Gateshead Central Taxis

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Andreos1

14,216

19 May 2020, 1:25 pm #1,372

(19 May 2020, 10:41 am)Adrian This is the thing though, it should be spec'd in the tender. Not down to an operator to decide not to provide something.

We should be making bus travel attractive, and Nexus (as the operational front of the ITA), have a key role to play in that. It's not just down to the big three operators. Arguably contactless payment, especially in the current climate, makes bus travel more attractive. It provides passenger choice, and it likely creates bus journeys that wouldn't otherwise be made - people not having change, cash on them, etc.

The 2%-3% extra (per transaction) should be more than covered by the 2% increase in BSOG rate (smart card incentive), on top of the standard BSOG payment. They're also getting an extra 6p/km for using LCEB certified buses.

I agree that we should be making bus travel attractive. I'm a massive believer in ensuring a wide population has access to affordable, reliable transport. I also believe that it shouldn't fall to the likes of these independents to pick up the slack nor have people expect them to provide the same on board resources/equipment and and as a consequence, similar operational overheads as the bigger boys.

I do think that going forward, contactless might be part of any Nexus spec, but seeing as this contract would have been put forward before the current situation started - there would be no urgent need to have it included already.
However, it would be interesting to see what percentage of passengers on these contracted services are needing to use contactless. I would hazard a guess that significant percentage will have day, week or monthly tickets of one sort or another already - hence the discussion around whether or not GCT should accept GNE tickets or not. I would also think that a decent proportion of passengers would have a CAT pass or equivalent.

As I say, if the bigger boys continued to play out on a night, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

(19 May 2020, 12:32 pm)LeeCalder Straight along Coniston/Garsdale in Vigo, missing out The Drive, the down Kentmere and left at Barley Mow Club, missing out Bedford Avenue.

So quite a decent chunk then?
Not acceptable at all. I see no valid reason at all for any parts of the route to be missed out. Deliberately or otherwise.

Edited 19 May 2020, 1:27 pm by Andreos1.

'Illegitimis non carborundum'

Andreos1

19 May 2020, 1:25 pm #1,372

(19 May 2020, 10:41 am)Adrian This is the thing though, it should be spec'd in the tender. Not down to an operator to decide not to provide something.

We should be making bus travel attractive, and Nexus (as the operational front of the ITA), have a key role to play in that. It's not just down to the big three operators. Arguably contactless payment, especially in the current climate, makes bus travel more attractive. It provides passenger choice, and it likely creates bus journeys that wouldn't otherwise be made - people not having change, cash on them, etc.

The 2%-3% extra (per transaction) should be more than covered by the 2% increase in BSOG rate (smart card incentive), on top of the standard BSOG payment. They're also getting an extra 6p/km for using LCEB certified buses.

(19 May 2020, 12:32 pm)LeeCalder Straight along Coniston/Garsdale in Vigo, missing out The Drive, the down Kentmere and left at Barley Mow Club, missing out Bedford Avenue.

So quite a decent chunk then?
Not acceptable at all. I see no valid reason at all for any parts of the route to be missed out. Deliberately or otherwise.

'Illegitimis non carborundum'