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

Ferry
Transport Committee: Evidence Ev 187
The big problems reported for this mode of travel in ticketing are generally related to a discriminatory
regime for on-line booking of tickets. Several operators fail to show a category for booking cycles—Stena
especially fails to have this for their UK services, whilst the same on-line booking template has a category
for cycles on their Sc<strong>and</strong>inavian routes. The irony is compounded by the fact that the main service which
fails to have a cycle category for on-line booking is Harwich to Hoek van Holl<strong>and</strong> which is an important
sea-bridge on the North Sea Cycle Route.
Even with the online facility, many operators set the bicycle up as a vehicle, <strong>and</strong> this category can only
be booked as one unit per booking, making it necessary to make separate online bookings for each member
of a family or small group, making it very diYcult to secure a cabin for the party to travel together. Several
operators do not make it clear that passengers with cycles attract a higher fare than foot passengers, or
alternatively that cyclists SHOULD book as foot passengers, <strong>and</strong> then notify the operator that they will be
bringing bikes. One such failing lost P&O around £800-worth of business <strong>and</strong> disappointed a group who
had been taking the annual autumn fares oVer for the previous 8 years. Whilst the Committee has stated
that they will not be considering fares we feel that here, more than for air travel, the disparity of paying as
much as the passenger fare—occasionally more—to carry a bike onto a ferry where it is often not aVorded
any special or space consuming accommodation, <strong>and</strong> has no weight penalty (as it may do on an aircraft) is
a point to be recorded.
Bus
A vast potential to place almost every household in the UK within easy reach of an hourly daytime bus
service exists by exploiting the option of getting the passenger to the bus rather than the costly exercise of
getting the bus to the passenger with an attractive frequency of service <strong>and</strong> direct, fast journeys. There are
a few bike carrying service bus routes, but almost no measures to monitor the take-up of cycle carriage—
or to guarantee journeys. For frequent services, <strong>and</strong> with the typical length of a local bus route there is less
need to travel on a specific journey, but for longer rural routes with arduous gradients etc an assured journey
perhaps with pre-booking will be more important. The position with buses has yet to mature <strong>and</strong> develop
in the respects considered.
One detail of bus ticket purchase is that no longer is the fare stages matrix <strong>and</strong> tariV on display when you
board a bus, <strong>and</strong> unlike a shop of restaurant you are frequently unable to see a display of the fare being
charged This makes the idea of a bike fare a high fraud risk as passengers might not spot their passenger
ticket being rung in as a bike.
Rail
Possibly the main area from which we get feedback from the cycling community, <strong>and</strong> primarily because
there is serious discrimination against passengers who want tio take a bike on a train, <strong>and</strong> avail themselves
of the full range of ticketing services. Up to September 2004, the Trainline provided the facility to book a
cycle reservation when you booked your seat <strong>and</strong> travel ticket. This was—with great protest withdrawn <strong>and</strong>
we were promised a return of the facility in December 2004. The total collapse of the booking system had
a major impact on the ability to reliably travel with a cycle, with delegates to an international conference in
Dublin unable to make bookings just days before they were due to travel. We note with a degree of ire that
the disappearance of cycle reservation facilities online was accompanied by the appearance of online car hire
<strong>and</strong> hotel booking facilities on the rail ticket booking service.
GNER working with CTC has restored a booking service online, albeit a big fiddle—you book the tickets
on-line, 24 hours in advance, <strong>and</strong> their booking service calls you back to discuss <strong>and</strong> confirm the reservations
being made. Because of the diYculties in making bookings CTC is very upset that some operators try to
enforce a compulsory bookings service, although for Virgin & GNER it would appear that you can normally
make a booking immediately prior to the arrival of the train you want to board, <strong>and</strong> communications with
the train managers is good enough to ensure you are expected <strong>and</strong> doors are opened (see later).
We have had ridiculous suggestions by call centre staV obviously totally ignorant of UK geography. A
passenger north of Inverness was advised that he had to go to Dunbar, Berwick, Edinburgh or Glasgow to
collect tickets for a cycle reservation for his trip—to Stirling. Passengers boarding a train at Tenby, heading
back to London, were told thay should have gone to Swansea to make a reservation for their bikes in order
to board the train. Fortunately train staV have an ethos set in running the railway rather than observing
such crazy arrangements.
CTC believes that cycle reservations should be treated like seat <strong>and</strong> berth reservations. If the space is
available when the train arrives then you can book it, <strong>and</strong> with on train staV now easily linked to online
facilities, booking with a phone call shortly before a train arrives will ensure that you are expected, told
where to st<strong>and</strong> on the platform <strong>and</strong> doors are unlocked if required.
I did witness one particularly unsavoury incident when a passenger with a printed oV confirmation of his
booking, was unable to collect his tickets (the booking oYce hours had changed, <strong>and</strong> the fast ticket machine
was not working). The overnight train was initially delayed when the conductor refused to sell the tickets