M Card - not quite an Oyster

A couple of things recently have been driving me towards getting an M-Card for travel between Brockholes and Huddersfield. The M Card is the West Yorkshire version of London's Oyster Card and I thought it would be ideal to solve some travel problems I have.

The train journey from Brockholes to Huddersfield on our' heritage' Northern Rail trains is great but sometimes the ticket machines are either not working or the collector doesn't get round to you. This means queuing at Huddersfield station to get a ticket which sometimes takes longer than the journey itself. Then when you get the tickets they are just stupidly long and unwieldy. The ticket collectors hate them so do the passengers. Progress apparently.

Daft new long tickets next to old usual ones

So for all these reasons I thought the M Card was the solution to my problems because 'it's like a London Oyster Card' . So I've just been over to Huddersfield Bus Station to get one. The woman was very helpful and asked me if I wanted a weekly or monthly M Card. I told her I didn't travel by public transport everyday as sometimes I walk in to Huddersfield or use the car when I need it and occasionally need a ticket to be able to claim back work expenses. So the M Card unfortunately is not geared up for that like an Oyster Card is. In an average week I might use the train for two return journeys and 2 single journeys and use the car one day. If I had a weekly or monthly M Card I would end up more out of pocket than in. If I travelled by bus I would be able to one the pay as you go M Card but train travel (when it works) is cheaper and more convenient.

I'm definitely glad M Card exists and this is a real positive but I hope it can be the equivalent of the Oyster in the not too distant future.