Swift Card on NXWM buses

[PM]

It was part of the £81m investment announcement that NX would accept swift.
Using swift will not be cheaper than the NX Direct Debit scheme.

I've enquired about this before, and I'm of the understanding that 'season' tickets (ie monthly passes), presumably both Network West Midlands (Centro)'s own, as well as NX's (and no doubt Diamond and any other operator that provides weekly or monthly tickets), will be able to be 'loaded' onto your Swift card (in the near future, obviously it is not set up yet), in much the same way as the Oyster card works in London.

It should then be theoretically possible to continue to pay for a monthly NX Faresaver ticket by direct debit, only instead of receiving a paper ticket in the post, it be loaded onto my Swiftcard.

So then in theory, I should be able to enjoy unlimited use of all NX buses for a set amount a month, as well as being able to use the Swift card for 'pay-as-you-go' journeys on other operators, if I choose to do so.

Thanks for clearing that up as I didnt really understand it!! It should be a good system then if it gets up and running successfully and is well promoted so people actually use it

[the trainbasher]

I will be glad if i can, eventually use my Cardiff Bus iff card as a Swift card as well...saves using 3 or 4 cards a year!

[Kevin]

The problem is, there won't (at least initially, I understand there will be eventually) be a daily price cap, so the whole "doens't matter what I get it will only charge me for an nBus ticket" isn't valid. To me that's the sort of thing that needs to be ready in time for the launch of any sort of smart card system, otherwise people are going to get confused and end up paying more than they wanted to

[Stuharris 6360]

The problem is, there won't (at least initially, I understand there will be eventually) be a daily price cap, so the whole "doens't matter what I get it will only charge me for an nBus ticket" isn't valid. To me that's the sort of thing that needs to be ready in time for the launch of any sort of smart card system, otherwise people are going to get confused and end up paying more than they wanted to

So it will be ok if you use just one or two journey's a day, but if you want to travel around using multiple buses and operators, an NBus will still be best.

Also, now that Oyster has taken off in london, and contactless payments are being taken on buses, there is now real talk of an end to cash fares. How long would it be till the west mids follow suit!!!

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

The transferable aspect worries me slightly, yes OK people can borrow your card, but how about theft and loss, unless you notice its gone immediately someone could easily build up a huge bill

[Westy]

I'm confused here.

I now mainly get lifts to & from work, so stopped using my Faresaver.

I occasionally have to use the bus for odd days/occasional journeys, when my lift isn't available, plus if they are away for a week, I will renew my Faresaver for a week, plus I will go out during the weekend as well.

So will this Swift card be any use to me at all?

This thing about the 'cap', will I use it for 2 journeys in a row, then the 3rd journey, I will be prevented from using the card, as it will be more expensive?

All I want to do is stop searching for change, for a Daysaver, on the odd occasions I have to use the bus.

[Kevin]

The transferable aspect worries me slightly, yes OK people can borrow your card, but how about theft and loss, unless you notice its gone immediately someone could easily build up a huge bill

If it's anything like every other smartcard I've ever heard of, then there is no bill. The card has money on it and when you use it some money is taken off until it runs out, then you top it up. So if someone tries to use it when there's no money on it, or not enough, then the card is rejected.

[Matt.N0056]

The transferable aspect worries me slightly, yes OK people can borrow your card, but how about theft and loss, unless you notice its gone immediately someone could easily build up a huge bill

If it's anything like every other smartcard I've ever heard of, then there is no bill. The card has money on it and when you use it some money is taken off until it runs out, then you top it up. So if someone tries to use it when there's no money on it, or not enough, then the card is rejected.

I think you can link it to your bank account so it tops up automatically, so if I'm right, this could be a problem?

[vinh1000]

The transferable aspect worries me slightly, yes OK people can borrow your card, but how about theft and loss, unless you notice its gone immediately someone could easily build up a huge bill

If it's anything like every other smartcard I've ever heard of, then there is no bill. The card has money on it and when you use it some money is taken off until it runs out, then you top it up. So if someone tries to use it when there's no money on it, or not enough, then the card is rejected.

I think you can link it to your bank account so it tops up automatically, so if I'm right, this could be a problem?

