Sunday 24 April 2022

Why is Transport for London Proposing to Withdraw from the Travelcard Agreement? As Part of Phasing out Paper Tickets?


I’ve been hesitant in writing this article because I’ve seen there are concerns on social media about Transport for London’s (TfL) proposal to withdraw from the Travelcard Agreement. The purpose of this article is to reveal more information from my own research on why the proposal is happening.

This was first revealed in December 2021 by a BBC London News journalist as part of TfL’s negotiations for a new financial settlement by the Government.

Some of my readers may have seen my Tweets on Twitter revealing information about the proposal which is subject to impact assessment and consultation.

I’ve recently found a document titled ‘Data and Technology strategy October 2021’ which was obtained by a Freedom of Information request and revealed plans to withdraw magnetic in-boundary Travelcards from sale.

The earliest proposal by TfL to phase out magnetic tickets was from the ‘Ticketing and Revenue Update’ issue 117, April/May 2019, again obtained by a Freedom of Information request. This is also before the Coronavirus pandemic happened.

The London Mayor's consultation budget 2022-23 first revealed TfL’s proposal to withdraw from the Travelcard Agreement.

I’ve been doing some research on the TfL website and found some information in relation to TfL’s proposal to withdraw from the Travelcard Agreement as part of making TfL financially sustainable.

TfL Budget Update
TfL Board
2 February 2022

The funding agreement requires specific proposals to raise additional revenue using the Mayor’s and TfL’s existing powers to help achieve financial sustainability. The current proposals achieve a balanced budget but do not progress desired outcomes on decarbonisation, active travel, step free access and other important programmes.

Subject to a commitment from Government on the provision of ongoing additional capital funding, the Mayor has set out plans to progress the following options*

*All measures will be subject to appropriate consultation, impact assessment and decision-making processes before they are implemented.

Modifications to fares structure and ticketing:

o the introduction of an all day peak fare on the Piccadilly line between Zone 1 stations and Heathrow;

o increasing the Oyster card deposit to £7;

o withdrawing from the Travelcard Agreement, which will require the support of HMG;

o retaining the current restriction on use of 60+ concessionary fares to after 09:00 each day; and

o increasing the age of eligibility for the 60+ concession on a phased basis (subject to consideration of the benefit being retained for those on low incomes).

This document reflects ongoing work and discussions within TfL on options for the future of TfL/LU. It is not intended to reflect or represent any formal TfL/LU views or policy. Its subject matter may relate to issues which would be subject to consultation. Its contents are confidential and should not be disclosed to any unauthorised persons

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TfL extraordinary funding and financing settlement letter, 25 February 2022
Annex A – Fourth Funding Period deliverables
Workstream

7b New revenue streams
Deliverables

To achieve this condition:

1. Fortnightly working group with TfL and DfT on any of TfL’s recommended options that require HMG action, to ensure swift delivery of the new income source

2. TfL will provide to DfT an impact assessment on different passenger groups of the withdrawal from the travelcard agreement prior to commencing with the withdrawal

3. TfL will complete an Equalities Impact Assessment where necessary on the chosen options

4. The Mayor of London will commence public consultation, which includes an Equalities Impact Assessment, on his proposals.

Deadline

1. Fortnightly throughout the Fourth Funding Period

2. 29 April 2022

3. 29 April 2022

4. By 27 May 2022

Links to Transport for London settlement letters:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-for-london-settlement-letter

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/investors/funding-letters

Now let’s take a look at the Mayor’s Question Time to see the Mayor’s answers on the proposal by TfL:

Consequences of withdrawal from the travelcard agreement

Meeting: MQT on 2022-01-20
Reference: 2022/0069
Question By: Siân Berry

You have now confirmed in discussions on your draft budget that taking Transport for London (TfL) out of the travelcard agreement is an option to increase revenues. What would be the consequences of such a change for Londoners who use TfL services for part of a journey but also depend upon services from other train operators and who currently travel using a travelcard or season ticket?

Answered By: The Mayor
Date: Wednesday, 9th February 2022

Ceasing participation in the Travelcard Agreement would mean that Transport for London (TfL) would stop selling Travelcards. It would also mean that Travelcards would no longer be valid for travel on TfL services. These days, fewer people buy Travelcards as many have switched to pay as you go (PAYG) and this trend is expected to continue due to hybrid working for many office workers.

Customers would have to use contactless or Oyster to PAYG on TfL services. PAYG is valid on the same services as Travelcards meaning customers can still travel on all TfL services and National Rail.

No final decision has been made as to when TfL would withdraw from the agreement and no discussions yet have taken place between TfL, rail operators and stakeholders.

