Transport for London (TfL) pushed the capital in the
direction of becoming a cashless city this week when they withdrew the option
for passengers to pay their bus fare in notes or coins. This decision was made
on the basis that cash payments represent less than one percent of fares and
that cash handling costs of £24m per year will be saved, but despite the result
of TfL's consultation with their passengers which saw fewer than a third of the
37,000 respondents agree with the proposal to go cashless.
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| Over 43 million Oyster cards have been issued by TfL |
From TfL's point of view the benefits are obvious. Cash is
bulky and expensive to handle; fewer people are paying cash so why not remove
the option? On the other hand, as opponents of the scheme have pointed out,
those without an Oyster card or a contactless payment card have no means to pay
their fare. Unlike shops and bars who offer customers the alternative of using
card based payments alongside cash, TfL have potentially disenfranchised and
disadvantaged a large chunk of the travelling public, especially the occasional
traveller or tourists. That said, my experience of bus travel shows that very
few people pay cash anymore[1]
and those who try are normally unable to do so anyway because they tend to
proffer a £20 note for their £2.30[2]
fare and end up being turfed off the bus by the driver who has no change. That
in itself raises concerns; how will London's bus drivers deal with passengers
who have no means of paying their fare but do have sufficient cash? How will
the driver of the last bus deal with a vulnerable passenger, for instance a
teenager or an elderly person, who has lost their Oyster card? Bus drivers are
supposedly receiving additional training in how to handle such situations; we
shall see how effective that is in due course.[3]
It makes no difference to me whether TfL accept cash or not
as I have an Oyster card and a contactless debit card and before that, when I
commuted, had a season ticket. I have not paid cash on the buses for donkey's
years. I can however see why some people will complain about the change, but as
with many changes it may not be long before it is difficult to remember what it
was like when cash was accepted. This is actually not the first time that London's
buses have tried to wean their passengers away from paying fares with cash and
the last time was not as successful as they might have wished. In 1978 London
Transport introduced the Multi-Ride ticket for bus fares. This was a cardboard
strip that the passenger bought in advance and used in self-service machines on
buses. The benefit to the bus driver was that it reduced boarding times and for
the passenger there was a considerable saving as cash fares were 10p, but the
same journey using the Multi-Ride ticket cost just 5p. At that time all of
London's buses were supposed to be One Person Operation (OPO), but the roll out
of OPO buses was slower than expected and represented only 42% of the fleet.
The RT or Routemaster buses were still commonplace, with their open platforms
and conductors with their ticket machines and cries of "Any more fares,
please?" I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers the open platform on
the back of the bus with both affection and astonishment at the way we all
viewed them with a complete lack of risk. Nor can I be the only person whose
nonchalant grasp of the pole while standing on the platform became a vice like
grip as the bus swung round a corner and threatened to launch me into the
oncoming traffic.
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| The iconic Routemaster, complete with platform and pole. |
The Multi-Ride ticket was a boon as far as I was concerned.
In 1978 my commute consisted of a bus ride and even though I had previously had
a monthly bus pass, the Multi-Ride ticket considerably reduced my fares. It did
not, however improve the efficiency of the buses. On one never to be forgotten
evening I left work shortly after five o'clock, waited patiently for a 247 bus
from Gants Hill to Collier Row...and was still waiting (albeit less patiently)
two hours later. Why, you may ask, did I stand there for that long? These days
I could have consulted the display at the bus stop telling me how long I would
have to wait until the next bus, or if the stop didn't have one, looked it up
on my smartphone. Equally I could phone home and say that I was going to be
late. None of those options were available to me then and it seemed inevitable
that the moment I walked away from the stop to find a phone box or seek an
alternative means of getting home, a bus would appear. After a certain period
of time one thinks "There has to be a bus soon..." and so I stood
there...and stood there...and stood there. I like the fact that today I can get
to a bus stop and know exactly how long I have to wait for a bus; I can even
use my smartphone to check when the next bus arrives at my nearest stop before
I leave the house.
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| The Multi Ride ticket |
Mobile payment systems like Paym and PayPal already enable
smartphone owners to pay for goods and services with their phones, although
neither of these would be practical for paying a bus fare due to the time it
would take to complete a payment, but the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology
that contactless cards and Oyster use is found in most smartphones so the idea
that we may soon pay our bus fares by waving our phone at a reader is one that
is likely to become reality before too long.
By and large I am a proponent of changes that are taking
place in the means by which we can pay for the things that we want. Paying our
fares by Oyster card or contactless debit card are quick, convenient and safe.
The ability to pay by using one's phone would be a similar benefit, but...and
there is always a but; not everyone has an Oyster card, not everyone has a
debit card and not everyone who has a debit card has one that is contactless.
Not everyone will have a compatible smartphone if that is the way paying for
your bus fare eventually goes. Oyster cards can fail, get damaged or lost; so
can contactless cards. Smartphones can go wrong and run out of battery, and of
course all electronic payment methods are at risk of some sort of system
failure. Just about the only drawback with cash is that frankly I never have
enough of it!
[1] Including tourists, who are
usually a lot more aware than people give them credit for, having researched
the city they are visiting. In fact some tourists are more clued up than some
of the indigenous population.
[2] The £2.30 cash fare compares
unfavourably with the "discounted" £1.45 Oyster or contactless card
fare. The cynic in me wonders whether that discount will be maintained now
there is no cash fare and how long it takes Oyster fares to creep up to meet
the old cash fare.
[3] Doubtless stories of drivers refusing late night
passengers without valid means to pay their fare will be diligently reported in
the local and national press.
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