Pensioners and other pass holders have complained about the lack of publicity for the roll out of bus pass card readers on many York buses.

The readers require the user to hold the card or pass to the ticket machine, to enable it to be scanned. No ticket is issued and the acceptance of the card is signalled by a green light.

The York Council obviously hasn’t been involved in the roll out of the change as they still advise pensioners to “show” their pass to the driver.

The change hasn’t even been reported to any Council or “cabinet” member meeting. Consequently, there has been no indication from the Council on how pass use will be audited. The Council pays huge sums to local bus operators to cover the cost of pensioner “free” travel, so taxpayers have an interest in the introduction of any new system like this.

The local media has not picked up on the issue. The First York web site makes no mention of the change.

At present, the system seems a bit hit and miss with passengers being reliant on the instructions of the driver.

Cashless travel is the way of the future. It should increase convenience and reduce delays at bus stops. It opens up the way for “cross ticketing” – allowing passengers to use different bus companies for different parts of their journey but at a lower cost.

But its introduction will depend on good communications together with the use of robust systems and technology.

Residents currently will feel more than a little uneasy about the effectiveness of the readers now in use on First York buses.