South Yorkshire Bus Service Needs Improvement

[Resident]

3 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

Are you also taking in to account the additional 4% handling fee that American Express charge? When you are a small company like Hulley's or Globe, that 4% can make a big difference to your profits.

Stop clutching at straws. Compared to Visa/Mastercard the use of AMEX is a tiny fraction of card users. 

[Guest busdriver1]

13 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

A lot of the senior citizens struggle to scan their freedom card, especially on Stagecoach buses, as the scanners retard with the slightest movement and many senior citizens have unsteady hands.

The biggest issue with missreads is passengers of all types taking their cards away too soon.

Just to fill you in, it is now a requirement that buses accept contactless payments, failure to do so results in financial penalties.

13 minutes ago, Resident said:

Based on the average card fees rate of 1.3%, to pay £1000 in fees then the business process just under £77,000 in card payments. Now most fee rates drop the more you transact so that's not likely to be the true figure, it's more than likely that the company transacted close to or over £100,000 through their account.

Large companies such as First/Stagecoach will have negotiated fees that are almost nothing due to the volume of transactions

 

As @HeHasRisen stated that's nonsense. CIT fees are charged (usually) at a set rate per £100 banked. On £750k you'd be looking around £2.5k for that one collection, not including any discrepancy fees at the bank.

 

The rate for card payments to bus companies is below 1% This makes card payments extremely viable compared to cash.

[Irene Swaine]

6 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

Just to fill you in, it is now a requirement that buses accept contactless payments, failure to do so results in financial penalties.

Who set this requirement? An absolutely ludicrous policy. One has to question why this agenda is being pushed so firmly.

[Guest busdriver1]

27 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

Why do you think so many businesses are cash only? 

We probably had the same issues when cash was introduced in place of bartering, I think some stick in the muds went out of business then as well.

Like it or not cashless is here and its not going away

Just now, Irene Swaine said:

Who set this requirement? An absolutely ludicrous policy. One has to question why this agenda is being pushed so firmly.

It has been set by the government in an attempt to make public transport inclusive to ALL not just those stuck in the past

[Irene Swaine]

9 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

It has been set by the government in an attempt to make public transport inclusive to ALL not just those stuck in the past

It's not about inclusion, it's about getting their own way. If they wanted to promote inclusivity, then why not mandate that all businesses must accept cash? I think it's because they know the public want to pay cash and they want to drive cash away. Tesco introduced card readers at the tills... probably someone like you praised it for inclusivity, then they plated over the coin and note slots and went card only. 

 

I am very wary when the government get involved in mandating how businesses take payments.  If enough people wanted to pay with card, this wouldn't need to be mandated surely. 

[Padders]

2 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

It's not about inclusion, it's about getting their own way. If they wanted to promote inclusivity, then why not mandate that all businesses must accept cash? I think it's because they know the public want to pay cash and they want to drive cash away. Tesco introduced card readers at the tills... probably someone like you praised it for inclusivity, then they plated over the coin and note slots and went card only. 

 

I am very wary when the government get involved in mandating how businesses take payments.  If enough people wanted to pay with card, this wouldn't need to be mandated surely. 

So true Irene,

Now I watch a lot of you tube and saw this last week......

"The Macmaster" you tuber.

This guy was on a Ryan airplane.

He was sat next to an old lady, the cabin crew came round with the drinks trolley, and she ordered a cup of tea.

It was card only!!!

She had plenty of cash but no card, they refused to accept cash, THIS IS WRONG!

Fortunately the "Macmaster" very kindly paid for her cuppa....

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

So true Irene,

Now I watch a lot of you tube and saw this last week......

"The Macmaster" you tuber.

This guy was on a Ryan airplane.

He was sat next to an old lady, the cabin crew came round with the drinks trolley, and she ordered a cup of tea.

It was card only!!!

She had plenty of cash but no card, they refused to accept cash, THIS IS WRONG!

Fortunately the "Macmaster" very kindly paid for her cuppa....

