(13 Feb 2017, 9:34 pm)Tamesider wrote Sorry, I was wrong about monthly/annual, but Day tickets still go up about 7%. I'm not sure how many people risk monthly, let alone annual tickets, with passengers either liable to job change, or only ever 8 weeks away from a possible service change/reduction.
The flaw in the argument about boarding times is fairly obvious: Relatively few people pay with cash, especially after 0900 on Mon/Tues. And even then another possible solution would be to re-instate the ban on £20 notes, originally introduced by both First and Stagecoach on Police advice, due to the large numbers of forgeries in circulation.
A trial between the exact change offer like Lothian introduced and a mobile ticket would be interesting!
After the initial costs in sourcing the app and any additional charges, I wonder what the cost saving is for the operator between a mobile ticket and paper ticket? I imagine the costs of having a mobile ticket offer is pretty stable compared to those costs incurred with paper tickets.
Are we talking marginal amounts or are we talking amounts that is going to increase margins?
However, unless operators find a way around it, the paper tickets offer a revenue stream via advertising.