I was quoted in the Evening Telegraph and interviewed on Wave 102 yesterday welcoming the launch of multi-operator bus ticketing – now likely to take place later this summer – which will allow customers to use one bus smartcard to travel on both Xplore Dundee and Stagecoach buses.
The ability to use different operators’ buses with the same smartcard will be a great advantage to bus users across Dundee - constituents regularly complain that, having purchased a weekly or monthly bus pass from one bus operator, they can only use buses from that company.
The multi-operator bus ticketing in Dundee will greatly improve flexibility of bus use for passengers in the city. As I understand it, the new system when introduced will allow passengers to store multi-operator tickets electronically on a smartcard rather than using paper tickets and will be able to travel on different buses using one smartcard. This will also be better value for money, reducing the need to purchase multiple tickets.
The country’s major bus companies – Stagecoach, Xplore Dundee, Lothian Buses, McGill’s and First – will deliver the smart ticketing on buses across the country during 2016-17. Elsie Turbyne, Managing Director of Xplore Dundee, told me this week, “It is likely to be late summer. I cannot commit to a final date until testing is complete.”
After introduction later in the summer for buses only, the project is expected to extend to rail, ferries and the Glasgow subway at a later stage. Technical work on the scheme has already begun, building upon existing smart platforms already used by operators which conform to the UK-wide Government ITSO standard. The longer-term goal is the full Scotland-wide Saltire Card scheme that will be developed and delivered by Transport Scotland, and which will enable customers to top up their smartcards with funds – similar to the way an Oyster card works in London.
The Saltire Card to hopefully mirror the functionality of the Oyster Card in London – to allow passengers to use one card that allows them to use different operators and different modes of travel – has been a long time coming to Scotland. However, it is good to learn the first stage – a smartcard for buses that can be used on both Xplore Dundee and Stagecoach buses in the city – is a great step forward and will be a positive move for many Dundee bus users.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Dundee West Church Strawberry Fayre.
Friends of Wighton is delighted to welcome this group of very talented young musicians to the Wighton for a programme of Scottish traditional music and, maybe, a surprise or two! 
From Dundee City Council :
I have recently had complaints about the lack of sweeping of the lane in Seafield Road (that runs from numbers 38 to 48) - see right :
A number of residents have contacted me recently about the future of the 204/204a bus service. 
From the City Council (for information, I have been assured that this should be the last traffic order in respect of the care home extension project in Thomson Street) :
Further to my article in May following the site visit with the Street Lighting Partnership Manager and also with the Chair of Community Spirit Action Group, the local residents' group, to look at the new street lighting in Pentland, yesterday I had a useful meeting with the Director of Neighbourhood Services, some of her housing team, the council’s Service Manager - Community Safety and Resilience and the Street Lighting Partnership Manager.
DIAS provides independent advocacy for citizens within the Dundee area who experience disadvantage, disability and social exclusion to champion their rights, to strengthen their voices and to influence a citizens’ health and well being outcomes.
Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating Scottish Water mains renewal works. The Order is expected to be in force for twenty weeks from 6 June 2016. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months.
Earlier this evening, I attended the June meeting of Community Spirit Action Group - the community group for the "north" part of West End Ward, covering Pentland, Tullideph, Ancrum and the Cleghorn area. 
+ A meeting at the Wasps Studios at Meadow Mill for local businesses in the Blackness industrial area hosted by the council's consultants who are looking at ways of improving the area in a collaborative way, as part of the council's review of the local development plan. 
+ A meeting of the Ancrum Parent Partnership at Ancrum Road Primary School. The Ancrum Parent Partnership is the group of parents who have been selected in accordance with the Parent Council constitution to represent all the parents of children at our school. 
