Earlier this year (February 2023), Cornwall Council changed the way that tickets are purchased for the Truro park and ride service, see park and ride ticketing. Day tickets are now purchased from the bus driver instead of from ticket machines at Tregurra and Langarth and multi-day tickets are purchased through the First Bus app instead of using Cornwall Council smart cards. With the First Bus app, there are ticket expiry dates (see expiry dates explained) meaning that there is no incentive to purchase multi-day tickets unless you intend to use the park and ride at least 1-2 times per week.
I have been interested to see what the uptake has been of the First Bus app compared with the previous smartcard system. Through an FOI request (see FOI response), I have obtained the data for this year compared with the last year and the figures are very similar. In the three months of July to September 2022, 52.1% of journeys were made using the smartcard, whereas in the same three months in 2023, 50.8% of journeys were made using the First app and 5.8% were still being made using the smartcard. Those 5.8% would be smartcard holders who are only occasional users because regular users would have used up most or all of their credits between February (the last time that they could have added credits to their card) and July. As those credits expire, use of the smartcards will continue to diminish over the rest of 2023 and into 2024 (these cards will no longer be accepted after 31 March 2024). Some of these passengers may then take up the First app system but others will switch to day tickets because of the expiry dates on tickets purchased through the app. My guess is that, in the longer term, use of the app is likely to stabilise at around the same percentage level of the old smartcard system at about 52%.
This means that nearly half of tickets purchased will continue to be day tickets and, since they are purchased from the driver rather than from ticket machines, loading times at the two termini will continue to be delayed versus the situation prior to the removal of the machines.
Meanwhile, there has been no news of what is happening to the operator of the park and ride service since First Bus gave 6 months’ notice to terminate the contract in August.