BUS passengers will find it easier than ever to travel between Salisbury and Andover thanks to a new smartcard scheme involving two of the region’s bus companies.

Salisbury Reds and Stagecoach have invested in new on-bus hardware so both the operators’ travel smartcards are accepted on the Activ8 service.

The cards, known as The Key from Salisbury Reds and Stagecoach Smart, from Stagecoach enable holders to store bus tickets electronically instead of using a paper ticket.

Both cards can be used to board any bus on the Salisbury to Andover route.

“We want to make travelling by bus as easy and straightforward as possible,”

said Andrew Wickham, managing director of Salisbury Reds. “And working with partners like Stagecoach is a key part of our strategy to achieve this.

“We are seeing a rise in demand for The Key, with many passengers opting for the benefit of loading it ahead of time, to use as and when they need to. And I have no doubt this latest development will make the system more popular than ever.”