Stagecoach Cambus have finally introduced a carnet style scheme for travel on their buses using their Dayrider or Dayrider Plus tickets. The system is a bit like the London Oyster card, but with some drawbacks.

To begin with you need one of their Smart Cards. If you don’t have one already then you can order one for free from Stagecoach by filling in this form (Adobe/PDF, 329KB) and posting(!) it back to them. Once you have your card you can then pre-load it with Dayrider or Dayrider Plus tickets. You do this five tickets at a time the first time you get on a bus (they are intending to add the ability to buy tickets online later).

Tickets bought this way are priced at:

N.B. Tickets expire after three months. As the equivalent tickets are priced at £4 and £6.20 then the saving for Dayrider is £5 and for Dayrider Plus £4. This means that it’s only worth going for the Dayrider Plus option if you’re certain you will use the card five times in the next three months, but for Dayrider you’re in profit, just, after four uses.

So, as you can see, it’s not as flexible as an Oyster card which just has a balance which never expires, and you just use it as and when on London Transport and your balance is debited and then auto-topped up from your credit card as necessary. But it is a step in the right direction and, for people who purchase Dayrider or Dayrider Plus tickets fairly often, but don’t need to every day (in which case they would be using Megarider) then they’re a step forward being both cheaper and meaning you’re not worried about having the right money to hand.

For more information see their page Get SMARTER with our new 5 SmartDays ticket!.