STAGECOACH TO PIONEER BUS BANKCARDS IN LIVERPOOL
Liverpool bus passengers will be the first in the UK to be able to use a bankcard to make on-board payment for travel. Stagecoach, MasterCard and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are staging a one-year trial that will see the major roll-out of the technology in the second quarter of 2009 on around 200 Stagecoach buses on 11 routes in Merseyside.
Passengers can make fast, convenient and safe payments simply by tapping their card on a dedicated reader, which should help speed up boarding times. MasterCard PayPassTM and Maestro PayPassTM allow holders to make payments under the value of £10 and will be a direct alternative to cash. Customers will still receive a bus ticket. It is the first ever use of contactless bankcard payments on public transport in the UK and the first significant extension of the 'Tap & GoTM' way to pay outside London for members of the public. This new state-of-the-art system will make bus travel faster and more convenient for thousands of people in Liverpool every day and help attract car users to more sustainable public transport, it is expected.
Comparable pay systems are already in use in London, and outside Europe in New York and Taiwan.
