Lisa Heaven’s Post

Rail passengers in the West Midlands and Manchester will soon be able to pay by 'tapping in and out'. These welcome schemes will encourage more people on to public transport, and are a positive step towards the simple, fully-integrated ticketing that all passengers deserve. Transport inequality needs tackling as a matter of priority, to give all cities good public transport. These pilot schemes will help, and we would like to see similar schemes in all urban regions to boost confidence and grow passenger numbers. https://lnkd.in/eaZeeJ_k

BLOG: One of the curses of working for “the railway” is that everyone has an opinion, and often those opinions are wildly contradictory. The news this month is a great example of why that is. 📰 In the headlines recently we’ve had operator LNER trialling simpler fares, we’ve had the draft railway bill promising the creation of a new body to act as a guiding mind with clear accountability, and this week we’ve had two “open access” announcements for new services, one of which has been approved (Stirling to Euston) by the regulator, and one of which is subject to approval (Wrexham to Euston). 🛤️ The latter put out some (really good) PR with a positive quote from the rail minister, which said the Government is keen on on-rail competition to drive up standards and offer new connections. I can see why the Government would want to trial new services at no risk to the taxpayer but I’m also interested in how that works with simpler fares. 🎟️ If we want simpler fares at the same time as we offer passengers on-rail competition, then the future could look like multiple operators on the same line offering the same tickets with the same restrictions, and you just choose whatever operator you prefer. Or if we ditch that, you can have true competition, with a panoply of different fares and ticket options to suit all pockets. On some lines, such as Newcastle to Edinburgh, we now have both of those systems at the same time and the fares system there is bananas. Who is accountable for that? Will the new body be able to fix it? FWIW my view is that people will always buy advance named-train tickets if they’re cheap enough, but they will also write to their MP when they get on the wrong train or their on-rail competitor doesn’t put ticket acceptance in place if their train breaks down. Somebody needs to make a call what railway we want and it’s up to us in the industry to do that. What’s your thoughts? APEX or Open Return? Let me know below…   Not written with AI. #trains #railways #tickets #fares

📌 My good friend and colleague Ranjith brought my attention to the issue of #transit #fare setting and I thought it deserves attention. It should be understood that the ticket fare set by the transit agency and the fare experienced by the passengers are very different things. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔: ☞ 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, ☞ 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, ☞ 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, ☞ 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, ☞ 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, ☞ 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒚 ☞ 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆. This is exactly what planners and bureaucrats fail to understand while making their assessments. This also explains why #MetroRail and #BRT based public transit manages to attract a different class of population (time conscious riders) that city buses do not manage to cater to.

Check out this insightful article from Manchester Evening News on the future of transport in Greater Manchester. Buses, trams, and trains are set to undergo exciting changes that will impact our daily commutes. The piece discusses the upcoming developments and improvements in our local transport system. It's an interesting read for anyone invested in the future of transportation in our area. #TransportFuture #Manchester #PublicTransport https://ift.tt/dVyLTx7

Fantastic to see our report 'A Fare Future for rail: a blueprint for fares and ticketing reform' leading the conversation at the start of the week! Thank you The Guardian for joining the dots on rail here - exactly as we say at Campaign for Better Transport, this has to be the priority right now. As for stations, they are of huge benefit to communities, and potentially more so in future. In an era when post offices have been unnecessarily wound down (on the baffling premise that more internet = less post) and pubs, libraries and other social hubs having been closing at an alarming rate, rail stations are in many cases the last surviving shared space for the public. It makes sense therefore to ensure that stations have comfortable waiting rooms, welcoming catering, meeting hubs, calm spaces and more. Our rail network, which benefits the wider economy, society and the environment, should make the most of its value to public and personal health and happiness. https://lnkd.in/eYwyW93a