No, it's not wrong. The business controls what  transaction methods they like.   Cash payments particularly taking on board forms of public transport like buses, airlines and trains is a burden. They will need to have a float maintained, means of storage and sufficient change, It has to be counted and checked and bagged up and deposited which all comes with additional logistical, security and insurance risk.

 

Cashless on the other hand means they can operate with nothing more than a small computerised terminal. It is tracked and monitored and encrypted and can be carried around anywhere with ease.  Takings are automatically accounted for, quickly audited and electronically transferred to the bank accounts. 

 

Just what exactly was this old lady doing in 2023 boarding a flight with nothing but cash.  Is she really one of those wandering around with a wad of notes and nothing else. Did she really not have a single card she could use??  All seems very fishy to me. I don't know where she was going but what if she needed to get more money out at her destination? How was she going to check into a hotel or make larger purchases at the destination. More fool her if she was going to rely on nothing but cash notes.  

 

I don't buy into this whole patronising age thing.  That's just an excuse from a load of dinosaurs who refuse to move on with the times. Both of my parents are well into their 70s and fully embrace the world of cards and contactless and even online banking. Even my late grandmother who died in her '90s wasn't immune from using debit cards or travel money cards.

Edited May 25, 2023 by ECCOnoob

[HeHasRisen]

2 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

No, it's not wrong. The business controls what  transaction methods they like.   Cash payments particularly taking on board forms of public transport like buses, airlines and trains is a burden. They will need to have a float maintained, means of storage and sufficient change, It has to be counted and checked and bagged up and deposited which all comes with additional logistical, security and insurance risk.

 

Cashless on the other hands means they can operate with nothing more than a small computerised terminal. It is tracked and monitored and encrypted and can be carried around anywhere with ease.  Takings are automatically accounted for, quickly audited and electronically transferred to the bank accounts. 

 

Just what exactly was this old lady doing in 2023 boarding a flight with nothing but cash.  Is she really one of those wandering around with a wad of notes and nothing else. Did she really not have a single card she could use??  All seems very fishy to me. I don't know where she was going but what if she needed to get more money out at her destination? How was she going to check into a hotel or make larger purchases at our destination. More fool her if she was going to rely nothing but cash notes.  

 

I don't buying to this whole patronising age thing.  That's just an excuse from a load of dinosaurs who refuse to move on with the times. Both of my parents are well into their 70s and a fully embrace the world of cards and contactless and even online banking. Even my late grandmother who died in a '90s wasn't immune from using debit cards or cash points.

 

Cash is King my backside.  

Also it's hardly the staffs fault either. Moaning at them would achieve nothing. 

 

Pretty sure Ryanair mention in emails before flights that all their flights are now card only too, they were in 2019 when I used them so it's hardly a recent thing 

Edited May 25, 2023 by HeHasRisen

[HumbleNarrator]

9 minutes ago, Padders said:

So true Irene,

Now I watch a lot of you tube and saw this last week......

"The Macmaster" you tuber.

This guy was on a Ryan airplane.

He was sat next to an old lady, the cabin crew came round with the drinks trolley, and she ordered a cup of tea.

It was card only!!!

She had plenty of cash but no card, they refused to accept cash, THIS IS WRONG!

Fortunately the "Macmaster" very kindly paid for her cuppa....

We watch Macmaster in our house, well, Mrs Humblenarrator does, I'm a captive audience for it tbh. Watching him whingeing about how rubbish electric vehicle infrastructure is while he's on his way to his ten millionth English breakfast review is getting a bit boring.

[ECCOnoob]

24 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

It's not about inclusion, it's about getting their own way. If they wanted to promote inclusivity, then why not mandate that all businesses must accept cash? I think it's because they know the public want to pay cash and they want to drive cash away. Tesco introduced card readers at the tills... probably someone like you praised it for inclusivity, then they plated over the coin and note slots and went card only. 

 

I am very wary when the government get involved in mandating how businesses take payments.  If enough people wanted to pay with card, this wouldn't need to be mandated surely. 

Because it's a completely backward step.  

 

It would be forcing businesses to incur great time, efforts and expense mandatory providing a facility which is increasingly dwindling in use.

For some of the more smaller businesses or online only operations, it'd make it completely impractical to run their businesses.