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

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Ev 166 Transport Committee: Evidence Memor<strong>and</strong>um from Transport 2000: Herefordshire <strong>and</strong> Worcestershire local group (TPT 31) The local group representing the national environmental transport campaign in the two counties Inquiry into <strong>Ticketing</strong> on Public Transport 1. This short memor<strong>and</strong>um for the above Inquiry is submitted by way of illustration of how the present systems operate in a smallish (c 95,000 residents) shire district on the edge of one of the conurbations with a passenger transport authority [PTA] <strong>and</strong> executive [PTE]. The shire district is Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, <strong>and</strong> the whole of the boundary between Worcestershire <strong>and</strong> the West Midl<strong>and</strong>s county (which forms the PTA/PTE area) is also the Bromsgrove/West Midl<strong>and</strong>s boundary. 2. It is not intended to cover all the issues raised in the Press Notice, but to highlight specific problems in relation to ticketing in a particular area which may be hindrances or deterrents to the use of public transport, either wholly or within the district. 3. Until deregulation of bus services in 1985 or 1986, almost all the stage carriage bus services in the district were provided by a single National Bus Company subsidiary, Midl<strong>and</strong> Red West [MR]. A small number of PTE services crossed the county boundary for a short distance to reach their terminus, but they remained essentially services within the metropolitan county. 4. MR sold single bus tickets for each journey. If a traveller required to use more than one bus service to complete their journey, separate tickets had to be bought for each leg of the journey, unless the traveller bought a “runabout” or “rover” ticket, which allowed the holder to travel on any of MR’s services that day. The cost was disproportionate for shorter journeys involving two or more legs on MR bus services. 5. MR became part of what is now First Group (as, according to the First website, First Wyvern, though that name does not appear on the buses as far as I have noted). The “runabout” or “rover” ticket is now the “First Wyvern” ticket, which is available in day, week, month <strong>and</strong> term versions. The FirstDay Wyvern ticket in turn is available in adult (£5), child (£3.50) or family (£10) versions. That is relatively good value for many occasional return journeys longer than 10–15 miles each way (depending on the particular service, as fares are not calculated on a st<strong>and</strong>ard distance basis). or for shorter trips where a change of service is required. In addition, a range of local tickets, available on any of the company’s services within a specified area, is on oVer. 6. The benefits of that approach have however been limited by another eVect of the deregulation. Whereas in 1986 all the bus services in Bromsgrove town (whether town services or inter-urban) were provided by MR, that is no longer the case. It appears that nowhere which had a bus service in 1986 has lost it, <strong>and</strong> indeed there are one or two new services which run as a result of local authority (or in the past health authority) support. However, several services have been cut back, <strong>and</strong> instead of MR running along nine radial inter-urban routes from the town, as was the case in 1986, First now runs only on five. In addition, they have given up operating the town services (serving four local destinations). 7. On both the routes which MR or its successor no longer operates <strong>and</strong> on some of those run now by First, other operators now provide services, in some cases commercially, but in all but two under contract to the county council. Currently, six companies (including First) operate on the inter-urban routes, while four companies provide the town services, two of which are entirely contracted, while there are limited Sunday tendered services on one route. At one point, along one corridor (Bromsgrove-Redditch), the service was provided by four diVerent companies, with some interavailability of tickets, since First was the only commercial operator. 8. The eVect is now that First Wyvern tickets are available only on three of the inter-urban routes operated by First. The company runs on two other tendered routes which are excluded from its Wyvern tickets—these include areas where the bus will divert from its route to a pre-arranged pick up or set down. 9. The eVect of all this is that it is no longer possible to make a bus journey requiring the use of a local service <strong>and</strong> an inter-urban one on one ticket. I live on one of the local routes which was served by First until six months ago. A return journey by bus from the nearby stop to Birmingham <strong>and</strong> back would then have cost me £5 (at current fares). It would now cost me £6.40 as a direct result of First’s withdrawing from the route. 10. Though (according to Worcestershire County Council’s Second Local Transport Plan) the use of Bromsgrove railway station has increased fivefold in the 10 years from 1994–95 to 2004–05, the ticketing system there also oVers several quirks <strong>and</strong> obstacles to the intending traveller, the eVect of which is to raise the cost of travelling by train unreasonably. The quirks include regional journeys via Birmingham often being cheaper if the traveller rebooks there—the combination of day tickets between Bromsgrove <strong>and</strong> Birmingham, <strong>and</strong> between Birmingham <strong>and</strong> Shrewsbury costs £14.40. The cost of a through day ticket for the same journey is £19.50. For some journeys where there is a service there is no “any permitted route” ticket. For journeys to <strong>and</strong> from London, the traveller has to buy a ticket via Birmingham or via Evesham/ Stroud. In some cases, these idiosyncracies appear to arise from the privatisation process: there was were “any reasonable route” tickets between Bromsgrove <strong>and</strong> London before the 1993 Act.
Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 167 11. The PlusBus scheme in theory includes Bromsgrove, but there is no co-ordination of services, <strong>and</strong> the bus <strong>and</strong> railway stations are over a mile from each other, with the railway station perhaps 250m from the bus stops serving it. Information about the bus services is displayed at the station (which, despite serving perhaps 60,000 people <strong>and</strong> being on one of the principal cross country routes, is unstaVed), but the bus services themselves do not operate in the evenings. March 2007 Memor<strong>and</strong>um from Journey Solutions (TPT 33) The Department for Transport states that “integrated ticketing is a key component of integration between services <strong>and</strong> between public transport modes”. Changes in statuary provisions over the past decade have enabled local authorities <strong>and</strong> other transport providers to create integrated ticketing schemes. But is it working? Is ticketing suYciently integrated across diVerent modes of transport <strong>and</strong> between diVerent geographical areas? 1. Introduction There is a nation-wide integrated ticketing scheme for train <strong>and</strong> bus travel that’s available to 195 towns <strong>and</strong> cities across Britain. It has been introduced over the last five years by a non-profit making partnership established <strong>and</strong> funded by the six main PLC bus <strong>and</strong> train operating Groups in Britain (along with their respective trade associations). On 16 January this year, Tom Harris MP (Under Secretary of State for Transport) congratulated Britain’s bus <strong>and</strong> train operators for the Journey Solutions initiative that has introduced PLUSBUS integrated ticketing across Engl<strong>and</strong>, Wales <strong>and</strong> Scotl<strong>and</strong>, without the need for financial support from central Government. 2. Journey Solutions Journey Solutions was created in 1999 to enable the public transport industry to deliver on its commitment of improving transport integration—in particular making combined train <strong>and</strong> bus travel easier, more convenient <strong>and</strong> better value for customers. All Journey Solutions work aims to support Government policies on improving <strong>and</strong> integrating public transport in local communities, across regions <strong>and</strong> throughout the whole of Britain. 3. Journey Solutions is funded entirely by Arriva, Blazefield/Transdev; First; Go-Ahead; National Express <strong>and</strong> Stagecoach, the Association of Train Operating Companies <strong>and</strong> the Confederation of Passenger Transport. Essentially Journey Solutions is an operator-led initiative to improve modal integration. 4. Journey Solutions is managed by Jonathan Radley, the full-time Commercial Director, who is supported by Giles Fearnley, the Chairman. Both have many years experience of management in both the bus <strong>and</strong> train operating companies. Each of the supporting organisations has a director or senior representative who sits on the Journey Solutions Board. It is this Board that decides strategic direction for the initiative, taking advice, leadership <strong>and</strong> sharing best-practice from each of the supporting organisations. Journey Solutions uses a number of respected public transport consultancies to deliver its programme. 5. Journey Solutions also has an Advisory Panel, which includes representatives from a wide range of stakeholders. These include: Central Government agencies: Department for Transport, Transport Direct, Transport Scotl<strong>and</strong>, Welsh Assembly Government, Commission for Integrated Transport, <strong>and</strong> the Countryside Agency. Local Government representatives: Association of Transport Co-ordinating OYcers, Local Government Association <strong>and</strong> the Passenger Transport Executive Group. Consumer groups: Association of Community Rail Partnerships, Bus Users UK, London <strong>Travel</strong>watch, Passenger Focus <strong>and</strong> Transport 2000. Professional bodies: County Surveyors’ Society <strong>and</strong> the Institute of Logistics <strong>and</strong> Transport. It is important to Journey Solutions that these organisations are able to contribute to our agenda <strong>and</strong> the feedback received is most welcome. 6. Journey Solutions looks at improving the customers’ whole journey experience, including: — travel information before the integrated journey begins <strong>and</strong> during the journey; — integrated ticketing for the whole journey; <strong>and</strong> — easy interchange between diVerent methods of public transport during the journey. 7. Journey Solutions has two guiding principles underlying its work. These are to: — create an environment which makes it easier for travellers to use public transport for their entire journey; <strong>and</strong>
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House of Commons Transport Committe
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Contents Report Page 1 Introduction
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4 5. Smartcards offer a range of ne
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6 Integrated bus ticketing 10. Thro
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8 Long distance coach services are
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10 strategy, including those in the
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16 Oyster on rail services in Londo
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18 4 Revenue protection and
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20 Staff safety 61. Transport staff
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22 66. An integrated ticketing syst
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24 Transport should commission an e
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26 concession authorities that attr
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28 operators and a
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30 List of recommendations Integrat
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32 Concessionary t
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34 Formal Minutes Clive Efford Mrs
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36 List of written evidence 1 Dr Ro
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38 List of Reports from the Committ
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Oral evidence Taken before the Tran
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14 November 2007 Mr Chris Austin, M
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Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 11
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14 November 2007 Mr Keith Halstead
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definition of severe disability <st
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about how the data on the smartcard
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3.2 Conclusion—Smartcard St<stron
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