TfL plan to scrap Travelcards

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

Also it is much harder if travelling as a family, as you get 4 paper cards one each. How do you replicate that with 2 adults and 2 children, do I need 4 debit/credit cards?

In short, each traveller would need their own debit/credit card. Although children under 10 travel free on TfL^» (Transport for London - about), so not sure how that would work. Indeed, under the current system, why buy a Travelcard extension for an Under-10 (i.e why pay for something that is actually free) ?

[TaplowGreen]

Also it is much harder if travelling as a family, as you get 4 paper cards one each. How do you replicate that with 2 adults and 2 children, do I need 4 debit/credit cards?

In short, each traveller would need their own debit/credit card. Although children under 10 travel free on TfL^» (Transport for London - about), so not sure how that would work. Indeed, under the current system, why buy a Travelcard extension for an Under-10 (i.e why pay for something that is actually free) ?

Children under 10 don't need a ticket on TfL services as long as they (up to 4 of them) are accompanied by an adult who has paid his or her fare.

[PhilWakely]

Children under 10 don't need a ticket on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) services as long as they (up to 4 of them) are accompanied by an adult who has paid his or her fare.

Presumably, that means approaching a manned gate and ask to be let through?

[TaplowGreen]

Children under 10 don't need a ticket on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) services as long as they (up to 4 of them) are accompanied by an adult who has paid his or her fare.

Presumably, that means approaching a manned gate and ask to be let through?

I would imagine that will be how it works.

[IndustryInsider]

The main problem with contactless bank payment remains the lack of an easy way to add a railcard discount for journeys that use national rail services for all or part of the journey.  A paper travel card ticket or Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card makes it possible to enable that discount.

[Bmblbzzz]

Perhaps the long-term answer is to make railcards smart. Give them RFID and link to a bank account.

[Bmblbzzz]

Children under 10 don't need a ticket on TfL^» (Transport for London - about) services as long as they (up to 4 of them) are accompanied by an adult who has paid his or her fare.

Presumably, that means approaching a manned gate and ask to be let through?

I would imagine that will be how it works.

I was unaware of the exemption for under-10s when, several years ago now, I approached the barriers and asked how to get a ticket for my then 11 year old son. Couldn't see how to get it from a machine and no ticket office (or not that was open). Staff said something along the lines of 'I don't believe he's 11, he looks 10 to me, he doesn't need a ticket.' Boy was, of course, not pleased to be 'downgraded'!

[grahame]

Boy was, of course, not pleased to be 'downgraded'!

That changes though ... there seem to be a lot of young people aged 16 or even 17 who downgrade themselves to 15 when travelling by train.

[PhilWakely]

Boy was, of course, not pleased to be 'downgraded'!

That changes though ... there seem to be a lot of young people aged 16 or even 17 who downgrade themselves to 15 when travelling by train.

I get the impression that Newton Abbot has the highest proportion of 14-year-old youngsters for whom time has stood still for at least three years 

[GBM]

That changes though ... there seem to be a lot of young people aged 16 or even 17 who downgrade themselves to 15 when travelling by train.

Oh yes.
Frequent story on busses "Child single/return please" when clearly not a child!

[Bmblbzzz]

The amazing quantum qualities of age: 17 on the birth certificate, 15 on the bus, 18 in the off-licence!

[stuving]

The main problem with contactless bank payment remains the lack of an easy way to add a railcard discount for journeys that use national rail services for all or part of the journey.  A paper travel card ticket or Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card makes it possible to enable that discount.

When the expansion of contactless/PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) to all these 233 new stations was announced, in two phases 1 and 2, IanVisits said:

There are also two phases to the payment options being rolled out:

    Phase 1 – Full-fare, Adult PAYG travel using contactless payment cards and mobile devices across the South East, fully integrated with TfL^» (Transport for London - about)’s existing scheme.
    Phase 2 – Enable discounted PAYG travel for National Rail concessionary customers.

That makes it sound as if this is due by 2024 as well, but I've never found any official source for that, and I suspect it's misleading. The expansion - project Oval - was implemented as a non-competitive tender with TTL (part of TfL) and Cubic.

There is another tender still to be let called Project Proteus, which is TTL looking to re-let the contract Cubic have to run the system. This includes various back-office system changes, lurking underneath the usual jargon and initials. And one of those is:

• Account Based Ticketing / FTP5: This is our programme that will make Oyster an account-based system. Initially this is likely to be a proof of concept involving design and back-office development work which we will lead on. Once the Proteus Contractor is in place, we will engage with developing the wider proposition to develop the system wide solution. This change will involve significant upgrade to our retail assets, changes to the reader to support the new risk management models, changes to the RID software as well as decommissioning the legacy Oyster system;

That's about Oyster, and so has nothing to do with adding a railcard to a contactless account. But it might, perhaps, have caused a bit of confusion in reporting. But this Project Proteus would also be a likely place to put the database link to support railcards in PAYG accounts, though as I say it's not actually mentioned. Proteus is to be let in 2024 for "full-service delivery in August 2026", and more new bits to follow after that.

[ray951]

According to the Evening Stanard it has been saved.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/one-day-travelcard-saved-transport-for-london-tfl-trains-fares-b1115574.html

It will apparently rise in price (I am not surprised), if the rise is 'small' then this has to be good news and good news about the railways is in short supply at the moment.

[ChrisB]

I reckon the add-on will be raised to at least £6.40

[didcotdean]

The Standard report has been updated to an "increase by a one-off levy of about three per cent next March, in addition to the annual fares rise".