Fare rise and ticket changes July 2023

[Justin Tyme]

Probably no time soon I would think. The £1.50 ticket for elderly/disabled pre 9.30 can only be paid for in cash as far as I know and some elderly people probably also prefer cash. Also a lot of the school children used to pay with cash when I used to use the X2.

And there may be other options before dealing with cash becomes uneconomic.  I know that one large operator using fareboxes now empties them every two days instead of every day.

[karl724223]

Probably no time soon I would think. The £1.50 ticket for elderly/disabled pre 9.30 can only be paid for in cash as far as I know and some elderly people probably also prefer cash. Also a lot of the school children used to pay with cash when I used to use the X2.

Wrong info pre 0930 oap £1.50 tickets can be paid for on contactless

[karl724223]

Anyone still having issues still trying to scan on the bus using their phone?

After witnessing several attempts by a woman on the 529 this morning, the driver put it down to the screen protector on the phone.

Is this right?

It should have been made more clearer, if it was likely to be a problem.

Is there likely to be a point where Nx stops taking cash?

Cracked screens are another problem
Is sister ok

[2206]

Wrong info pre 0930 oap £1.50 tickets can be paid for on contactless

Never knew you can pay for it with a contactless bank card.
Its only ever been advertised as cash or topping the concession card up  and use it as a swift pay as you go card?

[Tony]

Correct position is

All TfWM Concessionary Passes work as a Swiftcard. They can be proladed by the Swift App & Paypoints with up to £50 credit.

Therefore Concessionarys can simply place thier card on the reader & £1.50 is deducted.

In addition a Swift PAYG can also be used to pay alongside a TfWM Concessionary Pass.

Those living in Staffordshire & other countries have to use cash 

[Coventrybususer95]

Correct position is

All TfWM Concessionary Passes work as a Swiftcard. They can be proladed by the Swift App & Paypoints with up to £50 credit.

Therefore Concessionarys can simply place thier card on the reader & £1.50 is deducted.

In addition a Swift PAYG can also be used to pay alongside a TfWM Concessionary Pass.

Those living in Staffordshire & other countries have to use cash 

I didn't know that will have to inform my grandparents

[ellspurs]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/travelled-far-possible-single-birmingham-27814448

This article in a nutshell shows how poor advertising is for buses in general is within the region. There's too many wrong things about it for me to list (IE how has he had to pay twice on the x18 to get to Leamington Spa? Surely it's just a £2 ticket).

[2206]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/travelled-far-possible-single-birmingham-27814448

This article in a nutshell shows how poor advertising is for buses in general is within the region. There's too many wrong things about it for me to list (IE how has he had to pay twice on the x18 to get to Leamington Spa? Surely it's just a £2 ticket).

The West Midlans daysaver is only valid on National Express services beyond the West Midlands boundary, 11/41 to Leamington Spa. It has never been valid on the X18.
And will be £2 each way on the X18 so thats why they have to pay twice, not sure how this can be considered newsworthy

[ellspurs]

The West Midlans daysaver is only valid on National Express services beyond the West Midlands boundary, 11/41 to Leamington Spa. It has never been valid on the X18.
And will be £2 each way on the X18 so thats why they have to pay twice, not sure how this can be considered newsworthy

But if he would've got the "West Midlands Daysaver" on the x1, wouldn't have that been an "nbus daysaver" or whatever it is called? 

The whole article is just weird. When he was told that the bus was a Stagecoach and the ticket wasn't valid, why didn't he get off and see where the NX bus to Leamington was? There's too many questions to ask about what his train of thought was.

[Stu]

But if he would've got the "West Midlands Daysaver" on the x1, wouldn't have that been an "nbus daysaver" or whatever it is called?

The whole article is just weird. When he was told that the bus was a Stagecoach and the ticket wasn't valid, why didn't he get off and see where the NX bus to Leamington was? There's too many questions to ask about what his train of thought was.

An article written by a simpleton, aimed at simpletons (the majority of people who read Birmingham Mail articles).

Over the years, calls to bring the bus network back into public ownership have grown louder amid growing frustration with cuts and delays. While I'd be inclined to agree with this statement - I feel like I'm yet to truly explore all that the West Midlands bus network has to offer.

Of course he had to throw in 'bus franchising' there, I warned a while back you would see a lot of this 'messaging' emerging in the local media - 'social engineering' to 'nudge' the general public into becoming more accepting of this than they would do ordinarily.

From Coventry I (tried) to hop on the X18 to Leamington Spa - however, here I encountered my first problem. I had wrongly assumed the X18 - just as the X1 - was a National Express service. It was actually a Stagecoach service, meaning I was unable to use my West Midlands Day Saver.

"Assume" = makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'.

This has been written by someone who claims to be a regular bus user, but yet doesn't understand that other companies also operate buses. (I would have thought the big 'Stagecoach' logo on the side was a dead giveaway)

I'm pretty sure that if his 'West Midlands Day Saver' had an nBus logo on it, then it would have been accepted by Stagecoach, though obviously only as far as the nBus boundary.

Leamington Spa, while in the wider West Midlands Bus Zone, was confusingly past the nBus zone - meaning I had to pay for another fare to complete me journey. In my opinion, this could have been made clearer.

As far as I am aware, there is no such thing as a "wider West Midlands Bus Zone" so I don't think that statement is factually correct.

Last time I checked, Leamington Spa was in Warwickshire, not the West Midlands. But day tickets issued on NX Buses are valid on their services that go outside the TfWM nBus area.

My one gripe with the bus network is how overly complicated it is. There doesn't appear to be a ticket you can buy that covers all bus travel across the region - as you can in other major cities in the UK and across Europe.

Different operators have their own systems which adds unnecessary hassle and confusion to the journey - not to mention added costs. If we want to reduce our carbon footprint as a region, we have to think of ways to take cars off the road - and I believe simplifying and investing in our bus system would be a step in the right direction.

The mistake this 'journalist' made on this occasion was to try and travel outside the West Midlands county.

He is blatantly countering any promotion that TfWM have been doing recently with regards to their nBus offering.

Is it through sheer ignorance, or deliberately?

Within the West Midlands county, the region covered by Transport For West Midlands, there is one ticket, the nBus ticket, which allows travel on ALL operators services at all times of day.

[Rachvince53]

Had the journalist actually checked on the TfWM website or that of NX he would have immediately seen that the X18 is operated by a different company. Unfortunately by failing to do this research like most people do when planning a journey by public transport he encountered the issues mentioned in the article.

As for the "wider West Midlands bus zone", he may have been thinking of the rail zone which is or was available with a West Midlands daytripper ticket. Equally he may have been under the impression that nBus is valid on all buses outside the West Midlands boundary. 

[BrumKev86]

That article really highlights how poor some journalists are nowadays. Why would you get the X1 to Coventry that terminates at Pool Meadow and not get the NXC 11 that runs from the SAME bus station and is part of the SAME company. Doesn't it pretty much go the same route as the X18.

He talks about having a more simplified ticket process to make people use public transport more. He may have a point but for me the biggest thing is anti social behaviour and the need to make public transport to be safer. It's become more unsafe on buses in my opinion.

[Westy]

Just says poor research from a journalist basically.

Did he speak to TfWm in the course of his research?

Even speaking to Nx soley wouldve given him the Coventry to Leamington option.

[Stu]

The cowards at BirminghamLive have now turned off and removed all the comments that had been left on that article.

[Westy]

The cowards at BirminghamLive have now turned off and removed all the comments that had been left on that article.

There's a fair few of those 'cowards' on Twitter, who just block because you don't subscribe to their opinions, or don't like when you call them out.