MPTE Walrus Smart Card

[Barney]

RE: MPTE Walrus Smart Card
The Walrus Card has been with us for some time now and Merseytravel is very keen to promote it. Unfortunately, what it is reluctant to do is admit that the software on Arriva's buses is faulty and that passengers are frequently denied the right to board because the reader indicates that the Walrus card has expired when it clearly hasn't.

This happened to a relative of mine today. He attempted to use a Walrus card on the 47 service from Southport but after three attempts to scan his card the driver insisted that he must get off the bus because his card was invalid despite being shown a receipt as proof of purchase. Fortunately, a Stagecoach X2 arrived five minutes later and the reader on this bus accepted the card without any problem.

When my brother-in-law contacted Merseytravel, he was given an immediate apology and informed that Merseytravel were aware of this problem and had already received "over 30000 complaints" regarding faulty readers on Arriva vehicles. He was also told that Stagecoach use different/better software in their ticket machines and it is not an issue with them. I wonder if anybody has had a similar experience?