PlusBus Tickets

[Haywain]

Is it the same reduction as the Senior Railcard? I keep records of savings made over the duration of the card so it would be nice to know the correct amount.

You can look up the full price of the PlusBus ticket on either BRFares.com or on the PlusBus website.

 

[1D54]

You can look up the full price of the PlusBus ticket on either BRFares.com or on the PlusBus website.

Thank you £4.80/£3.15.

 

[MikeWM]

Ely PlusBus appears to be about to go from almost entirely useless to *entirely* useless, as Stagecoach withdraw their final few remaining services from Ely at the end of August, and (at least according to the PlusBus website) they are the only operator that accepts it.

I can't imagine any are sold anyway, but will they be withdrawn if they are totally unusable? Or will there be agreement with the various new operators in the area?

 

[tomoufc]

Yes, 1/3 off.

In many cases, the £2 bus fare cap made PB less attractive except with a railcard. Now it seems to be a toss up in many areas, usually only worth it if you know you’ll be catching 3 or more buses.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jul 2025 ==

In many cases, the £2 bus fare cap made PB less attractive except with a railcard. Now it seems to be a toss up in many areas, usually only worth it if you know you’ll be catching 3 or more buses.

Actually I’m thinking about the former PTE areas, which are very large. Just had a look at York, as a random example - the non-railcard price of £3.50 there seems good value, against what I assume would otherwise be £6 for a return bus journey.

 

[markymark2000]

I tried using a E-ticket Plusbus the other day on Arriva Wales and it didn't scan there and driver took a small bit of convincing to accept it as well.
On 2 Stagecoach Merseyside buses I didn't get a chance to try and scan as the drivers just waved me on.

Hopefully more ticket retailer start to sell e-ticket Plusbus as to get Plusbus means I have to lose out on cashback from TFW haha.

 

[tomoufc]

I tried using a E-ticket Plusbus the other day on Arriva Wales and it didn't scan there and driver took a small bit of convincing to accept it as well.
On 2 Stagecoach Merseyside buses I didn't get a chance to try and scan as the drivers just waved me on.

Hopefully more ticket retailer start to sell e-ticket Plusbus as to get Plusbus means I have to lose out on cashback from TFW haha.

Scousers never let you down

 

[redreni]

In many cases, the £2 bus fare cap made PB less attractive except with a railcard. Now it seems to be a toss up in many areas, usually only worth it if you know you’ll be catching 3 or more buses.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jul 2025 ==


Actually I’m thinking about the former PTE areas, which are very large. Just had a look at York, as a random example - the non-railcard price of £3.50 there seems good value, against what I assume would otherwise be £6 for a return bus journey.

Yeah, I was just going to cite Oxford as an example. £2.95 with a Railcard compared with £4.60 for a day ticket that's only valid on Stagecoach.

 

[Deerfold]

In many cases, the £2 bus fare cap made PB less attractive except with a railcard. Now it seems to be a toss up in many areas, usually only worth it if you know you’ll be catching 3 or more buses.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Jul 2025 ==


Actually I’m thinking about the former PTE areas, which are very large. Just had a look at York, as a random example - the non-railcard price of £3.50 there seems good value, against what I assume would otherwise be £6 for a return bus journey.

York isn't a former PTE area. (EDIT: was that what you were saying?)

West Yorkshire is, but a day ticket is now £6 (£3.95 railcard) having recently gone up by £1, which needs 3 journeys to be worth it with a max fare of £2.50 (£2 shorter fares on most operators, £1 local fare in Keighley).

Of course you can get an all-operator ticket for £6 without a rail ticket in West Yorkshire - and with a 10% discount for buying 10 at once.

 

[Haywain]

West Yorkshire is, but a day ticket is now £6 (£3.95 railcard) having recently gone up by £1, which needs 3 journeys to be worth it with a max fare of £2.50 (£2 shorter fares on most operators, £1 local fare in Keighley).

Of course you can get an all-operator ticket for £6 without a rail ticket in West Yorkshire - and with a 10% discount for buying 10 at once.

This is all very well but I think that PlusBus is primarily aimed at people who are unfamiliar with all the nuances of local ticketing.

 

[redreni]

This is all very well but I think that PlusBus is primarily aimed at people who are unfamiliar with all the nuances of local ticketing.

Maybe, but I do wonder if people who don't worry too much about fares and paying the cheapest fare are prepared to commit to a PlusBus ticket at the time they buy their train ticket? (Buying later at a ticket office or from on-board staff is probably more niche).

Those of us who do worry too much about fares and paying the cheapest fare need to know at least roughly what the local fares are in order to establish if the PlusBus ticket is worth it.

 

[Haywain]

Maybe, but I do wonder if people who don't worry too much about fares and paying the cheapest fare are prepared to commit to a PlusBus ticket at the time they buy their train ticket?

In my opinion it's not particularly about cost for most people, much more about convenience. It's what I still find deeply inconvenient about bus travel in towns I am not familiar with - it's easy to find bus times but much more difficult to know what fares might look like and how they might be collected (card, smartcard, exact change etc). One ticket that gets round all that is much easier.

