Advice required for a Stagecoach Smart novice

[davetheguard]

My better half & I are spending a week in late May walking some sections of the Fife coastal path & staying in Anstruther.

We're travelling north to Scotland by train, and then using Stagecoach's X60 bus from Kirkcaldy or Dalgetty Bay for the final leg to our accomodation. While there we intend to use buses every day to & fro along the Fife coast.

We'll be buying either a North East Fife 7 Day Megarider at £28 each or else the slightly more expensive East Scotland 7 Day Megarider at £36.50. It appears that neither of these tickets are available as a paper ticket, but have to be loaded onto a Stagecoach Smart Card - which we don't yet have.

It appears we could buy these in advance online, but is there any real advantage in doing so? Or could we just buy them on the first bus on day one - assuming the bus driver can actually issue us with Smart Cards?

Thanks in advance for any advice/tips anyone can give.

 

[GusB]

It appears we could buy these in advance online, but is there any real advantage in doing so? Or could we just buy them on the first bus on day one - assuming the bus driver can actually issue us with Smart Cards?

The Stagecoach frequently asked questions page has this:

Tickets FAQs

Frequently asked Tickets questions

www.stagecoachbus.com

How do I get a StagecoachSmart card?
There are two ways you can get your hands on a StagecoachSmart card:

Get one free with your first online ticket purchase
Get one for £1 (non-refundable) when you buy a MegaRider ticket on the bus
Unfortunately, you can't buy a StagecoachSmart card on its own.

I'm not sure if you can load two tickets onto one card, but it's not a huge extra expense of you buy on board. Your trip is far enough in the future if you want to avoid the charge and buy online.

 

[davetheguard]

The Stagecoach frequently asked questions page has this:

Tickets FAQs

Frequently asked Tickets questions

www.stagecoachbus.com

I'm not sure if you can load two tickets onto one card, but it's not a huge extra expense of you buy on board. Your trip is far enough in the future if you want to avoid the charge and buy online.

Thanks for the reply GusB.

One further thought: in Exeter we have a Stagecoach South West "Travel Shop" at the bus station. Do you think that they would be able to issue Smart Cards with advance start date Scottish Megarider tickets already loaded?

 

[GusB]

Thanks for the reply GusB.

One further thought: in Exeter we have a Stagecoach South West "Travel Shop" at the bus station. Do you think that they would be able to issue Smart Cards with advance start date Scottish Megarider tickets already loaded?

I'm sure that when I was researching the answer to your original question, I came across something that mentioned ticket agents (which the travel shop would be), but I'm damned if I can find it now!

I don't see why not, but it might be worth ringing up beforehand.

 

[Man of Kent]

Thanks for the reply GusB.

One further thought: in Exeter we have a Stagecoach South West "Travel Shop" at the bus station. Do you think that they would be able to issue Smart Cards with advance start date Scottish Megarider tickets already loaded?

I'm sure that when I was researching the answer to your original question, I came across something that mentioned ticket agents (which the travel shop would be), but I'm damned if I can find it now!

I don't see why not, but it might be worth ringing up beforehand.

Local ticket machines (including office based ones) will only have fares for that company installed, so any off-the-patch purchase will have to be via the online route. Also, it is not possible to have separate tickets for two people on one card - effectively the ticket machine will only read the first valid ticket it finds.

Alternatively, mobile tickets can be bought via Smartphone.

 

[Stan Drews]

I‘m fairly certain weekly megarider tickets can still be purchased onboard.

This is taken from the Stagecoach website:

MegaRider tickets for St Andrews Cupar and the East Neuk​

MegaRider
With unlimited travel in your area, the more you travel, the more you save with a MegaRider! Our 7 and 28 day MegaRiders offer great everyday value. Buy your 7 day MegaRider on our app or onboard from your driver. You can buy 28 day tickets online and add them to your Smartcard or even set up a monthly recurring payment. These convenient cash-free options are the easiest way to buy!

 

[Man of Kent]

I‘m fairly certain weekly megarider tickets can still be purchased onboard.

This is taken from the Stagecoach website:

MegaRider tickets for St Andrews Cupar and the East Neuk​

MegaRider
With unlimited travel in your area, the more you travel, the more you save with a MegaRider! Our 7 and 28 day MegaRiders offer great everyday value. Buy your 7 day MegaRider on our app or onboard from your driver. You can buy 28 day tickets online and add them to your Smartcard or even set up a monthly recurring payment. These convenient cash-free options are the easiest way to buy!

Quite correct. The weak link is that the driver may not have any new smartcard stock to sell one on.

 

[davetheguard]

Thanks to everyone for your comments & advice.

I think I'll be going down the advance online purchase route to be on the safe side.

It's more of a faff than just buying a ticket on the bus, but hey, the demise of paper tickets was always going to have winners & losers.

By the way, I assume as well as storing Megariders, you can load the card with some money and use it Oyster-style pay as you go? I hope so, because then I can see a future use for the card; if not I'll probably use it for this one trip, and then it'll just sit in a drawer somewhere!

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

You can load these tickets on to a scotrail or Glasgow underground smart card also