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

Ev 72 Transport Committee: Evidence
I hope that the above comments fall into your committee’s remit as the integration of all modes of public
transport with non-polluting options at either end (or even in the middle) seems to us to be vital to helping
tackle pollution <strong>and</strong> climate change.
March 2007
0.0. Introduction
Memor<strong>and</strong>um from Stagecoach Group plc (TPT 07)
0.1 Stagecoach Group welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry <strong>and</strong> present evidence to the
Transport Committee.
0.2 Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transportation group, with extensive operations
in the UK, United States <strong>and</strong> Canada. The Group employs around 27,000 people, <strong>and</strong> operates bus, coach,
rail, <strong>and</strong> tram services.
0.3 In the UK, our fleet of around 7,000 buses connects communities in more than 100 towns <strong>and</strong> cities
across the country. We carry nearly two million passengers a day on a network stretching from the
Highl<strong>and</strong>s of Scotl<strong>and</strong> to south-west Engl<strong>and</strong>. It includes major city bus operations in Liverpool, Newcastle,
Hull, Manchester, Oxford, SheYeld <strong>and</strong> Cambridge.
0.4 We also operate express coach services linking major towns within our regional operating company
areas. The Group runs the market-leading budget inter-city coach service, megabus.com, which carries
around two million passengers a year on a network covering more than 30 locations. Scottish Citylink, our
joint venture with ComfortDelGro, is the leading provider of inter-city express coach travel in Scotl<strong>and</strong>.
0.5 Stagecoach Group is a major rail operator <strong>and</strong> has an involvement in running around a quarter of
the UK passenger rail network. The Group operates the South Western rail franchise, which incorporates
the South West Trains <strong>and</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong> Line networks. South West Trains, the UK’s biggest commuter franchise,
runs nearly 1,700 trains a day in south-west Engl<strong>and</strong> out of London Waterloo railway station. Isl<strong>and</strong> Line,
on the Isle of Wight, has been designated a Community Rail Partnership. We also operate Supertram, a 28
km light rail network incorporating three routes in the city of SheYeld.
In addition, Stagecoach Group has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West
Coast <strong>and</strong> CrossCountry inter-city rail franchises.
0.6 The Transport Committee is considering ticketing arrangements <strong>and</strong> concessionary travel on public
transport, specifically the way in which ticketing is organised, h<strong>and</strong>led <strong>and</strong> enforced. We believe that
ticketing is an important contributory factor in attracting passengers, delivering modal shift <strong>and</strong> driving
growth in the future.
0.7 The information below outlines Stagecoach Group’s views in response to the specific questions set
out in the Transport Committee’s call for evidence, published on 8 February 2007.
1.0 Integrated <strong>Ticketing</strong>
1. Is ticketing suYciently integrated across diVerent modes of transport <strong>and</strong> between diVerent geographical
areas?
1.1 It is fair to say that ticketing is already highly integrated across rail. Indeed, the structure of rail
franchising requires full through ticketing <strong>and</strong> inter-availability to be maintained, <strong>and</strong> there are strong
commercial imperatives to do this as well. It could be argued that integration is less eVective between
diVerent modes, although great strides have been made in the past ten years with the introduction of bus
links <strong>and</strong> bus-rail schemes under the “PlusBus” banner, to feed into rail stations from communities remote
for the network. There is still plenty of scope for enhancing these schemes as they are still somewhat
sporadic. The best example of integration remains the example of travel to <strong>and</strong> within London, where
integration between national rail <strong>and</strong> Transport for London ticketing has existed for over 20 years. ITSO
could provide the common platform to make greater integration possible.
1.2 Each of the metropolitan areas has a range of integrated multi bus operator <strong>and</strong> multi modal tickets as
do many Shire Counties. The Transport Act 2000 enables Authorities to require bus operators to introduce
ticketing schemes where none exist. There is, therefore, no reason why integrated bus tickets are not oVered
wherever they are needed.