Britain’s biggest bus operators to introduce oyster-style smart ticketing in England’s city regions

Issued on behalf of Britain's major bus operators: Stagecoach, First, Arriva, Go Ahead and National Express

• Greater Manchester to be early winner from transformational initiative
• All city regions to have multi-operator smart ticketing during 2015
• Commitment follows detailed planning and liaising with technology suppliers

Britain's biggest bus operators today (3 November 2014) announced plans to launch London-style smart ticketing across England's largest city regions.

The ground-breaking pledge by the country's major bus companies – Stagecoach, First, Arriva, Go Ahead and National Express – will deliver multi-operator smart ticketing to millions of bus customers across England during 2015.

Greater Manchester will be an early winner from the "transformational initiative", helping support the area’s wider growth plans.

It will also benefit Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire along with the city regions of Nottingham, Leicester and Bristol.

In the West Midlands nearly 30 operators are already part of the Swift smart multi-operating ticketing scheme providing new products and convenient travel across the region.

The country's biggest bus providers have spent several months finalising their plans and this work has included liaising with IT suppliers and the Department for Transport.

The plans represent a multi-million-pound investment by operators in what is believed to be the biggest smart ticketing project in the UK's history. The technology will allow smaller bus operators to be included and provide a platform to extend the system to other modes, such as trams and trains.

Bus customers in the country's city regions already have strong bus networks. Operators have invested around £1.3bn in the past five years on new buses for English regions outside London. In addition, weekly bus fares outside the capital are up to 40% cheaper than they are in London. Punctuality in many city regions is also better than in London.

More than one billion passenger journeys a year are made on buses outside London. Bus services also link the country's national rail stations and key tram stops and interchanges, as well as major business parks.

Smart ticketing plans are part of a longer-term commitment by UK bus operators to deliver further benefits for passengers. These include working with local authorities and central Government to ensure the most effective use of resources to deliver improvements for passengers and helping to ensure that devolved funding which currently supports bus services continues to be spent on measures which will increase bus use.

In a joint statement, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Martin Griffiths, First Group Chief Executive Tim O'Toole, Go Ahead Chief Executive David Brown, Arriva Chief Executive David Martin and National Express Chief Executive Dean Finch said: "Millions of people in our biggest city regions will benefit from this transformational initiative to provide London-style smart ticketing. It will deliver an even bigger programme and wider benefit than the capital's Oyster system.

"Bus operators share the aspirations of our city regions to become growing economic powerhouses and we know high quality public transport is an important part of making that happen."

Bus operators also urged central and local Government to work with them to improve bus services across the country.

The transport group Chief Executives added: "We have a shared responsibility to get the most benefit from our country's buses, which are crucial to high streets up and down the country and are used by millions of people every day to access work, health, education and leisure.

"By working together, bus operators, local authorities and the Government can make our buses even better. Crucially, our plans for smart ticketing can be delivered in a matter of months, rather than years of waiting and the unnecessary cost of wholesale changes to the way bus services are delivered."

Ends

Media contacts

Steven Stewart, Stagecoach Group, tel +44 (0) 1738 442111 or mobile 07764 774680.
Mike Katz, First Group, tel +44 (0) 20 7291 0514 or mobile 07703 890200
Sarah Boundy, Go Ahead Group, tel +44 (0) 20 7793 8983 or mobile 07808 568667
Mark Yexley, Arriva, tel +44 (0) 191 520 4106 or mobile 07623 920615
Anthony Vigor, National Express Group, mobile 07767 425822

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The UK's five biggest bus operators have a combined fleet of around 21,400 vehicles outside London.
• Around 1 billion bus journeys a year are made in England's metropolitan areas outside London.
• 90% of bus services outside London are delivered commercially with no subsidy; in contrast, fares and other services cover only 75% of operating costs in the London franchised bus market.
• Weekly bus travel is up to 40% cheaper in the city regions compared to London. Weekly bus travel with Stagecoach in Manchester, for example, is £13 compared with £20.20 under Transport for London.
• Bus satisfaction in every one of England's biggest city regions is higher than in London. Passenger satisfaction in London is 83% compared to an average of 88% for areas outside London.
• Britain's five biggest bus operators - Stagecoach, First, Go Ahead, Arriva and National Express - have invested around £1.3 billion in their bus services outside London in the past five years.
• Bus services outside London are accessible: there are 67,000 bus stops in English metropolitan areas; Greater Manchester has 25 bus stops for every square mile and twice the number of bus stops per head of population than London.
• Services in core urban areas in England's city regions are at least every 10 minutes and often more frequent; 98% of households live within 13 minutes' walk of at least an hourly service.