Part-Time Rail Season Ticket shake-up

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From the London Evening Standard:

Now millions of part-time commuters will get benefit of season tickets

Millions of commuters will be able to buy part-time season tickets in a major shake-up of the way rail travel is paid for.
 
For the first time, people who work three or four days a week will benefit from the same savings that come from buying a monthly or yearly ticket.

The plan was revealed to the Evening Standard by Transport Minister Norman Baker. Speaking at the Liberal Democrats^ conference in Glasgow, he announced a major trial scheme to be carried out on a busy London commuter line.

He said: ^Why should there be a season ticket that works for people who work five days a week but that leaves people out of pocket if they work three or four days a week? Where^s the justice in that?^

Currently, season tickets cost the same no matter how many days people travel in and out of London. It means those who commute five days a week or more save money while those who come in fewer days pay more per journey. The Campaign for Better Transport welcomed the move.

In another new idea that will be tested at the same time, the traditional fare jump from off-peak to peak times could be softened by introducing a mid-priced travel slot at the cusp of the rush hour.

The shake-up could encourage more people to work from home on one or two days a week, or to shift their working hours to quieter periods.

^The days when people turned up at London Bridge on the 8.43 wearing a pin-stripe suit and carrying an umbrella have all gone,^ Mr Baker said. ^That^s not how London operates any more.

^People nowadays want more flexibility about when they start at the office and leave. If they want it, why shouldn^t they have it? Why should people be forced into a box that says ^nine to five^ on it? This is all about enabling Londoners and commuters to have a transport system that reflects their needs more closely.^

The Government^s thinking was influenced by the London Olympics last year, when civil servants were encouraged to work from home or work flexi-hours to help reduce congestion.

A commuter line will be picked next year for a full-scale test of the new ticketing ideas. Stations will be equipped with new smartcard ticketing, similar to London^s Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card system, that will gradually replace paper tickets.

Mr Baker said: ^We have not decided which line yet but it will be one of the busy lines into London. The impact of the new tickets will be measured at every point along the line to see how passengers respond.^

Train companies will benefit because they will be able to get more passengers onto services if people can be encouraged to switch from travelling during the worst rush-hour crush. Until now we^ve been held back by technology, because traditional tickets did not give us the flexibility we wanted,^ said Mr Baker. ^But now we are moving into the era of smart technology where everything is possible.^ The Government is investing ^40 million in smart ticketing technology in the South-East.

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: ^Part-time season tickets are really good news for many part-time workers who rely on the train. There are now record numbers who work part-time and currently have no option but to pay for a full fare. Bringing in part-time season tickets will help with the flexible and affordable arrangements workers want and the economy needs.^

He added: ^Overall, this announcement is recognition that commuters are a key vote for all the parties in the run up to the General Election. Train travel is still too expensive. The big question is still when the Government will bring the decade-long policy of above-inflation fare rises to an end.^

[trainer]

For a government wedded to the free market, they make an awful lot of interference in commercial decisions.  I'm not against it: if I was a part time worker I'd be delighted.  I just hope that the rail companies don't get the blame for yet another complication in the fare structure.

[LiskeardRich]

We already have part time season tickets down here.
Valid 3 weekdays and weekends.
Click to the next screen on any of the ^38.10 month tickets

http://tickets.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/gw/en/journeyplanning/seasonmixingdeck

[grahame]

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jun/11/rail-season-tickets-part-time-commuters?

Millions of part-time rail commuters could save an average of more than ^1,500 a year if the government "honoured its pledge" to introduce flexible season tickets, according to the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT^‡(resolve)).

The group criticised the government for failing to respond to modern work patterns, leaving many of Britain's 12 million part-time workers ^ almost 75% of them women ^ paying too much for their ticket.

At present, part-time workers who commute by train must either buy a season ticket and lose money on the days they don't use it, or buy individual peak-time tickets, which are more expensive.

...

[grahame]

To put numbers on the issue.

5 days working in London from Melksham - Monday to Friday, same week, 9 to 5.   Fare - 250.50

5 days working in London from Melksham - Tuesday of 5 successive weeks , 9 to 5.   Fare total - 785.00

[ChrisB]

But it won't work that way. And neither will CBT^‡(resolve) say how they expect it to work, hence their 'savings' can't be averaged, neither backed-up - and its pissing me off.

The only way I've heard Government & rail companies talk about this is that they may be made available for x days a week & hence multiplied up to a month & annual as per full-time seasons.

You will not get *any* discount for one day a week, and extremely little for 2 days, and these may indeed be the *same* days each week - the encoding can't cope with 'marking off' as you use it, rather it will be marked as valid for set days each week. The discount is allowed for buying multiple journeys in advance, hence the discount is most for an annual (12 weeks free), smaller for monthlies & less still for weeklies.