 

[redreni]

In my opinion it's not particularly about cost for most people, much more about convenience. It's what I still find deeply inconvenient about bus travel in towns I am not familiar with - it's easy to find bus times but much more difficult to know what fares might look like and how they might be collected (card, smartcard, exact change etc). One ticket that gets round all that is much easier.

Really? I rarely go anywhere where you can't pay with Contactless (though there is a lot of inconsistency between tap on/off systems and systems where you have to buy a ticket but can use Contactless to pay).

Maybe I don't get out enough?

 

[Vexed]

Really? I rarely go anywhere where you can't pay with Contactless (though there is a lot of inconsistency between tap on/off systems and systems where you have to buy a ticket but can use Contactless to pay).

Maybe I don't get out enough?

I agree contactless payment is pretty much universal now, but it's a question of if it's tap on/off and capped per operator, tap on/off capped across all operators, or do you have to pay for individual tickets (are returns cheaper than singles?), is there a single operator or multi operator ticket that's better value (is it only available/cheaper on the an app than onboard?), offers like £1 singles after 6pm etc.

Almost as bad as railway ticketing

The last one in particular often makes a Southampton Plusbus (just £1.90 with a railcard; most singles are £2.50 in Southampton the plusbus area) not worth it for me as a decent amount of my travel is for trains departing around 7/8pm or arriving around 9/10pm. Plus I can bulk buy singles in the app and it gets down to ~£1.50.

 

[Haywain]

I rarely go anywhere where you can't pay with Contactless

Nor me but some people prefer to pay smaller amounts in cash.

 

[Deerfold]

This is all very well but I think that PlusBus is primarily aimed at people who are unfamiliar with all the nuances of local ticketing.

In that case, it's particularly poorly promoted as the only people I know who use them are those with a large knowledge of ticketing.

Even sites like LNER that sell Plusbus hide it fairly well.

 

[Willie Bee]

it's particularly poorly promoted

That's 100% correct

I had problems in Glasgow a couple of years ago, with every bus driver initially not accepting my Plusbus ticket. I commented on this forum, thinking it was a new scheme, but it's actually been going since 2002.

There's even a lack of videos on YT about the scheme

 

[Watershed]

Thought I'd give this a try today with Thames Valley Buses. Driver asked me what PlusBus is (good start...) and asked me to scan it. It rejected it so of course he said it wasn't valid. He went on about how FirstBus tickets aren't valid. Showing him the PlusBus website listing them as a participating operator was no use.

Anyway, complaint gone in. Really poor that none of the this companies seem to have bothered updating their Ticketer machines to recognise the barcodes.

 

[Acfb]

I've never used Plusbus. I probably could have used it at the Edinburgh end yesterday and saved 50p over contactless day price.

I'm a bit confused why it offered me £4.50 for Edinburgh Plusbus on the LNER site though where I booked a ticket from Haymarket to Stockport but on the Plusbus site it's the same as the contactless price (£5)?

 

[redreni]

Thought I'd give this a try today with Thames Valley Buses. Driver asked me what PlusBus is (good start...) and asked me to scan it. It rejected it so of course he said it wasn't valid. He went on about how FirstBus tickets aren't valid. Showing him the PlusBus website listing them as a participating operator was no use.

Anyway, complaint gone in. Really poor that none of the this companies seem to have bothered updating their Ticketer machines to recognise the barcodes.

How frustrating.

 

[OscarH]

I've never used Plusbus. I probably could have used it at the Edinburgh end yesterday and saved 50p over contactless day price.

I'm a bit confused why it offered me £4.50 for Edinburgh Plusbus on the LNER site though where I booked a ticket from Haymarket to Stockport but on the Plusbus site it's the same as the contactless price (£5)?

Definitely £4.50 in the fares data! Someone has forgotten to update either that or the website - I wouldn't complain

 

[Watershed]

How frustrating.

Having looked into it in more detail, it would also appear that recourse for ticketing issues in the bus industry is limited just as it is in the rail industry. You have Bus Users as an ADR scheme outside of London, but even the name doesn't fill me with confidence...

Unfortunately it seems that the Traffic Commissioner, an otherwise quite powerful tool to hold operators to account, doesn't take an interest in fares/ticketing matters.

 

[Bungle965]

How frustrating.

@Watershed I'd recommend putting a complaint into PlusBus themselves also.

 

[Watershed]

@Watershed I'd recommend putting a complaint into PlusBus themselves also.

Thanks, good idea. The eTicket was accepted on my second bus journey of the day - but that seemed to be mainly because the bus driver didn't pay much attention to what I was showing, as he was running late.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Having looked into it in more detail, it would also appear that recourse for ticketing issues in the bus industry is limited just as it is in the rail industry. You have Bus Users as an ADR scheme outside of London, but even the name doesn't fill me with confidence...

Unfortunately it seems that the Traffic Commissioner, an otherwise quite powerful tool to hold operators to account, doesn't take an interest in fares/ticketing matters.

