> Because the transit authority has to work at taking your fare.

Then why did they remove the option that has them "work[ing] at taking your fare" once per month and leave in the one that has them doing that four times per month?

Hell, one can pay cash on the bus itself for a ticket to ride the bus. If cash-handling were the motivation, that'd be the first to go... the author of TFA mentions "First's weekly bus pass" and that they're in Scotland. This leads me to a company called "FirstGroup", which operates "First Bus" and "First Train". First Bus has this to say [0][1] about acquiring tickets on a bus:

  With a wide range available, including weekly and monthly tickets, there’s no need to have the right change as you can make your purchase in advance.  ... Contactless payments, Apple pay, Google pay and cash are accepted on our buses.

Again, if it's actually about the work of taking the fare, you'd expect the fares that are the most work to gather to be the ones to move to "Payment via Google Android or Apple iOS only" fares.

[0] <https://www.firstbus.co.uk/buy-tickets/buy-ticket>

[1] You might note that First Bus says it operates in England and Ireland but makes no mention of Scotland. IDK why that is, but this Scottish tourism website [2] links straight to First Bus's website to answer the question "Where can I find accessible bus and coach travel in Scotland?", so I believe the omission of a mention of Scotland to be an oversight.

[2] <https://www.visitscotland.com/travel-planning/bus-coach>