Ticketer bus ticket machines.

[swt class 450]

What is it with this massive sudden popularity in Ticketer ticket machines. It seems like almost every bus operator in the UK is switching to use this type of ticket machine. Especially in the past year or so. If you go back just five years ago this company was hardly known and very few operators used their ticket machines but now they are everywhere.

All of First Group and Go Ahead Group are switching over (First Group is complete and Go Ahead Group is about three quarters complete) and Arriva Group have now started switching over as well (starting with Arriva Surrey & West Sussex a few months ago). In addition hundreds of smaller companies and independents are switching over as well. I can think of around 100 other bus companies all around the UK who have switched over in the past year or so.

Even many operators that already operate new modern machines such as Almex Optima BL or INIT EVENDpc or VIX ERG TP5800 or Wayfarer TGX200 etc are switching over. There are some companies that only replaced their older machines (like Wayfarer Saver or Wayfarer 3 etc) with new machines less than a year ago and yet they already getting rid of those and switching to Ticketer already.

Ticketer now have well over 50% of the bus ticket machine market and quite possibly as high as 75% now. It seems like Almex / INIT / VIX ERG / Wayfarer etc are all quickly loosing business. These four ticket machine companies have been around in the UK for years but it looks like they are very quickly loosing all their business to Ticketer.

So the question is why has this huge popularity with so many operators switching to Ticketer occurred? What does Ticketer have that Almex / INIT / VIX ERG / Wayfarer etc do not have? Are they extremely cheap? Is the government funding this and trying to get a standard type of bus ticket machine in use throughout the UK?

 

[ooo]

Is it to do with contactless payments? A lot more operators seem to offer contactless now they have ticketers

 

[Gingerbus1991]

Its simple, its a good machine lol

Lothian are currently using wayfarers on there airport service atm

 

[Cesarcollie]

What is it with this massive sudden popularity in Ticketer ticket machines. It seems like almost every bus operator in the UK is switching to use this type of ticket machine. Especially in the past year or so. If you go back just five years ago this company was hardly known and very few operators used their ticket machines but now they are everywhere.

All of First Group and Go Ahead Group are switching over (First Group is complete and Go Ahead Group is about three quarters complete) and Arriva Group have started switching over as well (starting with Arriva Surrey & West Sussex a few months ago). In addition hundreds of smaller companies and independents are switching over as well. I can think of around 100 other bus companies all around the UK who have switched over in the past year or so.

Even many operators that already operate new modern machines such as Almex Optima BL or INIT EVENDpc or VIX ERG TP5800 or Wayfarer TGX200 etc are switching over. There are some companies that only replaced their older machines (like Wayfarer Saver or Wayfarer 3 etc) with new machines less than a year ago and yet they already getting rid of those and switching to Ticketer already.

Ticketer now have well over 50% of the bus ticket machine market and quite possibly as high as 75% now. It seems like Almex / INIT / VIX ERG / Wayfarer etc are all quickly loosing business. These four ticket machine companies have been around in the UK for years but it looks like they are very quickly loosing all their business to Ticketer.

So the question is why has this huge popularity with so many operators switching to Ticketer occurred? What does Ticketer have that Almex / INIT / VIX ERG / Wayfarer etc do not have? Are they extremely cheap? Is the government funding this and trying to get a standard type of bus ticket machine in use throughout the UK?

Ticketer has been around for 6-7 years, and its initial popularity was with the smaller independents and municipal operators. The company was a complete newcomer to the market, and the kit is essentially modular - with a screen, printer and card reader bolted together to form an'on bus computer' rather than the approach of the traditional manufacturers. It was ITSO ready from the start, for concessions and other smartcards. If you ask most users, they will say the firms customer service is excellent, and as new developments come on stream, they are (largely) made available to all users. The whole system is also cloud-based so there are no depot readers or driver modules. I wouldn't say Ticketer is cheaper than the other systems, but it's no more expensive either. And whereas the likes of Parkeon have developed a horrendous reputation for charging for every add-on (you want a new ticket design for a youth concession? Certainly sir, that'll be £15,000), Ticketer don't. However the main reason for their recent more widespread popularity is their ability to deliver contact less (EMV). Several of the groups purchased other systems over the last few years which promised to deliver contact less. Most failed abysmally, whilst Ticketer users (albeit not with original machines) proudly rolled forward into the 21st century with no great delivery problems.

