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

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Integrated bus ticketing
10. Through-ticketing between rail stations has existed for so long that nowadays we do
not even think about having to buy a second ticket when changing trains. Bus passengers,
on the other h<strong>and</strong>, often have to buy a new ticket every time they change bus <strong>and</strong> on the
return journey, unless a day ticket is available. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport
Executive told us that this discouraged interchange <strong>and</strong> integration. For many passengers,
they argued, integrated bus ticketing was more important than inter-modal integration. 11
The problem is not a new one. Even before bus deregulation in 1986, some operators
required passengers to buy a new ticket every time they boarded a bus. 12 Though the
Government recognised this problem in 1998, it confined itself to welcoming the limited
work that was already being done by operators.
Rail operators are required to offer through-ticketing for all rail journeys. [...] There
are no equivalent obligations on bus operators. We welcome the positive action
taken by some companies to accept other operators’ tickets or participate in area
ticketing schemes, but more needs to be done. We also welcome the increasing
number of operators who are starting to introduce initiatives such as railbus tickets.
We will encourage their wider use. We want to see more ‘travelcard’ schemes across
the country. 13
11. Ten years on, only limited progress has been made <strong>and</strong> in some cases the situation is
worse. The Public Transport <strong>Ticketing</strong> Schemes Block Exemption Order 2001 (from the
Competition Act 1998) has enabled more local authorities <strong>and</strong> operators to conclude joint
ticketing agreements. 14 However, the competitive structure of the industry outside London
<strong>and</strong> fears of entanglement with the Office of fair Trading mean that, outside the main
cities, multi-operator tickets are still an expensive rarity. Through <strong>and</strong> return tickets are
often not available even from the same operator. A day ticket or period ticket may suit the
frequent traveller, but it is not suitable for all travellers. A journey that involves buying two
or more bus tickets each way will be expensive, which is likely to dissuade young people
<strong>and</strong> others on low incomes from travelling.
12. The situation is somewhat better in the passenger transport executive areas where
multi-modal, multi-operator travelcards are generally available. Even here, however,
difficulties remain. In West Yorkshire, with 37 operators, a total of 88 different singleoperator
ticket types are available. 15 Sometimes single-operator <strong>and</strong> multi-operator bus
tickets will be in competition with each other. This provides choice for the passenger but it
also makes the ticketing process confusing <strong>and</strong> expensive. There is virtually nothing in
Putting Passengers First 16 (the Government’s review of bus issues) that addresses these
issues. A Government amendment to the Local Transport Bill, proposes revising the
11 Ev 76
12 We were given the example of Midl<strong>and</strong> Red West in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire (Ev 166).
13 Cm 3950, p. 42
14 Q 75
15 Ev 85
16 Department for Transport, Putting Passengers First, December 2006