A total of 94 ticket machines installed on LibertyBus’s fleet are currently being replaced with faster devices capable of processing instant credit and debit card payments.
The upgrade will cost £250,000 and it is hoped that contactless cards could be accepted as early as June.
It has also been announced that some fares are to go up, in line with the rate of inflation.
The cost of using a pay-as-you-go AvanchiCard will go up by 5p to £1.60 per journey and student journeys on AvanchiStudent cards will go up by 3p to 80p per journey.
Monthly passes will rise from £45 to £50, if purchased in the bus station, and £46 per month if bought online.
When contactless technology is fully rolled out cash fares will also rise from £2 to £2.20 for
adults and from £1 to £1.10 for
children.
However, Islanders using contactless technology will benefit from a 20p discount for adults and a 10p discount for children, in comparison to current cash prices.
Kevin Hart, director of HCT Group Channel Islands – who own LibertyBus – said that Islanders using AvanchiCards would also benefit from the introduction of the new devices.
‘We have about four or five new machines already on the network at the moment. They have updated, faster processors which means that transactions can be made more quickly on AvanchiCards too.
‘On the double-deckers we should be able to save a good couple of minutes in loading time.’
Travelling Islanders will also be able to use their mobile phones to pay for journeys
if they have ApplePay, AndroidPay or SamsungPay activated.
