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Ken to TOCs - end of January deadline to sign up for Oyster PAYG
On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 17:08:04 -0000, "Mizter T"
wrote: TfL's offer to the National Rail (NR) Train Operating Companies (TOCs) to fund the £20 million cost of installing equipment to allow Oyster Pay-as-you-go (PAYG, a.k.a. Pre-Pay) isn't open ended, and the deadline - the 31st of January - is fast approaching. It would appear the Mayor is keen to bounce the TOCs into signing up to the deal. See this TfL press release: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent....asp?prID=1037 The full release on the Mayor's site is a tad more revealing and also includes a wonderfully inaccurate statistic about gate throughput. http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_...eleaseid=10389 [snip] I wasn't aware there was a deadline to the Mayor's offer to pay for installation of the Oyster kit, at least not such an immediate one. I'm sure there are a number of reasons why TOCs might be wary of Oyster PAYG. However two of the TOCs strongest arguments against getting involved have now been largely nixed. If you think about it it does make sense to have a deadline but I wasn't aware of it until today. Without it some TOCs would "negotiate" until their franchises expired when it will become mandatory upon reletting by the DfT. One reason the TOCs were diffident - that they'd lose the opportunity to set their own fares - no longer exists, as the DfT decreed that from the 2 January just gone all London rail fares were be zonally priced. Another possible reason for the TOCs objection, that of fraud, has largely been neutered by the fact that passengers using Oyster PAYG (on the Tube and the few participating NR routes) are now penalised if they don't touch-in *and* touch-out for each and every journey they make - thus providing a very strong incentive for them to pay the right fare, and a strong disincentive to anyone attempting to abuse the system. There are other arguments, but I don't think any of them are really that convincing, especially when weighed against the advantages that rail passengers would benefit from. I think you might be underestimating the issues the TOCs have. This is about money and information about customers - both crucial to TOCs. Issues such as apportionment, settlement, commission, equipment maintenance / reliability, card management and usage / customer data were big issues years ago. Now the thing is real and working and passengers are voting with their feet in some cases TOCs will be feeling the effects of Oyster. For those not under the DfT "cosh" of new franchises they have a lot to play for and I suspect they are testing to see whether £20m can be made to become £30-40m. Ken is at risk of making himself a hostage to fortune as he does not have the power to compel acceptance and there are legally binding agreements sitting in the background that have to be dealt with if we are not to see things get worse rather than better. It remains to be seen whether the Mayor's brinkmanship will win over the TOCs - we shall see. Indeed it does. I hope we get to the right place with this but I suspect there'll be no settlement until the very last minute. -- Paul C Admits to working for London Underground! |
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