Scottish bus operators to save up to 220 minutes per day on some routes as they wave goodbye to concession paper receipts

• Concessionary ticket users will no longer receive a receipt for their journey from 20^th Feb.
• All contributing bus operators will be making the change across their wider businesses throughout Scotland.
• It is hoped the change will help to improve journey times and reduce waste.

Bus routes in Scotland are set to save up to 220 mins per day as operators across the city stop printing paper receipts for concessions.

Stagecoach, First Bus, McGills, West Coast Motors and JMB Travel are all making the move to no longer print concessionary tickets across all their operational areas in Scotland from Monday 20^th February in the hope it will aid bus journey times and further reduce their impact on the environment.

It is hoped the onboarding time for those using a National Entitlement Card will be reduced throughout each route, in turn saving a few important seconds at each stop. The move will also reduce the amount of paper used and litter seen onboard bus services.

The change is taking place thanks to new software installed across the network which allows bus operators to log each journey digitally. Transport Scotland confirmed there is no legislative requirement to issue a paper ticket for concessions. 

It won’t affect how customers travel using their National Entitlement Card, the only difference will be that they will no longer receive a receipt. All customers will still be required to inform the driver of their destination when they board to allow accurate recording of this information.

The amount of time saved by this move will vary by operator and by individual route due to the differing number of concessionary card holders travelling on each route on any given day but it is viewed as a huge positive by all of the bus operators.

Fiona Doherty, Managing Director, Stagecoach West Scotland, said: “Our buses operating in Ayrshire, Glasgow, Cumbernauld and Dumfries & Galloway will be making this small change next week that will have a big impact on bus efficiency and paper reduction. By removing the printing of paper bus tickets our concessionary passengers will benefit from a faster boarding experience while we help the environment by reducing paper tickets.”

Graeme Macfarlan, Commercial Director for First Bus Scotland, said: “The move towards removing paper receipts for concession journeys is one we have been wanting to make for some time. On our services alone, over 850,000 small pieces of paper are printed for receipts in Glasgow and Aberdeen each week that we have felt are unnecessary when the customer already holds a physical concessionary card.

“These paper receipts are unable to be recycled and therefore, making these small changes, can have a much larger impact in helping us improve journey times and reduce waste.”