Reading Borough Council has selected EPM Bus Solutions to administer and audit its new multi-operator ticketing scheme ensuring participating bus operators are compensated accurately. Following the allocation of funding, part of its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) is to improve bus services across the city by introducing a multi-operator ticketing scheme, the Reading All-Bus ticket, to allow passengers to seamlessly travel across several operators’ services using one ticket.
The scheme includes peak and off-peak adult, young persons, and group tickets, and the council plans to introduce a tap-on, tap-off day ticket this summer. The ticket prices have been set at a lower level than a single operator’s own day tickets in order to generate demand, and each operator will receive compensation from Reading Borough Council’s BSIP allocation for each ticket purchased on one of their buses or via their website. To ensure all participating operators are reimbursed accurately and on time Reading Borough Council has appointed EPM to administer and audit the scheme.
As administrators, EPM will periodically allocate the scheme revenue along with the compensation payments, ensuring the payments being made to participating operators are accurate and the BSIP funds allocated to the initiative are accounted for. As part of its service, EPM will provide the Council with patronage data from each of the scheme products, to enable it to track the performance of the scheme and identify trends. Bi-annual audits of operator submissions will also be conducted, involving an in-depth interrogation of the data to ensure revenue and passenger data align and providing further assurance that all participants have been accurately reimbursed.
John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport at Reading Borough Council, said: “We’re excited to be introducing the Reading All-Bus ticket to make travel simpler for the people of Reading. Keeping track of the scheme and ensuring operators are paid correctly, as well as complying with our own reporting requirements, can be a complex and time-intensive task. EPM has the dedicated resource and extensive skill set to seamlessly administer and audit the scheme. This will relieve some of the pressure off our transport team and gives us more time to focus on implementing our other bus improvement commitments.”
Consulting Director at EPM Jon Anton explained: “We’re delighted to be working with Reading Borough Council to administer its new multi-operator ticketing scheme. Our comprehensive knowledge of multi-operator ticketing schemes enables us to seamlessly implement processes and provide assurance to stakeholders that all bus operators participating are paid what they are owed.”