The machines are also very simple to use, and as they're modular, it's easy to replace individual components when they break or technology means they are superseded. So the latest machines have different processors (more powerful), different printers (more durable), different screens (more reliable) and different card readers (faster, and able to cope with credit cards) - but fundamentally the machine appearance and set-up is no different.

 

[Simon75]

High Peak buses ,Yourbus, D&G (Crewe and Wicham outstation only) I know use it

 

[Megafuss]

Beauty of the Ticketer machines is the QR codes for day and period tickets, making forging them nigh on impossible.

I wish my operator would move to them as the back office systems we currently use are a pain in the bum

 

[Eyersey468]

The company I work for is getting new Ticketer machines in the next few weeks after years of using Wayfarer, I had some training on them on Friday and they seem easy to use

 

[GaryMcEwan]

After using Stagecoach's ERG contacrless yesterday, compared to Ticketer, I find the ERGs a lot quicker when buying a ticket via contactless. On the ERGs, the driver doesn't need to select 'Pay by Card' unlike Ticketer.

 

[robk23oxf]

Having used both ERG/VIX and Ticketer, I find the former easier to use due to having buttons rather than a touch screen. From a passenger's perspective it is however easier to use a smart card or contactless card with the Ticketer machines as they're less sensitive to small hand movements; the ERG machines are bad for declining cards because of very slight hand movements.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Having used both ERG/VIX and Ticketer, I find the former easier to use due to having buttons rather than a touch screen. From a passenger's perspective it is however easier to use a smart card or contactless card with the Ticketer machines as they're less sensitive to small hand movements; the ERG machines are bad for declining cards because of very slight hand movements.

It's certainly not easy to use the Ticketer machines on First Glasgow as the bandit screen and vault are in the way of the card reader, so you have to try and angle your hand in just to get your card on the reader.

For me, the ERGs look much simpler to use for drivers when passengers are paying by contactless, whereas for Ticketer there's a lot of unnecessary tapping of the screen before you can get your ticket.

 

[Andyh82]

As mentioned, the initial popularity was with small independents, attracted to the cloud based system with no expensive back office required. I know in West Yorks, when Metro were rolling out their smartcard they encouraged or maybe part funded the Ticketer for the smaller operators, so increase the number of buses that could read them. Many smaller operators would have been using the Wayfarer 3 or even the Wayfarer 2 at this point.

It must be a good system if it can cope with what the large operators are wanting though, as their bespoke back office servers etc would already have been well advanced and they would have used lots of reports and analysis

 

[goldisgood]

As a customer I find the Ticketer machines very awkward to use, particularly with an assault screen - I seem to have to reach endlessly far into the cab to put my card down on ithe buses where the assault screen isn't there, when it is there I have to fit my hand through a fairly awkward gap to get into the machine. They also don't accept my pass half of the time, regularly I have to scan it 3 or 4 times before it works. The Vix machines which Stagecoach use I find to be much quicker for boarding, contactless and accepting my pass! They are also a lot quicker for driver changes - the company that uses the Ticketer machines takes about 5 minutes to do a driver change mid-route, whilst Stagecoach only take a couple of minutes to do the same...

 

[ChrisPJ]

The latest Ticketer machines are a heap better than earlier ones, especially when complex fare tables are loaded on. They now have the memory to deal with the info stored much better and quicker.

The vehicle tracking function is also a bonus.

