One hour bus ticket campaign launched

12.18.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 23rd Apr 2009

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, was joined by Tom Brake MP, councillors and campaigners from across London this morning at the launch of a Londonwide campaign to persuade the Mayor to introduce one hour bus tickets.

At the busy Vauxhall Bus Station bus passengers were provided with information about the new campaign and invited to sign a petition.

Caroline Pidgeon said:

"You can already switch from tube to tube on the same ticket, so it makes real sense to allow people to do the same with buses. It really is unfair that people who use Oyster pay as you go have to pay a new fare every time they change buses.

"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."

Ends

Notes to editors

1. Caroline Pidgeon is Deputy Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee and from May will be Chair.

2. The petition can be signed at the website www.ourcampaign.org.uk/1hourbusticket

3. 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 you would need the 202 bus then the 178. Current cost £2.00. One Hour Bus Ticket: £1.00.

4. Figures released by TfL indicate that the average bus journey length is 3.54km (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.

5. 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 18.8% of all journeys and 31.3% of all revenues.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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 1.60euro. 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.

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