The NoW Card

[Mick]

Do you have a NoW Card ?
Then take more notice of the ticket you get from the bus driver
I am not sure how it works thought
do the bus company get paid on each ticket journey or are they paid a set sum per ticket or per stage ?
depending on which way the company are paid there could be a big fiddle going on

I always catch the bus at the bottom of Lonsdale street to town and get the bus back to the Acorn centre.
but on a lot of tickets I have been noticing I have been getting on at ossy library or spread eagle street I even according to the ticket got on at Redcap pub to go to Accy (don't remember walking this far to catch a bus to Accy)
and going home I get off at Acorn centre remember I have tickets from Accy to spread eagle st even Harwood st / Tesco
This could be costing the council a lot of money and could put an end to these passes.

I would like to see some input from one of our council friends

[cashman]

yeh i noticed i get many different destinations on me ticket, further n what i am going, this is regular. Think we need to know how these are paid, certainly dont want to lose that card because of possible twisting.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Mick

Do you have a NoW Card ?
Then take more notice of the ticket you get from the bus driver
I am not sure how it works thought
do the bus company get paid on each ticket journey or are they paid a set sum per ticket or per stage ?
depending on which way the company are paid there could be a big fiddle going on

I always catch the bus at the bottom of Lonsdale street to town and get the bus back to the Acorn centre.
but on a lot of tickets I have been noticing I have been getting on at ossy library or spread eagle street I even according to the ticket got on at Redcap pub to go to Accy (don't remember walking this far to catch a bus to Accy)
and going home I get off at Acorn centre remember I have tickets from Accy to spread eagle st even Harwood st / Tesco
This could be costing the council a lot of money and could put an end to these passes.

I would like to see some input from one of our council friends

Certainly looks a bit iffy Mick, why would they put a different access point or let off point to the real one, definitely dodgy to me.

[Gremlin]

It is a very rare event if I catch a bus but I once caught one from Accrington Town Centre to the bottom of Dill Hall lane and used a NoW card, the ticket had the destination as Eachill Gardens Rishton.
The bus company could soon double their income if this practice is common place. Who pays for all this? me for one through Poll Tax.

[JCB]

Originally Posted by cashman

yeh i noticed i get many different destinations on me ticket, further n what i am going, this is regular.

It's the same with me .

[Margaret Pilkington]

We use our NoW card quite a bit. Today on the bus back from Bury, there was a survey taking place...the chap was telling one of the ladies who asked.......the fare is calculated to the main stops(the little intermediate stops are largely ignored...because if you were paying, the fare would be the same to the nearest main stop).
We get off the bus at Sydney St...but the ticket recods Hare and Hounds. If we were paying, the fare would be the same.

LCC are billed for the re-imbursement of 75% of the cost of the journey.

So there you go.
I don't think the bus drivers would have any interest in'jewing' the authorities....and the bus companies would be dobbed in if the drivers thought there was something underhand about what was being done.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Mick

Do you have a NoW Card ?
Then take more notice of the ticket you get from the bus driver
I am not sure how it works thought
do the bus company get paid on each ticket journey or are they paid a set sum per ticket or per stage ?
depending on which way the company are paid there could be a big fiddle going on

I always catch the bus at the bottom of Lonsdale street to town and get the bus back to the Acorn centre.
but on a lot of tickets I have been noticing I have been getting on at ossy library or spread eagle street I even according to the ticket got on at Redcap pub to go to Accy (don't remember walking this far to catch a bus to Accy)
and going home I get off at Acorn centre remember I have tickets from Accy to spread eagle st even Harwood st / Tesco
This could be costing the council a lot of money and could put an end to these passes.

I would like to see some input from one of our council friends

You should save those tickets and hand them in at the town hall, there will be quite a difference in the cost of the actual distance from Lonsdale St to Accy, compared to Spread Eagle Ossy to Accy, either some ones too lazy to calibrate the ticket machine or some ones found a way to milk the system.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

We use our NoW card quite a bit. Today on the bus back from Bury, there was a survey taking place...the chap was telling one of the ladies who asked.......the fare is calculated to the main stops(the little intermediate stops are largely ignored...because if you were paying, the fare would be the same to the nearest main stop).
We get off the bus at Sydney St...but the ticket recods Hare and Hounds. If we were paying, the fare would be the same.

LCC are billed for the re-imbursement of 75% of the cost of the journey.

So there you go.
I don't think the bus drivers would have any interest in'jewing' the authorities....and the bus companies would be dobbed in if the drivers thought there was something underhand about what was being done.

That don't explain why i regularly get wrong destination or boarding point on me ticket Margaret?