 

[Cesarcollie]

The latest Ticketer machines are a heap better than earlier ones, especially when complex fare tables are loaded on. They now have the memory to deal with the info stored much better and quicker.

The vehicle tracking function is also a bonus.

And of course driver messaging.

 

[Bantamzen]

As mentioned, the initial popularity was with small independents, attracted to the cloud based system with no expensive back office required. I know in West Yorks, when Metro were rolling out their smartcard they encouraged or maybe part funded the Ticketer for the smaller operators, so increase the number of buses that could read them. Many smaller operators would have been using the Wayfarer 3 or even the Wayfarer 2 at this point.

It must be a good system if it can cope with what the large operators are wanting though, as their bespoke back office servers etc would already have been well advanced and they would have used lots of reports and analysis

From a purely anecdotal point of view as a passenger, the introduction of them to First buses in West Yorkshire gas sped up boarding times considerably, with drivers no longer having to squint a paper tickets press against the screens, and MCards read pretty quickly (and far more quickly than Arriva's machines).

 

[Samuel88]

I much prefer the new ticketer machines.
I travel to Manchester and Sheffield and use First bus quite often and everytime I used my Freedom pass it's validity was questioned because the old Almex machines rejected it. Since they've introduced the new machines my pass has worked every time!

 

[LordCreed]

One company here uses the Ticketer machines (Go Ahead), and one uses ERG machines (Stagecoach).

The ERG machines are noticeably quicker when paying with contactless as you don't have to wait for the driver to select card payment mode. The QR codes on the Ticketer machines are however quicker than the driver checking tickets (and then manually cancelling any return tickets).

 

[swt class 450]

Thanks for the responses. Interesting to hear about these machines.

Personally i much prefer the good old Wayfarer 3 machines. They are so much simpler as they don't have any of this smartcard or contactless payment nonsense to deal with. From what i have seen i also find that Ticketer machines are very slow to read smartcards compared to other smartcard enabled machines such as the Wayfarer TGX200 etc.

On a Wayfarer 3 all i do when an OAP boards is press the ENCTS button and print a free ticket and the passenger then takes their ticket and walks on. It takes about three seconds. Where as on machines such as Ticketer the passenger has to find their card and get their card out of their bag and then put it on the reader and then wait for it to be recognised and beep and then they can walk on. This takes so much longer. If you are a passenger on a bus you can easily notice that boarding takes so much longer with these newer ticket machines like Ticketer.

My company still uses Wayfarer 3 machines and we have decided not to switch to any new machines because of this.

Question for any drivers who have used both Ticketer and an older non smartcard enabled machine (like Wayfarer 3 etc): Which one do you prefer? Which have you found to be easier and simpler to use?

 

[E-Rail]

Question for any drivers who have used both Ticketer and an older non smartcard enabled machine (like Wayfarer 3 etc): Which one do you prefer? Which have you found to be easier and simpler to use?

Wayfarer 3 was without doubt, the best ETM ever made in it's time. It was rapid and durable beyond belief and you could clear a queue in no time. But it was very much a system for the 90s and early noughties (the first ones were in use around 1992) and with the BSOG uplifts requiring ITSO ETMs and consumers paying for everything using contactless, they had had their day sadly.

Ticketer is no means perfect, the interface is still unreliable with screen freezes too often, it takes way too long to boot up and load if the bus has been isolated and is also heavily prone to phantom ticket issuing. However from an operator point of view, the cost savings in no longer needing to purchase Waycon licences or pay Parkeon for updates will be a massive deciding factor in moving to Ticketer.

 

[Dai Corner]

On a Wayfarer 3 all i do when an OAP boards is press the ENCTS button and print a free ticket and the passenger then takes their ticket and walks on.

As an aside, does whoever audits ENCTS payments really let operators get away with that? No need to swipe the passes? I'm not suggesting you or your employers are dishonest, but there have been cases of fraud.

 

[atraindriver]

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