BUS passengers will pay more if they buy their ticket from the driver than if they pay for their fare using a mobile phone app.

First York has announced some fares will change on July 15 in a bid to encourage more customers to switch to electronic tickets. The price of some of the most popular tickets will be frozen for passengers using the mTickets app, with the cost of a First Week ticket rising to £17 if brought from the driver but remaining at £14 if purchased on a mobile phone.

Bus company bosses say the app will make journeys faster.

Marc Bichtemann, managing director at First York, said: “We still have many customers who choose to pay with cash, which often results in our drivers having to hand out lots of change, which slows down the bus boarding times and can result in delays to bus services.

"Travel by bus still offers great value for money, but in a bid to encourage more customers to switch from paying with cash to mTickets, we have decided to freeze prices for most tickets purchased via the mTickets app.

“The combination of journey planning, free wi-fi, real time information, contactless and mTickets, really does make the bus an increasingly attractive option for so many journey needs and if more customers converted to using mTickets or contactless, then this would have a huge impact on boarding times and would help us in the battle to speed up the bus.”

For more information about the app and bus fares visit firstgroup.com/york.