Pay As You Go available on buses throughout West Yorkshire with MCard

Bus passengers can now use the new white MCard smartcard for Pay As You Go journeys throughout West Yorkshire.

Bus passengers can now use the new white MCard smartcard for Pay As You Go bus journeys throughout West Yorkshire. This is the latest stage in West Yorkshire Combined Authority's roll-out of the MCard smartcard, the country's largest travel smartcard scheme outside London.�

Single, return or Operator own day tickets can be purchased using the white �Pay As You Go� MCard on services run by the county�s three main bus operators, Arriva, First and Transdev.

Twelve of West Yorkshire�s smaller bus companies are also be accepting �Pay As You Go� meaning the facility is available on almost 90% of the county�s bus services.

White �Pay As You Go� MCards available from West Yorkshire�s 700 Payzone outlets (�2 fee), where they can also be pre -loaded with Pay As You Go. �Pay As You Go� MCards can be obtained for free, and pre-loaded with as little as �5 travel value at Bus Station Travel Centres across West Yorkshire.�

Single or return

To use the Pay As You Go MCard, passengers need to tell the driver if they want a single or return ticket and their destination, or request a day ticket,Then they touch their white MCard on to the bus ticket machine. Their fare will be deducted from the card and they will receive a paper ticket which should be retained for their journey or journeys. The paper ticket will also tell them the available Pay As You Go balance remaining on their card.

West Yorkshire bus companies participating in Pay As You Go are:

  • Arriva
  • Burnley & Pendle
  • First Bus�
  • Fourways Coaches
  • Harrogate Coach Travel ( Connexions buses)
  • Jacksons of Silsden
  • Ladies Only Travel
  • Ross Travel
  • Square Peg
  • Stagecoach
  • Station Coaches
  • Stotts
  • Stringers Coaches
  • TLC
  • Transdev

Future participating bus companies are:

  • TJ Walsh
  • Yorkshire Tiger


More about the white Pay As You Go MCard (opens in new window)�

Ideal

Cllr Eric Firth, Deputy Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority�s Transport Committee said: �Pay As You Go on MCard is ideal for regular bus users as well as for those people who use buses less frequently, who can get a white MCard, pre-load it with as little as �5 and then keep it in their wallet or purse for if and when they do need to catch a bus.

�With Pay As You Go, gone are the days of worrying about having change for their bus fare. It�s a convenient alternative to cash because the new Pay As You Go MCard is not a PhotoCard, it can be used by a number of people, although not on the same journey.

�Companies whose employees sometimes have to use buses will no doubt find it useful to have one or two pre-loaded Pay As You Go MCards in the drawer for anyone to use.�

Convenient

Alex Hornby, Chief Executive of Transdev said: �Having the white Pay As You Go MCard available across West Yorkshire is helping to make the bus travel in the county as convenient as possible. With people carrying less cash around with them these days, pre-loading a smartcard with an amount so when you want to catch the bus you�re good to go is the simple way forward. Plus it has the added advantage of speeding up boarding, which improves journey times.

�This is an initiative on which West Yorkshire�s bus operators large and small have worked closely with West Yorkshire Combined Authority and is a good example of our commitment to working in partnership and improving the service for our customers."

Simpler

Trish Lambert of Bradford based TLC Travel said: �In an increasingly cashless society, smart Pay As You Go travel makes absolute sense both by making travel simpler for passengers and streamlining the boarding process, which helps punctuality and reliability"

Later this year Pay As You Go will also be available on children and young people�s PhotoCards and on concessionary passes for people who want to travel outside concessionary hours, such as people with a Senior Pass, wanting to catch the bus before 9.30am. Further plans include �capping� which ensures passengers will not pay more than the price of a day ticket for their day�s journeys.

More information about Pay As You Go is available on the MCard website (opens in new window) where you can also find links to details of Payzone outlets�and Bus Station Travel Centres.