Railways: South East Flexible Ticketing Scheme

Lord Bradshaw Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I remind the noble Baroness of the Answer I just gave: we are looking to complete that by 2016. The five operators that have already signed cover 73% of the network. With regard to part-time season tickets, through the franchise competitions we are ensuring that operators develop appropriate proposals for pricings within that.

[Lord Bradshaw (LD)]

My Lords, might the Minister consider the fact that, I believe, smart ticketing now depends on contactless cards? These require an enormous back-office facility to adjust the money between operators. The operators cannot agree to share the information with one another. Would it not be better if ATOC, the independent association of train operators, which deals with revenue matters now, addressed this?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

We are seeing increased co-operation across train operators and we are working closely with the industry to ensure just that. As I have already indicated, there is 73% coverage with the existing operators. In one case, for season ticket holders we already have 22% of the market covered through smart ticketing.