Integrated rail + bus/tram/etc journeys: how could they be improved?

[Gaelan]

[picking a representative quote, but much of the quoted thread is relevant here]

In Wales's case a fully integrated network probably would make sense, i.e. only have a Dutch 9292ov.nl style planner and don't have a rail-only one at all. Rail planners can show slower options e.g. to ensure London Northwestern options are shown for Euston-Birmingham as people choose them due to their price, so if there's both bus and rail showing both if it's not ridiculous isn't unreasonable.

Deutsche Bahn's planner knows about most regional buses, at least, and will show those where relevant, so it can be done. And SBB's planner covers all modes nationally.

But as a minimum, putting alll Traws bus services in the railway planners (I'm aware the one that started the thread is) and having them all able to be ticketed by way of railway e-tickets (even if you can still buy a bus ticket from the driver) would make a lot of sense, as would bringing routes like this that very much plug gaps in the railway into the Traws network. But even otherwise, you would probably sell a lot more train tickets to Snowdonia if you could just stick Llanberis* into the rail journey planner - most people just go that far and then give up, they won't go off to bustimes.org or whatever and plan a complex journey. They may use Google, but might lack trust in it, and that lack of trust would be sensible because it isn't always correct, particularly at times of disruption or near a timetable change.

In a way I think RailLinks (a late 90s/early 2000s project to put dedicated, branded bus routes in the rail timetable) was well before its time. It failed then but I'm not sure it would fail now because of the fact that almost all tickets are bought using a journey planner, and the first thing someone will do when considering going somewhere by rail for the first time is type it in to see if it has a station.

There are of course many locations with integrated services, each implemented slightly differently. In my experience, they often fall short.

To pick a local example, St Andrews has a nearly perfect integration: the 99 bus (Leuchars-St Andrews) appears in the rail timetable, and through tickets are available to anywhere in the UK. Where it falls short is fares: fares to St Andrews are simply constructed by adding the bus fare (£3.30/£6 single/return), far higher than reasonable for adding 5 miles to a medium-distance journey (for instance, Edinburgh-Cupar and Edinburgh-Leuchars, a similar increase in distance, differ in fare by less than £2), and returns to Edinburgh/Glasgow by bus+train being around twice the price of just doing it by bus all the way through. Furthermore, railcard fares are not available to St Andrews (a student town!), so the through fares are exceptionally poor value for at least half the town's population.

The Edinburgh Airport tram link has similar issues, though of course price gouging is par for the course when airports are involved.

Other interesting ones I'm aware of:

• GTR's "Line2Line" tickets for bus travel between St Albans (on the MML) and Hatfield (on the ECML), avoiding London. The fares appear to be reasonable, but don't appear in the timetable at all, making them only available at ticket offices for those in the know. They're also only available on specialized GTR tickets, even though they could be useful from further afield.
• The TrawsCymru service between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen - from a look at fares and timetables this seems implemented quite well, though I'd be curious to hear about local experiences.
• The London Underground, with (at my count) three different types of integrated ticket for various purposes

 

[mike57]

each implemented slightly differently. In my experience, they often fall short.

As I said in the other thread, One journey planner, one ticket, one itinerary and journey completion guarantee in the event of disruption. Get that sorted and people will use it. Most of it is about data feeds and linking, not new infrastructure (apart from the IT)

And bus services included would have to be regulated in some way, its not going to work if the service times are changed without reference to connecting services. 1tph at Great Snoring arrives at xx:30. 1bph departure for Little Snoring departs at xx:45, stop is at the front of the station, result, happy passengers, then someone decides to reschedule the bus or the train, and passenger have 55 mins to wait instead, hence the need for some regulation. If operators wish to benefit from an integrated system then they will have to accept a level of regulation, and equally support money could be withdrawn from operators who refuse to co-operate, with the council or whoever looking for a more co-operative operator

But we cant even sort out a simple ticketing system within the railways, which will always offer the cheapest journeys, hence the rise of split ticket sites, so proper transport integration seems a long way off unfortunately.

 

[Gaelan]

And bus services included would have to be regulated in some way, its not going to work if the service times are changed without reference to connecting services. 1tph at Great Snoring arrives at xx:30. 1bph departure for Little Snoring departs at xx:45, stop is at the front of the station, result, happy passengers, then someone decides to reschedule the bus or the train, and passenger have 55 mins to wait instead, hence the need for some regulation. If operators wish to benefit from an integrated system then they will have to accept a level of regulation, and equally support money could be withdrawn from operators who refuse to co-operate, with the council or whoever looking for a more co-operative operator

Hell, some months ago there was a case of this going wrong with a boat and a train specifically timed to meet said boat.