Yes - essentially with anything like this it comes down to the whims of the driver and the extent to which the passenger argues. This isn't exclusively a PlusBus issue, and can crop up with all sorts of bus tickets beyond the most simple. To some degree I have a little sympathy for drivers - when you're driving a bus and dealing with passengers constantly, I can understand why esoteric ticketing matters would be far from your mind - but it's not an excuse for denying travel on an unquestionably valid ticket.

Frankly reducing these friction points is exactly why PlusBus e-ticketing appeals to me. Anyone who knows me would know I tend to prefer to avoid conflict at all costs, and changing PlusBus from a flash ticket to one which (on most ticket machines) would simply beep and let you on, would in my view be a major positive step. I can think of many cases where PlusBus would have made sense for the journeys I toook, but I was too timorous to make use of it. From what I'm reading in this thread, implementation thus far still seems to be too patchy to have confidence in the ticket yet.

 

[kkong]

I sent First Bus some feedback on their Aberdeen fleet not recognising PlusBus e-tickets as valid.

I received the following response last week:

Thank you for contacting First Bus.

I am sorry to hear you have experienced an issue with Plusbus tickets not scanning on our busses.

I can confirm that the details of your case have been logged on our system and forwarded to the depot management team who will review this internally and ensure this issue is rectified as soon as possible.

I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Let's see if there's any change. My hopes aren't high.

 

[redreni]

I sent First Bus some feedback on their Aberdeen fleet not recognising PlusBus e-tickets as valid.

I received the following response last week:



Let's see if there's any change. My hopes aren't high.

If they've forwarded your query on then I would ask them for the contact details of the person to whom they've forwarded it.

Not that any of us suspect that they may have filed it under R, but unless the person dealing with it follows up with you, you wouldn't know if they had.

The depot manager sounds like very much the wrong person to deal with the barcode not scanning, anyway. They may be able to deal with the issue of drivers rejecting valid tickets, but the likelihood of even that happening is surely much lower if all they get is an email with no expectation that they will follow up with anybody.

 

[kkong]

If they've forwarded your query on then I would ask them for the contact details of the person to whom they've forwarded it.

Not that any of us suspect that they may have filed it under R, but unless the person dealing with it follows up with you, you wouldn't know if they had.

The depot manager sounds like very much the wrong person to deal with the barcode not scanning, anyway. They may be able to deal with the issue of drivers rejecting valid tickets, but the likelihood of even that happening is surely much lower if all they get is an email with no expectation that they will follow up with anybody.

You can't do that with First's awful web form.

You can't even choose the subject when sending a message - just choose from a poor selection of pre-populated options.

And as with many of these web forms, you don't even receive a copy of your original message by email.

 

[markymark2000]

If they've forwarded your query on then I would ask them for the contact details of the person to whom they've forwarded it.

Not that any of us suspect that they may have filed it under R, but unless the person dealing with it follows up with you, you wouldn't know if they had.

The depot manager sounds like very much the wrong person to deal with the barcode not scanning, anyway. They may be able to deal with the issue of drivers rejecting valid tickets, but the likelihood of even that happening is surely much lower if all they get is an email with no expectation that they will follow up with anybody.

First won't give any details for anyone inside the company. The only way to get in touch with a logical thinking human is to find the persons actual email and contact them directly (whether that be depot manager, commercial team or whomever you want to get in touch with).

Also I think you're right, depot manager would be the wrong person, it would need to be the commercial team.


What I find so funny is that First is one of the first companies involved in the e-ticket Plusbus as part of the West Yorkshire Trial and First Group is the scheme manager for multiple Plusbus areas. How on earth can they not have got this sorted? It's not like they are a joe bloggs independent with 1 bus in rural nowhere who may struggle to program these things into Ticketer. First have had more involvement in this process than most divisions. Are Plusbus just really bad at communicating with their operators, or are First Group just ignoring Plusbus and being typical First with the left hand not knowing what the right is doing?

 

[Watershed]

Well, both PlusBus and Thames Valley Buses have come back to me pretty quickly with an apology. PlusBus said:

Please accept our apologies that your ticket was not accepted as it should have been. All participating bus operators have been briefed to configure their ticket machines to scan and validate PlusBus eTickets. They have also been instructed to brief their drivers to accept the PlusBus eTicket as a flashpass if scanning fails or if the machine is not set up for validation.

We take incidents like this seriously and will raise the matter with the Local Scheme Co-ordinator in [area], with a request to remind participating operators of their responsibilities, including ensuring all drivers are properly briefed and their equipment correctly configured.

TVB said:

I am very sorry to hear of this. We absolutely do accept PlusBus tickets. I have asked our inspectors to speak to the driver regarding this.

And asked for my bank details to arrange a refund of the wrongly charged fare, which I've now received.

I'll see what happens the next time I try to use PlusBus on TVB, which will probably be next week.

 

[Edvid]

Used a Flitwick +Bus eTicket on Grant Palmer services recently. Scans still not recognised but the drivers accepted it without issue, even in Wilstead (the Flitwick zone is a long one!)

No successful scans with Leagrave +Bus either - sigh - but all drivers ultimately accepted it (even the "It's Arriva" driver - that particular meeting has its own thread)