"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:09:41 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

Right,

What fraction of LU stations are gated? What fractions of trips on LU are
now done with Oyster?

Very close to 100% for stations being gated. However a proportion of
entry and exit is via open interchange and there is no need to validate
at these points unless using PAYG.

I have not seen the figures for a while but a considerable proportion of
LU trips are now on Oyster but it is not as high as you might think due
to One Day Travelcards remaining on magnetics and also a lot of people
will be using TOC purchased Travelcards that are also on magnetics.

If the answers to these questions are both 'the vast majority', then LU
should now have a massive amount of data about journeys being made on its
network - in terms of where they start and end, at least. Actual hard
numbers, not estimates or surveys of passenger density on each line. This
would be really interesting to look at. Does it exist, is it public, and
what would be my chances of getting it via FOIA?

It was certainly the intent that the data would be used for journey and
service planning. To be honest it is more valuable in some respects
where it shows modal interchange or bus to bus interchange. The
opportunities to better understand "total" journeys rather than just the
rail element are more attractive and adjusting bus services to provide
through or "round the corner" services is easier.

I have yet to see anything internal to LU that shows how the Oyster data
is being used in terms of planning. Planning data is not adjusted every
few months so the use of Oyster derived data may not have happened yet
on any large scale. There are certain key models that would use it but I
don't know when these are being updated (not really my area to be
honest).

The other key issue is the reliability of the data and its statistical
robustness. The collection of Oyster data is relatively new and while it
is obviously based around actual usage there will still be some risks as
to its reliability and these would have to be assessed and compensated
for before it was used for modelling purposes. The fact that take up is
still being promoted and that TOC equipment roll out is yet to come will
affect the data for years to come.

You have not specified the granularity of the information you would want
but I would be surprised if the data was released to the public at any
great level of detail. You might get broad brush annualised data for
journey flows but perhaps not "xxx passengers travelled from Epping to
Loughton on Sunday 22 April 2007". Still there's nothing to stop you
asking under FOI.

Also, am i right in thinking paper tickets either don't have a unique ID
on them, or that this isn't recorded by gates? If not, LU should already
have had this data.

Some magnetic tickets did have unique numbers but they were a very small
part of the overall population. The vast majority did not and although
they were counted by type at each gate you could not follow "ticket
123456" through the system.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!



Epping to Loughton on Sunday 22nd April 2007. I cannot imagine very many
people....unless you know something we don't