Bath trial to begin for new park-and-ride smartcard

A smartcard trial on park-and-ride services in Bath could be rolled out to services across the region.

Up to 30 single journeys can be bought for the Oyster-style card in advance from the bus driver or from the First travel shop in Bath bus station.

"This gives people an easier and more convenient way of paying for bus travel and a easier way of storing the tickets," said Paul Matthews of First.

The Travel+ card is being issued free of charge.

People will be able to use the card on journeys between the Newbridge, Lansdown and Odd Down park-and-ride sites from Monday.

"It is really important that the council and First make park-and-ride journeys as convenient as possible for people who want to use this quick, green form of public transport," said Councillor Caroline Roberts.

"Multi-journey smartcards are a crucial part of enhancing the customer experience, particularly for those commuters who use the service daily with a 10 journey ticket who must currently store a piece of paper in their pockets which can easily get lost."

First Bus hopes its smartcard will be taken up by other operators.