Bus passengers can tap on and tap off using contactless cards on Brighton and Hove buses from today.
Contactless payments began in autumn last year but now you don’t need to specify which adult fare when you board – instead tapping your card on a reader when you get off works it out for you.
Brighton and Hove Buses also hopes this will speed up the buses for everyone.
Commercial Director Nick Hill said: “We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for people to catch the bus and Tap On, Tap Off is a natural part of that. It should also speed up boarding and keep buses moving.”
There’s no need to register or sign up and it’s the same price as buying a paper ticket on the bus. The cost of the journey is automatically calculated and charged to passengers’ bank accounts by the end of the day.
People can track their journeys and fares history using our Contactless Customer Portal.
Another great feature is that the ticket price is automatically capped at the cost of a bus day ticket, no matter how many Brighton and Hove Buses services passengers catch.
It means passengers won’t pay more than the cost of either a citySAVER or networkSAVER ticket, depending on the area travelled in. Passengers will need to use the same card or device to pay on each bus they travel on, though.
You can use Tap On, Tap Off across our Metrobus services in Sussex, Kent and Surrey too. If you travel on Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus services on the same day, the cost will be capped at the best value day ticket: the Metrovoyager.
Nick said: “This means you get the best value fare without having to ask for it, or even know about it. That’s especially good news for visitors and occasional bus users.”
Wow! There’s a really clunky system which will make boarding and alighting times increase massively. It’s bad enough having everyone fiddling with their purses getting on, and that three second delay while the system beeps them in, let alone the same on the way out. Imagine this will add several minutes to getting off time at Churchill square on a fully loaded bus.
This works in London as it’s a single fare system. The BRIGHTON fare scales just don’t support this.
What happens if you only want a single journey.
I am still working past retirement age but can’t use my bus pass in the morning because i have to travel before 9.
Actually, driving the bus with this system in place for the first day today it is highly efficient. When alighting the bus, the customer can scan their card on the reader 200 yards from the bus stop, and is read in under a second
What happens if you forget to tap off? Presumably the charges keep racking up?
Can’t believe these comments. Have you guys never been on London underground? It’s EXACTLY the same thing. You’re charged based on where you get on and off. If you forget to tap out, you’ll pay the cost of a CitySaver or NetworkSaver depending on where you got on. Couldn’t be simpler.
But have you been on a london bus, more to the point? You tap once, and pay a lot less for an unlimited distance on the same route! For a green city brightons public transport is unaffordable and needs more subsidy