They could use the Barclaycard no-touch thing, whatever it's called.
Regardless of what it's called it's not asking a lot to change a £10 note for a journey costing a few quid, maybe if the fares were reasonable and the costs were halved then there might be a reason to carry such a tiny amount of change, but when it costs £1.50 to travel a mile they should be prepared to change the bigger notes that inevitably come with those rip off prices.
A card reader would solve all these problems, but the operators are too cheap to implement them.
To implement mobile connection card readers to our entire fleet would require significant investment and a subsequent rise in fares, we are currently implementing card readers similar to the Oyster system (at a significant cost) which can be used and charged at pay-points, pay-points can also be used to buy season and weekly tickets currently.
While it may not be an issue giving change to a person with a £10 note and issuing £8.50 in change, it becomes an issue when 50 people do the same thing on a single journey as happens on occasion. Driver do not simply do a single route, have a break then do another, they drive several in succession carrying in access of 200 passengers on short local routes, if half these people want significant amounts of change I am sure you can see the problem. It simply is not practical for a driver to carry several hundred pounds in change in addition to his takings.
As I have said, the occasions where a passenger is refused travel for not having change are rare.
As for pricing, many routes are non viable and as such are heavily subsidised by both the operators and local councils.
You should be taking up costs with your MP and local councillors as they set the concessionary tariffs and cuts to this and the fuel subsidies mean that fare paying passengers are effectively subsidising the national concessionary scheme which accounts for more than 70% of passenger numbers. Where the fare is £1.50 to you, the operators receive only a fraction of that for the concessionary traveller.
Basically if you want cheaper fares, petition your MP for a renegotiation to the concessionary system and a rethink of fuel subsidies, otherwise you wil find that services will begin to disappear.
Bus companies are not charities, they are entitled to make a profit like any other private company.
It is practically impossible to avoid travelling on buses at some point if you live in/around London, because unless you fancy selling your house you won't be able to afford to park in central london. I leave both my cars at home practically every day of the week.
