CASH is no longer the most popular way to pay for bus travel in West Yorkshire, a meeting of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been told.

Due to the range of digital options available to bus users and the savings available through using those options, cash fares are in decline.

The MCard, West Yorkshire's travel smartcard, now accounts for £30 million of bus and train travel in the county each year, being used on 400,000 journeys a week.

The MCard smartphone app is also being used to buy £1 million worth of travel tickets every year.

Smartphones, apps, and contactless credit and debit cards are now proving more popular than cash when it comes to public transport.

In the report read to the WYCA, it said the ease of use, ability to plan travel in advance, and access to real-time travel information are key reasons for this change, and these improvements are being supported by £1 million of investment by WYCA to ease delay hotspots.

A new concept, Mobility as a Service, is also being looked at, which would allow people to bundle all their travel plans and payments into one account for buses, trains, taxis and cycle hire, and even driverless cars in the future.

Councillor Keith Wakefield, chair of the WYCA transport committee, said: "Mobility as a Service will enable people to plan, manage and pay for their travel in one place, which can help them save time and money, as well as creating savings to the ways in which the transport sector organises and provides services.

“By making travel between our towns and cities easier, Transport for the North’s plans will support the economic growth that can help our region’s meet their huge potential.

"I am pleased to report that colleagues from the Combined Authority who were involved in making MCard such as success are now involved in the Transport for the North initiative."