An annual 2days/week ticket is actually just 104 days being bought. A weekly is just 2 days. It is extremely unlikely that any discount would be available for that. Whether a monthly would even be available (possibility of it being valid for 8 or 9 or 10 days, depending on the calendar month & the days bought) could present problems....

So I'm forecasting three days/week being the minimum available that gets any discount at weekly level (and even then, it won't reach the discount of a full weekly - another misunderstanding a lot are making), and maybe an annual 2day ticket might appear, but I doubt it.

THey aren't going to be as useful as some are forecasting, methinks

[grahame]

Ah, Chris ... I was simply enumerating the unfairness as the customer sees it, and not suggesting that these new tickets would make the case I was quoting much fairer!

If I buy some (other) product one at a time, rather than in bulk, I expect to pay more.   There's packaging, cost of sales, setup, support and so forth for buying 5 separate products rather than one bulk set.  If I need one of something this week, next week, the week after for five weeks, unless it's perishable (cucumber, strawberries ...) I'll buy multiples and store them to save money.

Trains are not like cucumbers.   They remain fit(ish) for the purpose for which they were obtained after 40 years, and whether a passenger who makes a bulk buy of five units stores four and uses them at intervals of a day, or stores four and uses them at intervals of a week makes, frankly, little difference in the cost of provisioning.

the encoding can't cope with 'marking off' as you use it

So the customer has to pay (in my example) 3 times as much because of the systems his supplier uses?

The discount is allowed for buying multiple journeys in advance

Which is exactly what happens when you but five at once up front, whether you use them daily or weekly.  In fact, you're buying further in advance for the weekly use, so perhaps you should get a better deal?

I do agree with you that these tickets, if we see them,  are unlikely to be as useful as some would wish - for people wish for what's perfect for them, and as has been pointed out elsewhere, reducing the cost for one group leads it to increase for another.

[grahame]

 I should perhaps add that the current cost of tickets is sometimes especially unfair to part-time NIGHT workers.

Melksham to Swindon season ticket (1 week) - ^38.00

Melksham to Swindon every Tuesday for a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job for 5 weeks - ^46.00
(that's actually a very reasonable differential between the standard and season fares)

Melksham to Swindon every Tuesday for a 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (Wednesday) job for 5 weeks - ^71.50
There are places where tickets are timed as issued and valid for xxx time.  Why not here?

[ChrisB]

a passenger who makes a bulk buy of five units stores four and uses them at intervals of a day, or stores four and uses them at intervals of a week makes, frankly, little difference in the cost of provisioning.

A carnet on a smart ticket? Yes, absolutely, providing there is a use-by date - and some way of preventing buying too far in advance to avoid fare rises (as now).

The only problem is that a day's 'season' allows multiple trips on any & every day it's valid - how would your system work? :-)

[ChrisB]

I still can't see TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) agreeing to offer the same discount % on fewer round-trips that they sell at the moment.

So while a 10 single journey carnet = a weekly season in terms of trips, and a discount of the currently available % on the weekly equivalent may be available, the user is still going to need to pay the same amount as one does for the weekly, although it might last longer.

Why should they offer the same discount % on a 4 trip carnet? They won't - but that's what CBT^‡(resolve) are aiming at, without spelling this out, that is how they get to their 'savings'. Very woolly petition, which is why only 221 nationally have signed it!
https://www.thunderclap.it/en/projects/12232-part-time-train-tickets-now

Piss-poor if you ask me. They can't actually claim any support from the public.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jun/11/rail-season-tickets-part-time-commuters

[SDS]

I do believe that something similar is being trialled (very quietly) in Scotland on the Glasgow to Edinburgh lines using SR^‡(resolve)(PFG) ITSO cards. A Carnet and ITSO which caps at the equivalent discounted rate for seasons.
I did see a memo somewhere about it, but cant find it anymore.

[ChrisB]

I strongly suspect there's a fairly large argument going on between ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) about who's going to pay for the technology to enable this - the current paper ticket system can't & ITSO (or equivalent) is needed....there'll be a major cost involved especially as it will *reduce* overall ticket income.

[grahame]

From The Guardian

Promised changes to season tickets to make rail travel more affordable for commuters who work part-time are in doubt, with smart ticketing delayed and the programme^s costs rising, transport campaigners and Labour have said.

The government announced plans to meet the needs of part-time workers in 2012 and the Conservatives made an election pledge to introduce measures including smart ticketing. According to the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)), however, train companies have made slow progress in doing so. The changes could save some commuters thousands of pounds a year.

I am aware of the need to sort out character corruption on earlier posts on this thread.