Helping a local bus company.

[unlevel42]

Does my local bus company benefit more from the revenue from a ENCTS senior ticket or by my purchase of a Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket(£7.00 for 60+ folk), the rail bit I use later anyway? The whole bus route is more than 20 miles.

 

[JKP]

Am not sure how to answer this one. I assume that your rail portion would cost you more than £7.00 if you didn’t buy the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket or you are travelling by bus before ENCTS cards are valid?

Bus companies are usually reimbursed for ENCTS travel as the price of an adult single fare less what is called a generation factor, as companies should be no better or no worse off if there wasn’t a scheme. In my area, this equates to companies being paid approximately 55p in the £ of the revenue foregone.

With area tickets such as Wayfarer, I have come across schemes where the operator of the bus on which you purchase your ticket retains all the revenue eg Bws Gwynedd once upon a time. However, if rail travel is permitted it is more likely that each operator in the scheme receives a percentage from each ticket sold.

Without knowing the price of the single bus fares for your journeys or cost of rail fare, given the low price of the Wayfarer ticket, I suspect the bus company would be better off if you presented your ENCTS card.

 

[ALEMASTER]

I couldn't say for certain but I would suggest ENCTS - operators get a reimbursement paid for each ENCTS smart card scan. Derbyshire Wayfarer operators get a % cut of each sale, I assume as Derbyshire Wayfarer is not yet on smart then the % will be fixed and reviewed on a periodic basis.

 

[pjnathanail]

I don’t know how Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket revenue is apportioned, but traditionally these sort of tickets operates on what is called the “revenue lies where it falls” basis - in other words, whoever sells the ticket keeps the revenue.

So if you’re buying the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket anyway, buy it from a bus of the operator who you most wish to support (and the route, if you have a choice, as most operators allow day and period ticket revenue to lie where it falls internally for route costing purposes too).

If you have an ENCTS card, I’d advise scanning it for every journey you make too - doesn’t cost you anything and gets all bus operators that you travel with maximum revenue.

 

[ALEMASTER]

I don’t know how Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket revenue is apportioned, but traditionally these sort of tickets operates on what is called the “revenue lies where it falls” basis - in other words, whoever sells the ticket keeps the revenue.

So if you’re buying the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket anyway, buy it from a bus of the operator who you most wish to support (and the route, if you have a choice, as most operators allow day and period ticket revenue to lie where it falls internally for route costing purposes too).

If you have an ENCTS card, I’d advise scanning it for every journey you make too - doesn’t cost you anything and gets all bus operators that you travel with maximum revenue.

Revenue is split between operators on Derbyshire Wayfarer, with the train operators presumably getting the biggest share. The scheme is managed by Derbyshire County Council, although there is talk that at some point in the near future this will be transferred to Travelmaster (who run the South Yorkshire schemes) with a move of the product onto smart cards and a wider range being introduced, including weekly and bus only tickets.