Calls for all buses to accept contactless payments

An Oldham councillor has called for all buses to accept contactless payment in order to be Covid-secure and encourage passenger growth when the current lockdown comes to an end. 

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) bus network sub-committee, Oldham Council leader Sean Fielding highlighted the absence of the ability to pay contactless on many bus services run by smaller companies.

He referred to how this was particularly the case on services for which TfGM provides a subsidy for bus companies to run, which are often run by small, local firms which do not have the technology to enable payments by debit or credit card on the bus.

Commenting on updates from Greater Manchester bus companies, he said: "In the interests of public safety and also in the interests of future-proofing the network we should be taking the opportunity now to roll out contactless payment or support smaller operators that don’t currently have it to roll it out…is there anything that we can do as TfGM to support the smaller companies to upgrade their machines so that they can take debit and credit card payments?" 

In response Alison Chew, interim head of bus services for TfGM, confirmed that it was the ambition of TfGM to enable contactless payment on all bus services. She said that engagement with both bus companies and the Department for Transport was being undertaken to bring this forward.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Fielding said: "All over the country the use of cash is being discouraged as contactless payment is considered safer under the current circumstances. Even if it weren’t for the pandemic, having a public transport network with element where transactions are still cash only in 2021 is way behind where we should be as an ambitious city. Arguably it will also hamper our ability to grow fare-paying passenger numbers on our buses as an attractive alternative to private cars." 

Following Councillor Fielding’s question, sub-committee Chair Councillor Roger Jones requested a report be produced setting out where the gaps in contactless provision were across the network. Councillors will have the opportunity to scrutinise the report and comment on how to improve things at a future meeting.

Main image:

Councillor Sean Fielding (pictured, right) at a TfGM committee meeting before the coronavirus pandemic.