First Aberdeen - Fare Changes

First Aberdeen has announced that some of its fares will be changing from Sunday 5th August 2018.

Tickets bought via the First Bus mobile ticket app will be frozen or reduced to their 2017 price with the changes impacting most on tickets purchased on-bus and through PayPoint. First Aberdeen is urging customers to switch to mobile ticketing, for the best value fares available.

Purchasing a FirstWeek ticket, in advance, using the mTickets app will cost £15.50 but jumps to  £18 if purchased from the driver.

First Aberdeen is also reducing the price of some of its most popular multi-journey products such as the day, monthly or five single tickets package when purchased via the mTickets app.

The new First Bus Unlimited ticket also allows customers to pay a monthly direct debit for unlimited bus travel across their chosen network via the mTickets app to make regular bus travel more convenient than ever before.

First Aberdeen reports that sales of tickets via cashless methods, including mTickets and contactless, have more than doubled over the last year, and is now encouraging more customers to switch from cash to cashless payment methods, to help speed up boarding times.

The majority of student ticket prices have been frozen on the mTickets app to allow students to plan and budget for their travel during term time.

Graeme Macfarlan, Commercial Director at First Aberdeen, said: “We generally need to review our fares each year to ensure we meet the rising costs that we face as a business, but we have worked hard to keep any increases to a minimum with ticket prices last reviewed in April ‘17.

“Travel by First Aberdeen offers great value for money and we continue to offer a lower price for most tickets purchased via the First mTickets app, in comparison to tickets bought from the driver, so that we can encourage people to switch and speed up their boarding time. This allows us to improve access to purchase tickets on the go for the increasingly mobile savvy consumer.

“Our Aberdeen operation has seen a significant rise in ‘smart’ payments in recent months, with over 70 per cent of our customers now using a ‘cashless’ method. We are working hard to encourage more customers to convert to using mTickets or contactless, as this will have a further impact on reducing boarding times and will help us in the battle to speed up people’s journeys.”

For full details on the changes to First Aberdeen fares, please visit www.firstaberdeen.com