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

We use our NoW card quite a bit. Today on the bus back from Bury, there was a survey taking place...the chap was telling one of the ladies who asked.......the fare is calculated to the main stops(the little intermediate stops are largely ignored...because if you were paying, the fare would be the same to the nearest main stop).
We get off the bus at Sydney St...but the ticket recods Hare and Hounds. If we were paying, the fare would be the same.

LCC are billed for the re-imbursement of 75% of the cost of the journey.

So there you go.
I don't think the bus drivers would have any interest in'jewing' the authorities....and the bus companies would be dobbed in if the drivers thought there was something underhand about what was being done.

Travel to Bury is a diiferent service provider than th ones Mick and Cashy are on about, my wife uses the same service as you Margaret from the town center and her tickets always show the correct stop.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by cashman

That don't explain why i regularly get wrong destination or boarding point on me ticket Margaret?

Well Cashy all you have to do is query it with the driver.
I am under the impression that it is LCC who foot the bill for this travel...and it is also government backed too(whether this means that LCC recoup some of the cost from central government, I am not sure).

The boarding point on my ticket is always correct...though the alighting point may be different by one or two stops.

[phil8715]

It might be down to different fare stages. I have a disabled now card and if i'm going to say from Rishton to Accrington it will have Station Road to Accrington Peel Street. I get on at Staunton Street Rishton which the stop after Station Road.

[shillelagh]

ive had tickets that said id got on at Christchurch .. and got off in bury .. anyway ive found this ... i know its cumbria but Lancashire will be something similar ...

6/1/2011 - Changes to Concessionary Bus Travel in Cumbria


Councillors today (Thursday January 6) approved plans for changes to concessionary bus travel in Cumbria .

From April 1 Cumbria County Council will take over responsibility from the district councils for administering the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) that provides people over 60 years of age - as well as those with disabilities who qualify - with a NoW card that gives free off peak travel on scheduled bus services.

This move follows a government decision to transfer concessionary travel responsibility to county councils and is being adopted all round the country.

Given that Cumbria County Council has to find major savings following a reduction in government grants, and so that there is parity across the whole county , the county council has decided to adopt the same minimum statutory provision for all concessionary travellers in all six districts .

Today Cumbria County Council's Cabinet agreed to provide free off peak travel (between 9.30am and 11pm Monday-Friday and all day Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays) for around 90,000 Cumbrian residents that are eligible, plus visitors to the county who are also eligible.

Cabinet also agreed to carry out a three-month review to study the level of reimbursement to transport operators. The current proposal is to reimburse them with 65 per cent of the fare, but this may have to be reduced to 60 per cent to make the scheme affordable.

Currently the district councils in Cumbria receive about £8.4million in grants from government for concessionary travel – allowing Carlisle and Eden councils to provide free travel for concessionary passengers around the clock - but this figure is being reduced.

It had been estimated that Cumbria County Council would get around £7.9million in grants from government for concessionary fares, but this figure now appears to be around £7.2million , meaning there is additional pressure to find savings.

These funding pressures mean that the county council can only operate the statutory minimum service, but it will help ensure taxpayers get better value for money.

Councillor Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council's cabinet member for passenger transport, said: "We are committed to providing off peak concessionary travel for all those eligible in Cumbria , but as a council we have to find major savings given these tough economic times and the smaller financial grant we are receiving from government

"The harsh reality is that we've been passed on the poisoned chalice of funding the concessionary travel scheme at the time we're facing the biggest public sector spending cuts since the Second World War.

"This reduction in funding means we can't provide free travel around the clock, but it does mean we'll be introducing parity across the county in that all concessionary travellers will be subject to the same terms and conditions. It will end the postcode lottery of different entitlements for different people in Cumbria , but we are talking to the district councils to see whether they want to supplement the service in their area. If they want to do so then we're happy for them to spend money on enhancements that bolster concessionary travel , but we're starting with a level playing field.

"While we're happy to have discussions with the districts regarding them enhancing concessionary travel, we as a county council simply don't have the funding available to continue subsidising on peak concessionary travel ourselves."

NoWcard: Latest News

[Mick]

Even if your journey is calculated to the "stage stop" in my case this is "church Lights"
it does not explain why my tickets say spread eagle st or Harwood st/Tesco
or when I get on at Lonsdale street it says ossy library or redcap
it seams to only happen with one bus company (not saying which) as it could give the site problems

[Margaret Pilkington]

Mick, if it is just one bus company that uses this tactic then you should report them.

In the main, our use of the NoW card is on the Transdev services.......and the rossendale bus line.......and our destination and joining points are correct on these services.

I have used my NoW card in Bristol, and Canterbury too, and similarly, the details on my ticket have been correct.

[MargaretR]

This looks like another example of Taqiyya in action.
See post #5 here -
http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ml#post1062091