London Fares Update

[glynn80]

The following information has been obtained from senior members of ATOC (both the London Pricing Manager and a member of the ATOC commercial team), TfL (both the Director of Fares & Ticketing and the Ticketing Policy Manager) and the DfT (the Manager of the Fares, Ticketing & Passenger Benefits Team).

• 35% of journeys on London Underground are now made using Oyster PAYG

• Paper Off Peak Day Travelcards now account for between 14-15% of traffic on London Underground. This figure is distorting the overall Oyster PAYG usage statistics and when the full London National Rail network is brought under the PAYG system TfL aim to have 50% of journeys on London Underground made using Oyster PAYG.

• Oyster PAYG has a higher usage during Off Peak periods obviously skewed due to the high number of Season Tickets used during the peaks

• The initial projections when the Oyster PAYG concept was first proposed, envisaged around 70,000 passengers per day using it. The statistics have smashed that figure with around 3.7 million journeys per day now using PAYG. Some of this has been driven by TfL fares policy and the significant reductions passengers receive when using PAYG but some of the switch from paper tickets has also been Oyster's ability to cater for frequent but irregular travel, something that isn't particularly easy to solve.

• Today there is no real distinction on who is using Oyster PAYG. When first implemented the technology however was first picked up by the higher socioeconomic groups and over time seems to of now percolated through to the lower groups.

• There are currently 200,000 passengers signed up to TfL's Oyster Auto-Top up system. Of those who do sign up, the base is quite loyal in that in the scheme's history only 5,000 to 10,000 passengers have actually disabled their automated top ups. The average frequency of automated top-ups works out at 1.2 per month with an average of £23.00 being added (obviously showing out of the two automated top up brackets, the £20.00 bracket is significantly more popular than the £40.00 bracket).

• There are currently 3,937 TfL agents spread across London selling the Oyster product, up significantly from the 2,000 agents not so long ago. TfL do try to penetrate all postcodes and regions as far as possible.

• Tramlink ticket machines are unlikely to receive the ability to deal with Oyster transactions anytime soon. The implementation would cost approximately £2 million and TfL cannot justify the economic cost with the current passenger base the tram attracts (there are apparently many bus routes in London with considerably more passengers than the entire Tram network).

• TfL's rationale for introducing both morning and evening peak period restrictions on Oyster PAYG was to try to stem the flow of people travelling during said times. This policy does not seem to have worked very well at all with only approximately 200 people per day at each interval shifting their journey patterns to other periods of the day.

• TfL are working towards future ideas for Oyster PAYG including weekly capping.

• When Oyster PAYG is extended to the NR fully, the current National Rail Conditions of Carriage are unlikely to apply to Oyster journeys (on the trial between Victoria and Balham passengers are subject to TfL's Conditions of Carriage). At present, two proposals are in place, either alterations will be made to the NRCoC to prevent various rights given that won't be available to Oyster PAYG users (such as break of journey) or they will be subject to a completely separate set of conditions.

• On the current Southern trial between Victoria and Balham, evening peak restrictions have been brought in for Oyster PAYG users (currently CDR users on the route are not subject to any restrictions after 0930), this is likely to be extended across the London NR network when full implementation arises in January 2010. Some users will escape however such as those passengers using the "Off Peak" cap (set slightly lower than the equivalent Travelcard), this Off Peak cap price will only be subject to the morning peak restrictions.

• It is also likely that Oyster single fares on the London NR network will be set at slightly lower than half of the appropriate cash Anytime Day/Off Peak Day Return fare. This is due to Oyster's integral setup being programmed on a single leg basis (i.e each leg should be 50% of a return price). This seemed to suggest that the Oyster smartcard system is less flexible than the current paper ticket technology.

• There will apparently be some out-boundary National Rail stations receiving Oyster PAYG ability, specifically at present, extensions on the Chiltern and London Overground networks. However in principle it will be limited to the GLA boundary.

• Contrary to the concerns that London Travelwatch raised regarding whether Oyster PAYG could be implemented in time for January 2010, both ATOC and TfL are confident of implementation by that deadline and a provisional date of 02/01/10 has been set.

 

[bengley]

Looks like High Wycombe is getting oyster then.