Stagecoach North East has topped the £2million milestone for contactless payments across the north east, one year after the state-of-the art technology was launched in the region, and the residents of Sunderland have taken well to the faster payment system.
Contactless payments usage in Sunderland has increased dramatically over the year, with almost 26,000 bus journeys over 12 months as the passengers continue to adopt the technology.
Over 1,200 Sunderland customers travelled across the city and beyond in the first week of December 2017 using the contactless payments technology, compared with 19 passengers in the week following the launch in December 2016.
The local bus operator, with its head office in Sunderland, introduced the innovative payment system in December 2016, which allows passengers to pay for their travel using contactless technology.
Over £2million has been spent and over 390,000 contactless transactions have been made by Stagecoach customers getting around the north east following the launch just over 12 months ago.
Stagecoach North East customers were amongst the first bus passengers in the country outside London to benefit from the new system, which allows customers to pay with contactless credit or debit cards as well as Apple Pay and Android Pay.
Dedicated ticket machines were installed on the fleet of more than 470 buses and coaches.
Thousands of bus passengers a day have now benefited from the latest technology, which speeds up boarding and means customers don’t have to carry cash.
The introduction of the contactless payment system was one of the first developments implemented by Steve Walker, Managing Director at Stagecoach North East, who took up his role in late 2016.
Steve is delighted with the take up by customers, saying: “In this technological age, paying for a bus fare should be simple and fast, as is now the case for many day-to-day purchases.
“Enabling customers to use their contactless payment card on the buses removes the inconvenience of checking for cash before making a journey.
“More and more consumers are recognising contactless as a safe and secure way to pay, which not only saves them time, but is also easy to use.
“It is fantastic that we’ve already seen over 391,000 bus journeys and £2 million customer transactions via the new payment system in 12 months.
“These findings prove that consumers are positive about contactless payments and continue to embrace the technology, and we are confident that this number will increase even more.”
For further information about Stagecoach North East please visit www.stagecoachbus.com