Ticketing and Concessionary Travel on Public Transport - United ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Ev 70 Transport Committee: Evidence Revenue Protection <strong>and</strong> the Powers of Ticket Inspectors 6. Is the legal framework within which ticket inspectors function appropriate? 36. This is not an area about which I am knowledgeable. 7. What appeal mechanisms exist for passengers, <strong>and</strong> are they adequate? 37. As a user of public transport, I do not know of an appeal mechanism, other than to write to the operator of the service. More generally, the notices on First Group buses list a general complaints procedure which is misleading: it appears from the notice that the ultimate authority is the TraYc Commissioner when we know that the Commissioner’s powers are very limited. 16 8. Are the rights of passengers <strong>and</strong> the powers of ticket inspectors well-balanced? 38. Again I do not know. 9. Do operators of public transport take adequate measures to protect fares revenue? 39. Yes, by definition, because they are private sector companies <strong>and</strong> so their measures are adequate until shareholders (or in some cases govt) discover that they are not. From the public sector’s point of view, I do not know what government’s attitude is to public transport as a public service, <strong>and</strong> am aware that the present controls over the application of public sector funding for concessionary travel are, for a significant number of local authorities, significantly inadequate. 40. However, for revenue protection of concessionary travel funds, there is no need to have a rollout of the complete ITSO method: costs could be saved by using a lower cost method of accepting slightly modified ITSO media—this has been partially designed by the author of this submission, using Merseytravel funding. That stage of the Merseytravel project is shortly to be taken forward in a limited way: at the gates on Merseyrail stations; DfT is aware of the concept but ITSO Ltd ignores it. <strong>Concessionary</strong> Fares—The Right Strategy? 10. Is the Government’s concessionary fares strategy, including the proposed scheme for concessionary bus travel, adequate? 41. From the debates in the Lords on the <strong>Concessionary</strong> <strong>Travel</strong> Bill (about which I have had some contact with both Lord Bradshaw <strong>and</strong> Lady Scott), the Lib Dems clearly think not on the technology front <strong>and</strong> in terms of the eligibility criteria, <strong>and</strong> both Lib Dems <strong>and</strong> Conservatives think not in the way in which the funds are administered, so this is partly a political question. However, I think that I detected in Lord Davies’ answers in the Lords that govt may be thinking about extensions of eligibility (but probably only in association with rolling out better management of the services, using the ITSO smart media method, so we are looking at 2010–11). 42. Certainly I personally find the extended timeline of eligibility of concession passes provided in Greater Bristol to be a boon (09.00 to well past midnight), <strong>and</strong> would welcome this extension being applied nationally. 43. Technically, information reaching me (verbally, not confirmed) about the ideas within DfT for a five year rollout of the ITSO Method show no sign of taking advantage of the lower cost method mentioned in the answer to Q9 above. 44. The current proposal from the <strong>Concessionary</strong> Bus <strong>Travel</strong> team in DfT is for framework agreements with suppliers capable of re-issuing perhaps 6 million to 8 million passes before April 2008. Such a crash programme is unlikely to hit the target date, <strong>and</strong> the exchanges in the Lords suggest that, at a high level, govt is not expecting to by any means fully resolve the revenue allocation problems in time for the 2008–09 financial year. Such a crash programme might well trigger compensation payments on existing contracts between local authorities <strong>and</strong> their suppliers, <strong>and</strong> is already in trouble because LAs in some cases cannot fund the necessary database cleaning within the timetable. Much better would be to set up an 18 month programme to re-issue, <strong>and</strong> also to group local authorities by regions, with regional br<strong>and</strong>ing, rather than have a single national br<strong>and</strong>. For the summer of 2008 there could be special local agreements to accept all passes at holiday hot-spots such as Blackpool, along with DfT funding for training <strong>and</strong> inspectors. 16 Putting Passengers First gives the impression that only punctuality <strong>and</strong> reliability (both technical terms in the context, not having their normal meaning) matter, when delivery against every parameter of a service is essential for its overall success.
Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 71 11. Are concessionary fares schemes suYciently integrated across diVerent modes of transport <strong>and</strong> diVerent geographical areas? 45. No, but, for geographical areas, the legal minimum 2008 provision will considerably improve matters; local arrangements for enhanced eligibility in dense urban areas (such as Greater Bristol) with multiple CTAs 17 will benefit many travellers. For transport modes, there are clearly numerous areas where multimodal eligibility would be sensible from the customer’s point of view. 46. The author of this submission is an independent ICT Strategy <strong>and</strong> Secure Technology consultant, particularly for e-government <strong>and</strong> electronic transport ticketing methods. He is also working with Smartex Ltd on the development of PSSG, a new trade association for businesses active in the same fields. Further information may be found in a CV already submitted to the Committee. February 2007 Memor<strong>and</strong>um from Tony Cornah <strong>and</strong> Polly Blacker (TPT 06) To put us in context, we are Cycle Trainers, we rely on cycling as our main means of transport (we don’t own a car) <strong>and</strong> are members of the SheYeld Cycle Campaigning group PedalPushers (so we have a feel for what other regular cyclists in the area think too). We feel that provision for integrating cycling with other means of transport is so poor as to be laughable. To take train travel in Britain first: 1. We can’t book our bikes onto trains at the same time as we book our tickets online. This means that we can’t really book online as we then risk not getting our bikes onto the trains we’ve booked. The facility did exist in the past (can’t remember when it last did) but was removed by the operating companies. 2. Calling one of the train operators to try to book tickets <strong>and</strong> bikes at the same time often results in various levels of frustration when the person you’re talking to either doesn’t underst<strong>and</strong> what you want or seems not to have been trained in how to use the system to provide it. 3. Even when we go down to the station, <strong>and</strong> therefore suVer the inevitable enormously lengthy queues, the ticket oYcer has to book tickets first <strong>and</strong> then use a separate system to confirm that cycle spaces are available. This often results in several attempts before a suitable service can be identified (<strong>and</strong> increases the length of the queue behind us!). 4. Many services restrict the number of bikes on any service to 2: how then can a family plan a trip? 5. Some train operators don’t provide a facility to book bikes onto their trains: to be fair they are often the most flexible companies with the more helpful staV but it means that a long weekend away with bikes is potentially subject to others’ dem<strong>and</strong>s rather than being bookable. With diVerent operators having diVerent rules there is a pressing need for all staV to be trained to be as flexible as possible in all circumstances. 6. To see a functioning cycle-friendly service try Deutsche Bahn’s website (in English too) at http:// reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e which covers all of Europe: how’s that for integration? Next, consider trying to plan a trip by train <strong>and</strong> bike to Europe: 1. First reference is to the website above http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e which enables onward travel after the Channel with relative easy <strong>and</strong> integration. 2. Now to Eurostar, who won’t guarantee that a bike booked onto one of their services will arrive until up to 24 hours after you do: how do you plan a journey with that sort of restriction in place? Continuing with coach services: 1. I think it is the case that no coach service will allow a conventional bike to be carried. When we travelled fairly extensively in Central <strong>and</strong> Southern Europe for a year we were invariably able to book our two bikes on to local <strong>and</strong> international services as luggage: we took responsibility for removing front wheels where necessary <strong>and</strong> stowing the bikes in the hold but there was rarely any conflict with other dem<strong>and</strong>s on the luggage space. More locally, the SheYeld Supertram (but it applies to all other tram services in the UK as far as I know): 1. The service operators will not allow a conventional bike onto their trams under any circumstances. 2. It would make far more sense for the operators to allow bikes to be carried on the less busy services (<strong>and</strong> at slacker times of the day) always with the proviso that pushchairs, buggies, wheelchairs, sudden influxes of passengers, etc would have priority. 17 <strong>Concessionary</strong> <strong>Travel</strong> Authorities.
Page 1 and 2:
House of Commons Transport Committe
Page 3 and 4:
Contents Report Page 1 Introduction
Page 5 and 6:
4 5. Smartcards offer a range of ne
Page 7 and 8:
6 Integrated bus ticketing 10. Thro
Page 9 and 10:
8 Long distance coach services are
Page 11 and 12:
10 strategy, including those in the
Page 13 and 14:
12 long-distance rail passengers ma
Page 15 and 16:
14 services have not been put in pl
Page 17 and 18:
16 Oyster on rail services in Londo
Page 19 and 20:
18 4 Revenue protection and
Page 21 and 22:
20 Staff safety 61. Transport staff
Page 23 and 24:
22 66. An integrated ticketing syst
Page 25 and 26:
24 Transport should commission an e
Page 27 and 28:
26 concession authorities that attr
Page 29 and 30:
28 operators and a
Page 31 and 32:
30 List of recommendations Integrat
Page 33 and 34:
32 Concessionary t
Page 35 and 36:
34 Formal Minutes Clive Efford Mrs
Page 37 and 38:
36 List of written evidence 1 Dr Ro
Page 39 and 40:
38 List of Reports from the Committ
Page 41 and 42:
Oral evidence Taken before the Tran
Page 43 and 44:
14 November 2007 Mr Chris Austin, M
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 11
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
14 November 2007 Mr Keith Halstead
Page 59 and 60: definition of severe disability <st
Page 61 and 62: Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 21
Page 71 and 72: about how the data on the smartcard
Page 73 and 74: things around it. We have got over
Page 75 and 76: which comes out of the usage of the
Page 77 and 78: the impact of their behaviour on ot
Page 79 and 80: 5 December 2007 Mr Manuel Cortes, M
Page 81 and 82: 5 December 2007 Mr Manuel Cortes, M
Page 93 and 94: Mr Harris: I am sorry, I am not goi
Page 95 and 96: 12 December 2007 Mr Tom Harris MP <
Page 97 and 98: Q464 Chairman: Is Transport Direct
Page 103 and 104: 3.2 Conclusion—Smartcard St<stron
Page 109: Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 69
Page 119 and 120: Integrated Transport Memora
Page 153 and 154: Lostwithiel to Liskeard Transport C
Page 159 and 160: Is the legal framework within which
Page 161 and 162:
The Use of Smartcard Technologies I
Page 163 and 164:
Executive Summary Memorand<
Page 165 and 166:
Integration Nationally Transport Co
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
— Ensure the confidentiality of d
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
7. What appeal mechanisms exist for
Page 177 and 178:
8. Are the rights of passengers <st
Page 179 and 180:
Concessionary Fare
Page 181 and 182:
Introduction Memorand</stro
Page 183 and 184:
4. Does the ITSO System cater for t
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
March 2007 1. Summary Transport Com
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
9. Do operators of public transport
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Concessionary Fare
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Ferry Transport Committee: Evidence
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Confusion over what local authoriti
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Question 68 Timings of Oyster <stro
Page 241 and 242:
show all

Ticketing and Concessionary Travel on Public Transport - United ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?