I posted a story about a visitor to Cornwall who used buses for a week paying by tap and cap and found that she had been overcharged - the cap for the week should have been £32 but she was charged in total £46. See tap and cap overcharge.
I have been pursuing this issue with Cornwall Council for several weeks and eventually decided to ask a public question to the portfolio holder for transport at the Cabinet meeting on 30 July.
My question was, "In June, Mrs C from Norfolk, whilst visiting Cornwall for a week, used tap and cap on buses. She was charged £46 in total instead of the cap of £32. What has the portfolio holder done to rectify the issue and to ensure that this has not happened to other passengers?”
The official answer from the portfolio holder was, "As a goodwill gesture, the customer has been offered a refund for this unfortunate incident, while an investigation takes place. I would like to thank her for highlighting the issue and providing the information has enabled this investigation to be undertaken to ensure that this issue is not more widespread. Cornwall Council does not have ownership of this data, this is held by other organisations, depending upon the bus operator a customer travels with. However, we are committed to understanding the circumstances that led to this customer’s recent experience. This is not the experience we expect bus users to have in Cornwall. The system was set up to ensure that customers have a seamless journey when travelling across Cornwall with multiple bus operators and, since its introduction in July 2022, this is the first issue raised regarding multi-operator travel. This review is complex and includes multiple bus operators and administrative organisations that look after the technical data and is due to be finalised imminently. If any anomalies are found, these will be resolved urgently.”
I first raised the issue with the portfolio holder on 25 June. Whilst the Council says that the issue will be finalised “imminently”, my guess is that dreckly would be a better adverb to describe the timescale. I still think that it is likely that Mrs C was not the only person that has been overcharged because of whatever glitch there is in the system.
The portfolio holder said that “this is the first issue raised regarding multi-operator travel”. That is not the case, I raised with the Council an example of where I was overcharged back in November 2023, see overcharge. At the time, I was told that there was a “known issue” in the system although they did not give any details of what the cause was.
My view on the tap and cap system is that, overall, it is good and generally works fine. However, passengers are advised to check on their bank statements to ensure that they have not been overcharged.