1995 Travel Card Agreement
Meeting: MQT on 2022-01-20
Reference: 2022/0284

Question By: Caroline Pidgeon

Is the 1995 Travel Card Agreement between London Regional Transport (LRT) and the rail operators still applicable and what, if any, discussions have taken place between TfL and the rail operators regarding possible changes to that agreement? What would this mean for passengers?

Answered By: The Mayor
Date: Friday, 18th February 2022

The 1995 Travelcard Agreement and the Day Travelcard (Peak) Agreement were amended, restated and consolidated as the Amended and Restated Travelcard Agreement 2018. The Agreement contains provisions for withdrawing Travelcards or ceasing participation in the Agreement. No discussions have taken place between Transport for London (TfL) and rail operators. Withdrawing Travelcards would mean that TfL and rail operators would stop selling these tickets and would phase out acceptance of them on TfL services.

Passengers would instead have to use contactless or Oyster to pay as you go (PAYG) on TfL services. As you know, PAYG is valid on the same services as Travelcards meaning passengers would still be able to travel on all TfL services, as well as National Rail services. Today around 80 per cent of Tube fare payer journeys are on PAYG reflecting a move away from Travelcards.

No final decision has been made as to when TfL would withdraw from the agreement and no discussions have taken place between Transport for London (TfL) and rail operators about this.

Where can I read the Travelcard Agreement?

You can read the 1995 edition of the Travelcard Agreement, obtained from a Freedom of Information request, or another edition from 2019 published on TfL's Freedom of Information website.

Is the proposal to phase out paper tickets taking place in London only?

This is not just happening in London. After looking at the UK Government and Parliament website I’ve discovered that the Government have proposed to reform rail services in Great Britain which includes changes to rail ticketing.

Great British Railways: Williams-Shapps plan for rail

The government's plan to transform the railways in Great Britain.

There will be a new brand and identity for the whole system, built upon the double arrow, with national and regional sub-identities. Great British Railways will simplify the current confusing mass of tickets, standardising mobile and online ticketing, and bringing an end to the need to queue for paper tickets. Affordable 'turn up and go' fares and capped season tickets will continue to be protected. New products, such as flexible season tickets aimed at those commuting for two or three days a week, will be introduced to reflect new working and travel patterns. Trains will be better coordinated with other forms of transport, such as buses and bikes.

A lack of innovation and incentive to modernise is partly responsible for this. Whilst London's Oyster and contactless schemes demonstrated many years ago how a better passenger experience and cost efficiency can come together, more than half of all national rail journeys in Britain still used paper tickets before the pandemic. Working practices have remained largely unchanged for decades. Efforts to modernise them while protecting staff and passenger safety, such as the introduction of driver-controlled trains, have led to major strikes in recent years that have crippled services for passengers across the network.

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Awarded contract

Rail Delivery Group (RDG) Central Back Office (CBO) HOPS
Rail Settlement Plan Limited

F06: Contract award notice – utilities
Notice reference: 2021/S 000-026879

Published 27 October 2021, 11:03am

II.1.4) Short description

Rail Delivery Group (RDG) wishes to replace our Host Operator or Processing System (HOPS) and invites Bidders to demonstrate their capabilities for providing an innovative proposal in line with the requirements detailed within this specification.

There will be three phases for this work:

1) Replace existing solution;

2) Design and build of the additional requirements defined in the SOR; and

3) To provide ongoing support, maintenance and development to the HOPS.

RDG envisages the contract to cover the design and build elements as well as the support and maintenance, as Product enhancements are released iteratively. RDG is looking for the contract to have an initial term of four years, with the ability to extend for up to a further three years, either as whole or as increments.

The continued provision of ITSO Smartcard ticketing services to the industry is a priority for RDG in the forthcoming years. RDG has developed proposals to align its systems to the strategic direction of the industry, outlined in documentation such as the 'Easier Fares for All' report.

This strategy exploits the following opportunities:

1. To simplify the ticketing offer (Product types and fulfilment methods). At present, there are four main Product fulfilment methods:

• Paper (magnetic stripe credit card sized tickets);

• Smartcard (ITSO);

• Barcode; and

• Contactless/EMV (Europay Mastercard Visa).

The industry wishes to retire paper tickets. To achieve this, the smart ticketing media offering must be broadened to match the current paper ticket coverage that meets the needs of all demographics.

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Lords Built Environment Committee

Inquiry: Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail – Fare Reform

Government Response

Recommendation 7 (paragraph 27): The Government should prioritise ticket digitisation. Infrastructure upgrades should take place at remaining ticket gates across the network. Fares displays on ticket vending machines should be simplified. Access to paper tickets should continue to be provided for those unable to use smart technologies.

The Government agrees with this recommendation.

Our £360 million investment announced at Spending Review is intended to deliver this.

