(20 Jan 2018, 11:00 pm)mb134 wrote I'm sorry, but out of those 5, the only two I'd struggle to differentiate would be the Durham County and District, and that's likely only because I don't really know the Durham area. Checking the map online would quickly tell me. If you cant differentiate between the UNI City and UNI City +Newcastle ticket then there's really not much hope is there?
Similarly, if you think for a second about the area which ANE cover, there's always going to be a lot of options available. Most of which are more suitable and logical than Go North East's Buzzfare options.
(21 Jan 2018, 12:16 am)BusLoverMum wrote It might see easy to differentiate but you can use the Durham District ticket on the x12 into Newcastle, so not all that obvious, after all.
But yes, the options are many and not all drivers are conversant, which is why I often still buy a £5 child day ticket for bigun rather than the £4.50 young person's Durham District because some drivers will argue the toss about the validity of the latter for a 14 year old without student id. Darlo ones seem to be the problem as all the Belmont ones are fine with it and even suggest it when I ask for the child ticket.
If I'm travelling on a Darlo service, the 50p difference isn't worth the hassle.
Exactly, BLM.
The ticketing structure, especially in Durham, is not simple at all. If it's not simple for customers, it's not going to be that easy for drivers to remember every ticket option either, and which one offers the customer the best value for money.
I had an issue for a long time, some years ago, attempting to travel on Arriva Durham's services into Sunderland. Very few drivers knew what the Nexus CAT day ticket was, and often denied me travel on their services (despite it being valid for travel). Reported to Customer Services many times, and never improved. I've no idea what the state of play is now, but even my Staff Pass these days is often thought to be invalid, so I'd suggest probably isn't much better...
Going back to my original post, it shouldn't be that there's "no hope" for customers who infrequently travel by bus, who may be confused by the various options available to them. The ticketing structure should be simple enough to allow ease of travel, with little prior research for these customers.