The Scottish Bus Open Data Consultation

Closes 21 Jun 2025

S3C The prescribed information - technical questions on fares

Fares and ticket information is essential to the public in journey planning, as well as for making informed choices and comparing travel options between providers and modes. Fares information can be used to inform journey planners allowing passengers to make decisions in advance on the cost of their journey. Information on tickets helps to make passengers what potential tickets are on offer that could be used for their journey, and the scope of these tickets.

We recognise that some information about fares and tickets is straightforward, while some information will be more complex to provide, for example, where the price changes depending on factors such as when you get on the bus, or how many stops you pass. We therefore propose to classify fare and ticket information as either ‘simple’ or ‘complex’ and apply separate timescales for the initial submission of this information. A definition of simple and complex fares data is given below

For all ticket types, the information we would require is as follows:

  • for single and return tickets, the service(s) the ticket is valid on
  • for zonal tickets, the service numbers, routes and bus stops included in the range of the ticket
  • for all tickets, the ways that fares can be paid (cash, contactless, etc) by ticket type
  • how the ticket will appear (paper, smartcard, digital, tap on/off, etc)
  • for all tickets, the fares available and if they are different depending on how they are paid for or the ticket format
  • which tickets can be bought in advance (and whether that can be done online, or in person) and which can only be purchased on a vehicle

Related information

  • simple fare and ticket information would mean adult single and return fares and tickets, child single and return fares and tickets group fares and tickets, period tickets, single operator fares and tickets, multi-operator fares and tickets, zonal fares and tickets, any age restrictions and any time restrictions on those fares and tickets
  • complex fare and ticket information would mean fares that vary depending on the route taken, the duration of the journey, the type and the number of passengers, the method of payment, the amount of subsequent travel undertaken in a given period, and whether or not a discount or a cap is applied to the fare
13. Do you agree with the proposed definitions for simple and complex fares concerning tickets?
14. Do you agree or disagree that the requirement to provide fares information should be phased in over time, with the initial provision of simple fares information required first, with complex fares information to follow?