Demand grows for flexible multi-journey bus tickets with rise of part-time workers

A report conducted by First Bus reveals a 28 percent year on year increase in its ‘carnet’ multi-journey bus tickets, attributing the demand to the rise of part-time workers.

According to operator First Bus, more than 216,000 journeys were made using multi-journey bus tickets across its network in January 2016, rising from 168,000 the previous year. The company has linked the increase in demand of the flexible tickets to its increasing availability as an m-Ticket and changing work patterns after the Office of National Statistics in February confirmed 8.43m people in the UK are working in part-time roles, an increase of 134,000 year on year.  

216,000 First Bus journeys were made using multi-journey bus tickets in January 2016

Commenting, Commercial Development Director at First Bus, Simon Pearson, said: “For someone who uses the bus two or three days a week, such as a part time worker, our simple 10 journey proposition offers the best value and greatest flexibility. Coupled with the increasing availability of our multi-journey products as m-Tickets, enabling customers to use their mobile phones as bus tickets, explains we believe why we’re seeing a spike in sales across our businesses.” 

He added: “The bus is absolutely vital to the UK’s economy, every day almost 2.5million people across the UK travel to work by bus, and a million more use the bus as a vital back up.  The growing demand for multi journey tickets is strong evidence that more people are working part-time, or working shifts often out with traditional commuting peak time periods.”