Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how long it has been since the Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services arrangements under which revenue is shared between operators were last updated; who is responsible for updating those arrangements; and whether that process is open to public scrutiny.

The Department for Transport does not hold information on when Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services (ORCATS) was last updated. Any changes to ORCATS allocations is a matter for the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). However we understand from ATOC that as the way in which ORCATS currently works is built into the planning assumptions made by franchise bidders, there is no intention to change the actual way in which ORCATS works. The increase in future ticketing, such as smartcards and barcodes, will in time lead to actual usage based allocations being used, but for now the ORCATS model remains the industry method of allocation.

Further information can be obtained from ATOC who can be contacted at:

ATOC Ltd

2nd Floor

200 Aldersgate Street

London
EC1A 4HD

enquiry@atoc.org