Local Lib Dems Back One Hour Bus Ticket Campaign (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Local Lib Dems Back One Hour Bus Ticket Campaign

May 26, 2009 6:13 PM

Caroline Pidgeon AM, Susan Kramer MP, Cllr David Trigg and Cllr Eleanor Stanier at Hammersmith bus station.

• SUSAN Kramer is backing a campaign for one hour bus tickets for London bus users.

The scheme, which already exists in other European cities, would allow passengers to switch from bus to bus within an hour for a fixed cost of just one ticket. Susan travelled to Hammersmith bus station to launch the campaign, where many local residents change buses to complete their onward journey. She commented:

"It is ridiculous that local people have to pay a new fare every time they change bus. You can already switch from Tube to Tube on the same ticket so it makes sense to allow people to do the same with buses. Many local people use Hammersmith bus station as a hub to change between buses, and often end up paying £2 or more to travel quite a short journey."

Councillor David Trigg, Executive Member for Traffic, Transport and Parking said: "One hour bus tickets will benefit bus users in both central and outer London. Many passengers have to change from one bus to another as part of their regular journey. One hour tickets would encourage environmentally sustainable travel by allowing more people to switch to use buses."

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson said: "One hour bus tickets already operate successfully in Paris, Rome and Brussels. It is now time London caught up and gave bus users a fair deal. One hour bus tickets would also make bus travel very attractive to a lot of people who often don't use the bus at present. One hour tickets could even lead to a shift away from people using their cars for short trips and help to reduce congestion across London. The Liberal Democrats are challenging Boris Johnson to introduce one hour bus tickets and people can support the campaign by signing our petition."

• BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The one hour bus ticket would allow passengers to touch in with their "Pay As You Go" Oystercard and they would have 60 minutes in which to make additional bus journeys without further deduction from their card. For example to get from Blackheath village to the Ferrier Estate (about 2 miles) you would need the 202 bus then the 178. Current cost £2.00. One Hour Bus Ticket: £1.00.

An increasing number of bus passengers use Oyster 'Pay As You Go': 19 % of all bus journeys in the third quarter of 2007/2008 - up from 16 % the previous year. Figures released by TfL indicate that the average bus journey length is 3.5 km (2.2 miles, 9 stops), and estimate that 16 % of bus journeys on Oyster 'Pay As You Go' involve using a second bus within 60 minutes of the first. In the third quarter of 08/09 there were 102m bus PAYG journeys (counting each bus boarded as a separate journey), for which the fares revenue was £79m, which equates to 19 % of all journeys and 31 % of all revenues.

When a bus is terminated short of its destination, passengers have to take the next bus. The driver of the following bus should be informed, but often they are not, and passengers have to touch in again and pay a further £1.00. This would be eliminated with the One Hour Bus Ticket. Already, Oyster is configured to 'cap' the maximum fare you can pay in one day on buses and trams at £3.30. This means you would be charged again for your second and third journey (£3) and your fourth journey would cost 30p.

In Paris, passengers have 1 hour 30 minutes at their disposal between the first and last validation of the 1.60 euro ticket to carry out one or many trips. Brussels offers the "Un Voyage" ticket for 1.60 euro. In Rome the 'Metrebus' ticket costs 1 euro. It is valid for 75 minutes of travel almost anywhere in and around Rome and you can change buses as many times as you want during that time.

Almost a million car journeys every day in London are less than one mile in length [TfL]

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: