PRESS RELEASE
Arriva North West
September 2014
Smart Bands go on trial in Chester
A smart way for children to pay their bus fare using a wristband is to be trialled at Chester.
The Smart Travel Band is another innovative idea to come out of Arriva’s Good to Great
programme and will be tried out by a school in the city next term.
Chester general manager Keith Anglesea said: “Our team`s idea was to improve the journey
experience for both the passenger and driver using technology.
“We looked at the best market in which to do this and we all agreed to aim it at the children’s
market. This also reduced the cash children had to carry for fares and meant less cash for
drivers to handle.
“We discovered that you could use chip technology to pay for the journey and the best method
for children was to incorporate it within a wristband.”
A prototype was made in support of the team’s presentation of the idea to Arriva, which gave
the go-ahead for the Smart Travel Card pilot.
The active learning group behind the idea also included Julie Smith (The Shires), Tim Walters
(Yorkshire Tiger), Nick Faichney (Arriva London North) and Dennis Yau (UK Bus).
Ends.
For further press information and images please contact:
Debra Heaton
Communications & Marketing Manager
07500 332489
heatond@arrivanw.co.uk
For media enquiries outside of office hours, Arriva can be contacted via its 24hour media pager service on 0762 392 0615.
Notes to Editors
Arriva UK Bus is part of Arriva plc, one of the largest passenger transport providers in Europe,
employing some 54,500 people and delivering more than 2.2 billion passenger journeys across
14 European countries every year. It is currently operates a fleet of some 5,900 vehicles in the
UK alone, providing services in the North East, North West and South East of England,
Yorkshire, the Midlands and Wales.
In addition to the Arriva-branded networks, it also operates locally branded bus services
including Hinkley Bus, Wardle Transport, Yorkshire Tiger, Network Colchester and Green Line,
which provides regular coach services between central London and the Home Counties.
In 2010, Arriva was acquired by Deutsche Bahn, and is now responsible for the growth and
development of all Deutsche Bahn’s regional passenger transport outside of Germany.