London Banter - View Single Post

Recliner[_3_] · March 3rd 16, 02:11 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On Thu, 3 Mar 2016 14:45:58 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

On 03/03/2016 14:32, Neil Williams wrote:

On 2016-03-03 11:48:29 +0000, d said:

Would be easy - though costly - to implement too. Have a touch out
reader on the bus for people wanting to interchange to a different
route then have a timeout of say 30 mins for them to get the next
bus.

Don't even need that complexity. Just allow a second touch-in free
within, say, 1.5-2 hours of a touch in, with any further touch-in
restarting the clock. The odd person would get to do a return-half
journey for nothing, and somebody would no doubt stop a bus, touch in
and alight to restart the clock deliberately, but it would be so few and
such short journeys that the effect would be marginal.

No need for that level of complexity - you already said it, "a second
touch-in free" - i.e. one free transfer - within a time limit. No people
'restarting the clock' like that.

This 'one free transfer' already exists on Croydon Tramlink, within a 70
minute time window. It also exists between the tram and buses and v.v.
in New Addington (at the southern extremity of the tram network) - it
used to be between T-prefixed tram feeder routes (and a few others I
think) but the bus network around there was rejigged very recently so
there aren't any more T-routes, instead the free transfer is on offer
for a number of local routes...

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/bus-and-tram

---quote---
Both pay as you go and paper single tickets cover one transfer made
between trams, or between trams and connecting bus routes 64, 130, 314,
353, 359, 433 and 464 (made within 70 minutes of touching in to pay as
you go at the start of your journey, or within 90 minutes of buying a
paper single ticket).
---/quote---

(The paper single tickets in question are those still available from
tram stop ticket machines... I wonder if the days of said machines might
be numbered though...)

However, as Paul C said earlier, TfL's budget is really tight and it's
going to remain that way for some time to come - free bus transfers
would come at a cost one way or another.

Yup, bus fares would have to rise for everyone to cover the loss of
revenue from those taking two or more buses for their journey.