New automatic system for boarding Newbury & District buses coming tomorrow

A new system to speed up bus travel will start for customers of Newbury & District buses from tomorrow (Monday).

Commuters will be able to use contactless bank cards, watches and phones to pay for bus travel by tapping the card reader at the ticket machine and tapping off by the exit door.

The new system – already in use by parent company Reading Buses – will automatically calculate the fare and then cap it at the day ticket price of the zone in which the customer is travelling.

So if a customer is travelling in the Newbury and Thatcham area then their first journey will be a single fare.

But their next journey will be capped at the day ticket price and they can continue travelling all day within the same zone at no extra cost. This system will also apply in the simplyNetwork area.

CEO Robert Williams said: “If customers want to buy young person, group or period tickets, they should do so on the app.

“For those travelling regularly, buying a period ticket on the app is still likely to be more cost-effective to give better savings.”

The tap on, tap off system will only be available for adult single and day tickets and not return fares or longer duration tickets at the time of launch.

It also excludes football, school services and Flightline 730/731.

It is already available on all Reading Buses services, including the Jet Black 1 Newbury to Reading service.

Visit www.newburyanddistrict.co.uk for full information on the new system.

The change follows investments in new single deck buses, double deck vehicles on Jet Black services, and the dedicated Newbury & District website with live tracking information.

Reading Buses have announced that their fares are changing from 2 June, citing increased costs and changes to Government policies.

Fares will also rise from tomorrow (Monday) but Reading Buses says most customers should only see a small impact.

The company says that many of the changes are due to continued increasing costs, including changes in Government policy after the National Insurance contributions were increased in April.

Mr Williams said; “Whilst we would love to freeze our fares for as long as possible, like all industries, we are seeing increased costs and this year the National Insurance increase by the Government has forced our hand to act earlier than normal.

“However, we have tried to mitigate any increases where possible.”

Go to the Reading Buses website for full details of all the changes to fares.