T Mobile and Orange to merge? What will the competition authorities say? Holland & Barratt and Julian Greaves already merged? Competition authorities quiet (in spite of allegations that Holland has put countless indie health stores out of business). And then there’s the bus industry...
Is Wayfarer to buses what Hoovering is to vacuum cleaning?
How content are we with what might appear as Parkeon Wayfarer’s monopoly of bus ticket machine equipment? It’s a small market overall but one dominated by a single supplier. Wayfarer used to trumpet it had over three-quarters of all sales but it now seems to have dropped that claim, perhaps judiciously. Or perhaps it isn’t true (though we feel it is).
We have to acknowledge that the Wayfarer TGX200 range is an incredible piece of kit. Fares look up goes without saying (though this arrived relatively late at Wayfarer). There’s wireless transfer, smart card validation, and potentially all sorts of interfaces.
Yet, some in the industry still feel uncomfortable with Wayfarer. Full ITSO compliance, for example, seems slow (then again, anything to do with ITSO seems terribly complex). Some argue that unless reference fares and increases are simple and uniform, updates are easier with third party software than with Wayfafer’s own, Waycon. It certainly would seem it is impossible to import direct from Excel (unless someone knows different), something that would be very useful. Others wonder whether the basic reports and information might be better.
Against this, we need to weigh up the competition. Is it any better? Or, like capitalism, is the Wayfarer flawed but other systems more so? In other words, best to trust the market leader?
Who feels qualified to comment upon whether Wayfarer, Almex or ERG is the best or are there different problems with each? And what of the perils of taking your business from one supplier to another?
4 comments:
Gibson kicks the Wayfarer's ass. Will any of the latter firm's models reach its 40th birthday in service?
I used to think Almex were the 'bees knees' until I received a letter from them a couple of years ago, without warning, giving me 60 days' notice before they would refuse to support their popular A90 machines.
We snapped up as many spare parts as we could afford at that time, and the machines are very reliable indeed, but the lack of warning was shameful and the pivitol reason why I won't be using them again.
It's resorted to us having to deal in parts with our main rival. We are on speaking terms - just.
If a Preston inhabitant was with Orange or T-Mobile and is dissatisfied with the service he/she receives following the merger, he/she is able to search for another deal on another phone operator's network. He/she does not fair so well with his/her bus service where he/she no has no choice since a certain acquisition was made earlier in the year....
The Wayfarer salesman trick when I have had dealings is to place his hand over the slot where the ticket leaves the machine, and then issue a few tickets. With a TGX, the tickets concertina up but the machine doesn't jam making it unusable.
The salesman advises the customer to try the same on rival products, where after about 6 tickets being issued, the machine reputedly jams up and the company is left with a driver free to 'make hay while the sun shines'
I am sure that Almex and ERG are aware of this sales patter, and hopefully now have their machines set up in such a way that such a simple sabotage effort would fail, but at the time I know that the Almex did indeed jam up if this tactic was used!
In my experience, Wayfarer let themselves down with dreadful customer service and poor analytical software; although Anon2 implies that Almex have other problems.
My company changes to ERG next year; feedback from staff who have used the latest ERGs is that they are far better than our elderly Wayfarer 3s, but also not without their problems. Time will tell.
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