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A UKFirst as Kinchbus Leads with Contactless
Our Soar Valley bus company, Kinchbus, is rolling out the UK’s first truly tapon tapoff contactless payment for their region’s bus travel. Kinchbus is inves ng in the tapon tapoff terminals a er trialling the system with pioneering UK provider Ticketer on the Skylink Derby route’s 11 vehicles. During the twomonth trial, one in five customers opted to pay with their contactless debit or credit cards. Customer research by Kinchbus found that 80 per cent of customers have a contactless card. With more than 3.2 million customer journeys each year, a similar 20 per cent take up across the Kinchbus network’s 37 buses would see an average of more than 1,750 contactless payments made each day. Kinchbus managing director Jeff Counsell said: “One in five is a huge number annually, but we only expect contactless to increase its share of payments over me. “This is especially true for our system which, uniquely for a UK bus company, automa cally charges the lowest possible fare given where customers get on and the stop they get off at. This beats the flat charge levied by other operators. “With daily and 28day caps too, our customers will have confidence that they are ge ng the best possible value for money every me they tap on and off a Kinchbus service.” Kinchbus services will see contactless rolled out across its fleet this summer. Using the GPS tracking on board each bus, the
system was developed by Berkshirebased technology firm Ticketer with the help of Kinchbus. John Clarfelt, managing director of Ticketer, said: “We are delighted that the trial of our tap on tapoff terminals, working together with Li lepay, was such a huge success for Kinchbus. “Our cket machines are the first in the UK to guarantee passengers pay for their actual journey rather than a prepurchased cket; they are so easy to use, passengers simply tap on with their contactless credit or debit card, then tap off as they disembark. “They no longer need to state their des na on or cket type to the driver. We are so pleased that yet another of our innova ons is making it easier for everyone to travel by bus.” Jeff Counsell said: “For decades we’ve been at the forefront of developing innova on in bus travel, including the vehicles, the allround experience, the real me informa on, a rac ve branding and outstanding levels of service by friendly drivers. “By adding contactless in this more sophis cated and customer “I'd rather go by bus.” – Prince Charles
centric way, whilst s ll accep ng other methods of payment, we are crea ng more choice. It is innova ons such as this which will encourage more people to choose bus travel.” Customers who travel contactless will be able to see their journey history, trip charges and how close they are to their day and 28 day cap through the Kinchbus websites. Kinchbus was founded in 1987 by former Leicester City Football Club director Gilbert Kinch trading as GK Kinch and based in Barrow Upon Soar. In the early 1990s Kinchbus began to expand with services around Leicestershire and No nghamshire. In 1998 Kinchbus was sold to the Wellglade Group; the Kinchbus name was retained and Loughborough con nued as the base for its opera ons. Kinchbus now operates 7 services across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and No nghamshire, including the 24hour Skylink service which connects East Midlands Airport to Derby, Loughborough and Leicester. See the Kinchbus advert on the back page.
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