Great news, the latest figures are in: 🚌 19% rise in bus passengers 🚌 12% increase in local authority-supported bus provision 🚄 Leisure travel grew by 19% in the second quarter of this year, with a rise in the use of discount Railcards (21% of revenue was brought in via Railcard use this quarter vs 16% in the same quarter in 2019). 🚄 Commuting was up 6%, while business travel was up 8%, as more people went into the office more often and there were fewer strike days. Rail revenue was up 13% (£295 million) vs. the previous quarter, but rail still faces a sizeable hole in its finances. Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) is calling for the industry to work together to go for growth. 2024 can only get better right? #positivethoughts #betterbuses #getonboard #bususers #transport #publictransport

Today's rail headlines - #InTheNews: Grand Central Rail new services proposals, Camps viaduct work complete, Virgin Trains Ticketing ‘Charter for Change’, and increase in rail services on the Isle of Wight. Listen here: #UKrail #railways #headlines

New blog! ✍️ Would you use a Rail Miles scheme? For years, airlines have used Air Miles schemes to incentivise flying. So why don’t we have a national loyalty scheme to encourage more journeys by train?  Perks could include:   💳Cost off future tickets   🫖On-board discounts   🥇Upgrades to first-class Some operators already offer loyalty schemes, but franchising has made a national scheme a complicated notion. When we *eventually* have an arms-length body for rail, we want to see ‘Rail Miles' designed for the network, to reward frequent rail users and encourage more journeys by train!  Ben Curtis looks into how a national scheme could work, read here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eMhutJgS #FareFuture  

We’re fully behind the idea of simplifying the fares system and travel options for rail passengers, but we’ve not seen much publicity about these changes and are concerned that public awareness may be very low. We don’t want people to get caught out so we’re encouraging passengers to check to see if their journey will be affected by changes to fares at 53 stations across the South East. For example, some tickets have had to be phased out completely, including the Super Off-Peak option. This will mean that some journeys may actually cost more. And with the introduction of evening peak fares, there is also the risk that some passengers get caught out as they will no longer able to travel with an Off-Peak ticket. We hope there will be a generous transition period in place to make sure passengers don’t get penalised for something they are unaware of. It’s a pity that the introduction of contactless pay-as-you-go payment has been delayed and won’t kick in at the same time as these fares changes. We know that Londoners have benefited from contactless for many years and it is a convenient way to travel. We’re encouraging passengers who travel from one of the 53 stations affected by these fares and ticketing changes to check with their train operator for more information. https://lnkd.in/g324CyCJ

TRAIN TICKETS, THE UK RAILWAYS + PUBLIC TRANSPORT Having lived and worked in France and Germany for a considerable period of time, where the train networks are nationalised and have very sound environmental as well as commercial strategy, I think it is high time that Britain / The United Kingdom sat back down at the drawing board and re-assessed the country's thinkings about the railways (and other public transport), most particularly the pricing. In Germany, you can buy a monthly ticket for 49 Euros which will take you anywhere in the country on any method of public transport and you can use this monthly ticket as often as you like. Yes 49 Euros per month: https://lnkd.in/eeX76ePr It's more expensive for me to travel before 8am to London Victoria and back, for one return trip, which would cost me £53.50. I understand the supply/demand equation when it comes to pricing rail tickets, but feel it is high time that this was seriously re-considered. I travelled up on the 10:31am train from Billingshurst to London Victoria today and the return fare was £20, which in my opinion is absolutely spot on and fair value for money. Do I think a £53.50 return fare leaving at 8:01am or earlier is fair? No I don't. This is too much for a total of 2 hours 30 minutes on a train. If I drove, this journey would cost me £11.17 in fuel. Somehow, however improbable and unlikely, the new government needs to incentivise people to ditch the car and travel by train, bus, tram etc like people in Germany do. The only way to incentivise people to do this is to make the economic decision as to which method of travel to choose, a no-brainer: ie you leave the car at home every time and get on the train or another method of public transport. Are people with me on this one or am I barking up the wrong tree? #UKRailways #BritishRailways #PublicTransport