On both a Carousel and an Oxford bus this week I have noticed contactless touch pads for touching out but haven't seen any publicity for this on their web sites or Twitter. Does anybody know what implementation plans there are?
On Carousel it's advertised on their website, but under the heading
Freeflow, implying it's all operational there. I can't find anything on the Oxford site, but the URL for checking your history on Freeflow is "Go-Oxford", which would encompass both Carousel and Oxford (plus Thames Travel as well).
One issue which will be interesting is whether they can finally handle capping for returns, which seems to be an issue with many of these systems. Once you get out of the Oxford city zone, there are quite a lot of return tickets considerably cheaper than either two singles or the day ticket, especially on Thames Travel routes. To give an example, here's a journey I might make:
Walk/cycle to Oxford city centre
X39/X40 to Reading
Spend some time there
X39/X40 to Oxford
Depending on weather and how I feel, either walk/cycle back or get the bus
Ideally a system would charge me £6 for that journey, but might charge me £8 (two singles = £8.40). This example is far from academic - the whole purpose of these tap in tap out systems is to allow for flexibility if you don't know how many journeys you will make at the start of a day. In theory I could even get an X38 outwards, buy a return to Reading but leave at Henley, then make my own way to Reading. That would presumably be allowed now since you're never being over carried, but certainly this system wouldn't be able to track such a journey and you'd have to pay the full £8!
