At the Full Council meeting of Cornwall Council on 28 November, a question from me was read out in the public questions section of the agenda as follows:
“Tap and Cap is meant to cap bus fares to £7 per day. There is a “known issue” with the system (known to Cornwall Council) that means that, sometimes, passengers are charged more than £7. How many passengers have been overcharged and how many of these have been reimbursed?"
The reply from Richard Williams-Pears, portfolio holder for transport, was as follows:
"Whilst Cornwall Council was made aware of an issue with tap and cap 2 weeks ago, it must be noted that this is an issue between Go Bus Cornwall [sic] and Littlepay who are working towards a resolution. We will be actively seeking from Go Bus Cornwall [sic] that this is resolved for the benefit of our bus users. As Cornwall Council does not have oversight in this payment system or sight of the detail, we cannot comment on how many people may have been affected. “
In other words, it is not Cornwall Council’s responsibility and they offered no comfort that those who had been overcharged would be recompensed, nor any indication of when the problem might be solved. As the portfolio holder for transport does not even know the name of the bus company that operates all the Council supported bus services in Cornwall, I don’t have any hope that things will improve whilst he is in post.
Interestingly, he said that the Council was made aware of the issue 2 weeks ago. I wrote to CC on 3 November (over 3 weeks ago) pointing out the problem and the Integrated Network and Partnerships Manager said in her reply to me on 10 November that it was a “known issue”. I suspect that, in fact, it only became a known issue when I told them about it.
Update
29 November 2023
The “official” response to my question has now been published by Cornwall Council and it has the correct name for the bus company as Go Cornwall Bus, and that is what will appear in the minutes of the meeting. Either Mr Williams-Pears misread the name twice when reading from the prepared answer, or someone realised the mistake and corrected the written word after he had spoken. Whatever, the explanation, it does not inspire confidence in the council team in charge of public transport.