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

Ev 168 Transport Committee: Evidence
— develop integrated products that encourage people to use public transport.
8. Specifically Journey Solutions has:
— managed the successful development <strong>and</strong> implementation of a st<strong>and</strong>ard template for nation-wide
integrated train <strong>and</strong> bus ticketing schemes;
— worked with public transport operators <strong>and</strong> their trade bodies to identify opportunities for better
integration;
— encouraged <strong>and</strong> supported operators in sharing integration “best practice” <strong>and</strong> introducing new
integration initiatives; <strong>and</strong>
— promoted the integration of bus <strong>and</strong> train services, including with other modes (eg metro/light rail
<strong>and</strong> tram networks).
9. Journey Solutions believes that maximising the use of public transport will help to reduce road
congestion <strong>and</strong> contribute to better air quality in our towns <strong>and</strong> cities. Encouraging more public transport
use can also play its part in reducing the damaging eVects of global warming.
10. PLUSBUS
PLUSBUS is the br<strong>and</strong> name of a nationally available train ticket add-on for bus travel. It is available
to 195 towns <strong>and</strong> cities across Britain. A further 21 new destinations will be available with PLUSBUS from
20 May 2007. It has always been the aspiration of Journey Solutions that every rail-served town <strong>and</strong> city
with a population over 80,000 together with other strategic centres, would have PLUSBUS available. We
are now very close to meeting that target.
11. PLUSBUS is a bus ticket that the customer buys at the same time as their train ticket. PLUSBUS
oVers train travellers unlimited bus travel around the urban area of a town or city, at the start, the finish,
or both ends of the train journey. With a valid PLUSBUS ticket the customer can make as many bus
journeys as they like on all participating bus operators services, at any time of day within one easily defined
zone, covering the whole urban area of the town or city.
12. The minimum st<strong>and</strong>ard is that the zone covers what the public would reasonably expect to be the
urban area of the named town or city. In many cases this zone is actually larger <strong>and</strong> covers nearby
settlements, villages, or small towns. In most PTE areas, the zone encompasses the whole region. Zone maps
for all PLUSBUS served towns <strong>and</strong> cities are available on the website: www.plusbus.info.
13. Journey Solutions encourages all local bus service operators in each town to participate in the
PLUSBUS scheme <strong>and</strong> accept the ticket for travel (bus operators remain free to choose to participate). A
number of light rail/tram/metro schemes also accept PLUSBUS tickets (eg Midl<strong>and</strong> Metro <strong>and</strong> SheYeld
Supertram). PLUSBUS has been established in line with the Transport <strong>Ticketing</strong> Block Exemption Orders
(2001 <strong>and</strong> 2005). Schemes function as both a Multi-Operator <strong>Travel</strong>card (MTC) <strong>and</strong> a Through-Journey
ticket scheme.
14. PLUSBUS can be added to most types of train ticket:
— single journey tickets;
— day return tickets; <strong>and</strong>
— period return tickets.
The customer specifies the date of their return journey in order to have PLUSBUS. Typically a
customer would buy two PLUSBUS tickets, one for your outward journey <strong>and</strong> a second for the
return journey.
— season tickets.
These are currently available to 103 towns <strong>and</strong> cities across Britain, for specific periods, to match
the most popular train season tickets: 7-consecutive days, 1-calendar month, 3-months <strong>and</strong> a year.
Ten more towns will have PLUSBUS season tickets available from 20 May 2007.
15. How does PLUSBUS Work?
Customers ask for PLUSBUS when buying their train ticket <strong>and</strong> are then issued with one or more ticket(s)
for both their train <strong>and</strong> bus travel in one convenient transaction. The whole transaction can be paid for using
cash, credit or debit card. A PLUSBUS valid rail ticket has either the origin or destination of the ticket
marked with “!BUS”.
16. For customers PLUSBUS is easy to use <strong>and</strong> easy to explain, as it is based on existing ticket types that
customers are familiar with. From an industry point of view, the advantage of PLUSBUS, is that it makes
best use of existing rail ticketing technology <strong>and</strong> revenue apportionment systems (particularly the Rail