Friday 17 March 2017

TfL updates on the London Bus ‘Hopper fare’ scheme



London Buses’ one-hour Hopper fare was launched back in September 2016 and now TfL have given us an update in their news section on the continuing success of the scheme.

From TfL news

The fare, which was introduced on 12 September, enables passengers to take a £1.50 bus or tram journey and then change onto another bus or tram for free within an hour. The Hopper fare is automatically given to anyone who uses pay as you go with a contactless bank payment or Oyster card.


On average, around 300,000 Hopper journeys are being made every weekday, with the most popular bus stop at Brent Cross Shopping Centre station, where more than 12,000 hops took place during February alone.

It's hoped that the continuing success of the Hopper fare will encourage people across London to switch from their cars to public transport - supporting the Mayor's wider campaign to clean up London's toxic air.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said: 'Six months after its launch I'm delighted and proud that our Hopper fare continues to be such a huge success. The cost of transport must never be a barrier to study or work, and hitting 50 million journeys this week shows the difference the Hopper is making in cutting the cost of travel for Londoners all across our city.'

'Alongside our TfL fares freeze, the continuing success of the Hopper will put money back into the pockets of millions of Londoners and encourage more people onto public transport, helping to tackle congestion, and improving our city for everyone.'

The introduction of the service formed part of the Mayor's wider fares package to make life easier for Londoners, which included a four-year fares freeze on all TfL services which came into force in January this year.

TfL is now working on delivering unlimited bus and tram transfers within one hour, which is not currently possible because of existing technology limitations. It's hoped this will be possible from 2018.

Also from next year, passengers using the Tube or train between two or more bus or tram journeys will also be eligible for the Hopper fare.

London Buses narrowly avoided deregulation during the 1990’s, so this shows that a regulated bus network has enabled a scheme like the one-hour Hopper fare to become a reality.

It’s also worth noting that the one-hour Hopper fare is only valid on the red London Bus services.

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Image attribution
By Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31766396

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