Finally got round to digging my new bus pass out of the pile this week. I was slow to realise that new cards would be issued, since my old one was still valid. I had assumed the letter from the council just contained bumf about shopping discounts & put it in the pile Deal with when you get round to it
It is odd that I feel a bit sad that the new card does not proclaim itself, & me, to be proudly, Derbyshire.
The new card finds it necessary to declare Concessionary travel funded by HM Government with your local authority. Is the lack of an is in there a modern fashion, or a subtle nod in recognition that it is funded out of my, & my fellow tax-payers pockets, after the authorities have taken their cut?
I think the basic colour & red ribbon are meant to be common to all cards throughout the country, to make them easier for bus drivers to recognise. It causes complications at the train station however. They now ask: Is that a Derbyshire pass?
The London Freedom Pass definitely has a different design, according to the website. And the leaflet which accompanies our new pass sternly reminds us that we are not entitled to free travel on the Tube Because those benefits are paid for by the London authorities. I think I foresee another campaign coming on
I have also just discovered that there is an organisation ITSO, dedicated to building and maintaining a specification for secure 'end to end' inter-operable ticketing transactions, utilising relevant ISO and emerging CEN standards.
Which is, actually, reassuring to know
The new system has been rolled out with remarkably little trouble. Most people seemed to be using their new cards right from 1 April, & bus drivers were gently reminding or giving information to those who were still using the old ones
Of course no new major government computer system was required, nor any new data collection. Just the sending of letters to a relatively immobile demographic - immobile in the sense of tending to stay put at one address
