what (if any) the rationale is?

Likely the drivers are peed off at the system rather than the passenger.