Auto top up when it usually reaches below £3
Swift also allows a negative balance

[:D]

I thought the point of rolling Swift card so we could have a cheaper nNetwork tickets and integrated ticketing between operators like TFL in London? Looks like NXWM will keep their monopoly for now.

[4006]

There will definitely still be cash fares and paper tickets for people who don't live in the Midlands using NXWM buses, or for people who for whatever reason choose not to have a Swift Card

i.e The Chavs that usually get on for free!!!
Ban Daysavers and the '£2.90 Daysavers' as the frauds refer to them (£2.90 Returns)
In fact ban short hops (whats the point & a short hop actually means 'As far as you want) and is only 20p less (big wow)
Ban child tickets to stop the very large breasted pregnant women with 2 kids getting on for half price & the 6Fft tall chaps in dirty overalls & also the ones that are skiving off school them dossers should pay full too!
Best of all the ones 'Thraping' a fag just as the bus pulls up gets on the bus chucks £1 in and says (if you're lucky) in a very deep adult voice 'child please' then sits down and opens a can of Kestral Super!!!! I've heard of taking the P*** but this is taking the ultimate P***

[Smethwickian]

The transferable aspect worries me slightly, yes OK people can borrow your card, but how about theft and loss, unless you notice its gone immediately someone could easily build up a huge bill

If it's anything like every other smartcard I've ever heard of, then there is no bill. The card has money on it and when you use it some money is taken off until it runs out, then you top it up. So if someone tries to use it when there's no money on it, or not enough, then the card is rejected.

I think you can link it to your bank account so it tops up automatically, so if I'm right, this could be a problem?

Auto top up when it usually reaches below £3
Swift also allows a negative balance

Most such smartcard systems allow cards to be hotlisted and blocked within a short time when reported stolen, provided the user has registered them with the card scheme operator. Many also promise to transfer lost balances to a replacement. Hopefully this will be the case with Swift.

As for using Cardiff cards in the West Midlands or indeed Go North East's Key in Oxford, or whatever, that should indeed be the aim of the inter-operable ITSO standard. The card itself is perfectly capable of supporting a variety of products at any one time (a season ticket for your local area or regular journey, and some pay-as-you-go balances for other areas or operators, for example). It just depends how helpful operators want to be.

[Liverpool Street]

There will definitely still be cash fares and paper tickets for people who don't live in the Midlands using NXWM buses, or for people who for whatever reason choose not to have a Swift Card

i.e The Chavs that usually get on for free!!!
Ban Daysavers and the '£2.90 Daysavers' as the frauds refer to them (£2.90 Returns)
In fact ban short hops (whats the point & a short hop actually means 'As far as you want) and is only 20p less (big wow)
Ban child tickets to stop the very large breasted pregnant women with 2 kids getting on for half price & the 6Fft tall chaps in dirty overalls & also the ones that are skiving off school them dossers should pay full too!
Best of all the ones 'Thraping' a fag just as the bus pulls up gets on the bus chucks £1 in and says (if you're lucky) in a very deep adult voice 'child please' then sits down and opens a can of Kestral Super!!!! I've heard of taking the P*** but this is taking the ultimate P***

Here here!! And when the drivers argue it they'll be subject to report! Straight on a level 1 for talking to these pieces of shît, like a piece of shît.

'I will be reporting this! Your attitude is disgusting'

'Oh shut the fûck up and get a job you tramp'

[Steveminor]

These chavs used to report me all the time, unfortunately for them there call would be transferred straight to the person who dealt with complaints.   ME!!!😃

[JPC]

National Express Coventry have posted (on Facebook) the following:

Smartcard volunteers wanted
We will shortly be launching our new smartcards, which will work like Oyster in London. Over the coming months more and more products will become available on smartcards.
We're looking for a small group of existing customers to trial the new cards in real world usage for a few months, and let us know how they get on.
The trial would simply involve using a smartcard rather than your existing paper pass – with your normal ticket as a backup just in case. Everything else would remain as now.
If you are an existing NX Coventry direct debit ticket holder and would be willing to participate in this trial, please let us know by private message or emailing buspass@nationalexpress.com with your photocard number.