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

Ev 76 Transport Committee: Evidence
Integrated <strong>Ticketing</strong>
Q1. Is ticketing suYciently integrated across diVerent modes of transport between diVerent geographical
areas?
1.1 Within Greater Manchester there is a fairly comprehensive range of inter modal tickets covering day,
weekly <strong>and</strong> longer period travelcards. However, there are still gaps in coverage—for example there is no
ticket that is available to peak travellers that covers all modes.
1.2 Overall there is insuYcient integration amongst modes. This in part stems from the fact that ticketing
policies are diVerent between bus <strong>and</strong> the other modes. On train <strong>and</strong> tram, it is nearly always possible to
buy a through ticket from any point on the network to any other point—“one journey, one ticket”. This has
made it easier to have through ticketing between train <strong>and</strong> Metrolink in Greater Manchester.
1.3 In contrast, bus passengers have to buy a new ticket every time they change bus routes, unless it is
cheaper to buy a day ticket (if one is available). This discourages interchange <strong>and</strong> integration as there is not
full ticketing integration across bus as a mode. For many passengers this is more important than inter-modal
integration. Journeys requiring interchange can be even more diYcult where they involve travel across local
authority boundaries.
1.4 Apart from the national rail network, diVerent operators have their own ticketing systems <strong>and</strong> this
can lead to problems with automated ticket checking. Where there are inter-modal, integrated tickets they
are always priced at a significant premium to other tickets valid only on one mode or for one operator. For
example, the two main bus operators in Greater Manchester, First <strong>and</strong> Stagecoach, oVer weekly tickets
priced at £13.00 <strong>and</strong> £9.50 respectively whereas the all operator bus weekly is £15.00. As a consequence, only
12% of all paid bus journeys (ie excluding use of concessionary passengers, school <strong>and</strong> employee passes)
involve a ticket valid on all buses. There is evidence in Greater Manchester that some passengers avoid
travelling outside the territory of their local dominant bus operator because they cannot aVord to buy a more
expensive multi-operator ticket. Because making an inter modal journey or even changing buses often
carries a financial penalty few passengers interchange—hence operators argue that there is no dem<strong>and</strong> for
interchange.
1.5 GMPTA is one of the few Authorities that has made a statutory <strong>Ticketing</strong> Scheme under the
provisions of S.135—138 of the Transport Act. However, whilst we have powers to require integrated tickets
we cannot control the price of those tickets as in a deregulated bus market, operators are free to set their
own fares.
Q2. Does the Government have an adequate strategy for developing the integration of ticketing systems?
2.1 We are unaware of any overall government strategy for integrating ticketing systems. DfT has
supported the development of the ITSO specification for Smartcards (which can facilitate but not in
themselves create integrated ticketing). The Department has insisted that it will not fund smartcard ticketing
systems that are not ITSO compliant.
2.2 However, this is, in many ways, negative. There does not appear to be any strategy to encourage
development of integrated ticketing—this is left to PTA/Es <strong>and</strong> operators. However, bus operators are still
more concerned with maximising market share than with increasing the overall market for public transport
through better integration.
The Use of Smartcard Technologies
Q3. Is the industry taking up modern smartcard technologies adequately <strong>and</strong> appropriately?
3.1 A number of Authorities started work on adopting smartcard ticketing technology in the early 1990s,
an example being TfLs Oyster card system which was launched in 1998.
3.2 It was quickly recognised that interoperability of ticketing schemes between authorities, operators,
transport modes <strong>and</strong> with other applications was essential <strong>and</strong> ITSO was established as a consequence in
1998. ITSO is the most comprehensive <strong>and</strong> secure ticketing interoperability ticketing st<strong>and</strong>ard in the world.
However, with the benefit of hindsight it took too long to develop <strong>and</strong> did not involve industry suppliers
early enough in its development. The outcome is that there have been too many latent technical issues which
have delayed its implementation <strong>and</strong> wider adoption. During the development of ITSO those authorities
who were contemplating the introduction of smartcard ticketing decided correctly to defer its introduction