As modern ticketing and payment methods roll out more widely, operators will enable more station staff to serve customers directly, rather than routinely behind a counter or window. They will welcome passengers who cannot use contactless or mobile tickets, helping them to buy tickets or access other services.

We do want to increase the usage of smart ticketing, which will naturally lead to fewer paper tickets being sold. We also wish to shift those remaining paper tickets away from magstripe technology, towards printed barcode tickets.

However, we will consider withdrawing paper magstripe tickets only when we are satisfied that all rail users can continue to purchase train tickets as readily as they can do today.

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Independent report

DPTAC reference frame: working towards a fully accessible railway

Published 14 February 2022

Ticketing

Rail ticketing is currently in a transformational phase with widespread migration from traditional paper tickets to smartcards, debit/credit cards, barcodes on mobile devices, as well as print at home tickets.

These new approaches to ticketing have not yet resulted in any significant issues from an accessibility perspective (indeed some forms of new ticketing provide positive benefits to disabled passengers, and potentially provide the opportunity for the redeployment of staff to more visible and helpful customer-facing roles), although we would prefer to avoid a proliferation of local smartcard and pay as you go (PAYG) schemes, which can be confusing for some disabled people.

Future-proofing against the risk of new, less accessible forms of ticketing being introduced is probably best provided by a disability-aware and pro-accessibility industry culture. We will consider what is necessary to achieve this next.

Read more

An article from City AM, published in October 2021, revealed that the Government plans to start phasing out paper rail tickets, beginning with the South East of England.

I believe this proposal interlinks with the Government’s proposal to phase out paper rail tickets (mostly magnetic type) in favour of expanding the Oyster style smartcard system to the rest of Great Britain.

In New York City, United States of America, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have proposed to phase out their magnetic paper Metrocards and replace them with their new OMNY (One Metro New York) smartcard and contactless system once fully completed by 2024.

Will this affect free travel concessions such as the ‘Freedom pass’ for disabled and older persons in London?

We have already seen time restrictions (after 9:00am on weekdays) imposed on older peoples Freedom passes, 60+ Oyster Card (provided by TfL) and older peoples bus passes outside of England (valid only on London Buses) which is part of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS).

Some of my readers may not realise that the main Freedom pass concession is protected by legislation Chapter VIII of Greater London Authority Act 1999, and any amendments would require changes to the legislation in the UK Parliament. The concessionary bus pass schemes issued by English councils outside of Greater London are also protected by legislation Part II of Transport Act 2000 and Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007.

What will happen to Railcard users who usually get a discounted One Day Travelcard?

Railcard users may end up having to get the Railcard discount added to the Oyster Card which includes a discounted daily cap; check the TfL website for more information.

Will the One Day Travelcard be retained?

The proposal to withdraw the Travelcard Agreement may also end the One Day Travelcard. This will depend on the outcome of the consultation; I can’t confirm or deny if there will be a replacement or retention of the One Day Travelcard in barcode (QR) ticket because TfL prefer passengers to use PAYG caps on Oyster and Contactless Bank Cards.

There are calls though from a voluntary campaign group named Railfuture to retain the Travelcard Add-on for rail users from outside of Greater London.

Other users such as enthusiasts who like to explore around the TfL and the London rail network should be aware of the Maximum Journey Times on PAYG Oyster and Contactless Bank Cards; once you go over the time limit you will be charged a maximum fare of up to £8.90 in Zones 1-9.

When did you last use a Travelcard?

I haven’t used a Travelcard for a very long while.

Will TfL transition to barcode (QR) ticketing in line with rail services in the UK?

I can’t confirm or deny if this will happen and you may need to contact TfL for more information. Although, TfL have issued a new tender to upgrade their revenue collection system as I’ve mentioned on .

Will the ticketless regime lead to cashless society?

The concept of a cashless society is very controversial as many people still prefer to use physical cash for purchasing products and other things such as putting money in birthday cards etc...

I’ve found some research briefings on the UK Parliament website which reveal efforts made by the Government to protect access to cash:

Protecting access to cash
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9054/

The future of local banking services and access to cash
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9453/

Bear in mind, I have no intention of becoming political on these issues as the purpose of this article is to reveal more information on the reasons why the proposal is taking place.

If you have any concerns about this proposal, you can write to your local elected representative such as Member of Parliament (MP), London Assembly Member or Councillor etc. https://www.writetothem.com/

Once TfL opens the consultation on the proposal to withdraw from the Travelcard Agreement, which is expected on 27 May 2022, you can submit your comments including suggestions and concerns to them.

If you have any enquiries about fares on the TfL and London rail network, you can contact TfL on their website.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter by searching for @CLondoner92 or by clicking on the direct link to my Twitter page here.

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