TfL introduces Oyster ‘One More Journey’ on London’s buses
5 Jun 2014 12:41 PM
- Introduced one month early
following a successful trial
- Supports the move to cash free
bus travel, which starts on 6 July
- Contactless payments now exceed
cash usage for fares on London buses
- Customers continue to benefit
from the best value fare for each journey they make
Transport for London (TfL) has
announced that it will introduce Oyster ‘One More Journey’ from
Sunday 8 June, allowing passengers to make one more bus journey should they
have insufficient pay as you go credit to travel.
This new facility supports the
move to cash free bus travel, which is being introduced across the
capital’s bus network from Sunday 6 July.
It was developed following
extensive research which showed nine out of ten passengers who paid a cash fare
did so because either had insufficient pay as go credit to travel or had left
their Oyster card at home.
Its introduction is one month
earlier than planned and follows a successful trial on around 500 buses
operating on 60 routes in the capital.
Since the trial started, around
1,500 passengers a day have benefited from the added convenience this facility
gives, ensuring they can continue their onward journey whether it’s to
get them home or to the nearest Oyster Ticket Stop where they can top up for
future travel.
The new feature is available to
any passenger who presents an Oyster card for travel that has a positive
balance but insufficient credit to pay for their bus
journey.
They receive an emergency fare
advice slip to acknowledge that the Oyster ‘One More Journey’
feature has been used and to remind them that their card needs to be topped up
before another journey can be made.
Passengers using rear door
Oyster readers on multi-entry buses, such as New Routemasters, will be prompted
to speak to the driver and use the reader at the front of bus to receive their
emergency fare advice slip.
This ‘One More
Journey’ emergency fare will take the Oyster card into a negative balance
which will be cleared when the pay as you go balance is topped up.
Mike Weston, TfL Director of
Buses, said: “During our trial over 77,000 journeys were enabled because
of Oyster ‘One More Journey’ with positive feedback received from
both passengers and bus drivers. Introducing this facility is the first
of many steps we are taking to ensure a smooth transition to cash free bus
travel from 6 July when passengers will benefit from quicker boarding and the
guarantee of always paying the cheapest fare for their journey by paying with
an Oyster or contactless payment card.”
Oyster ‘One More
Journey’ is one of a number of initiatives that are being introduced to
ensure there is a smooth and trouble free transition for customers to cash free
bus travel.
Others include:
- The Oyster Ticket Stop network
has been subject to a review and additional locations added –
particularly in outer London
- Refreshed guidance on vulnerable
passengers is being provided to all 24,500 London bus drivers
- A major public information
campaign has launched to provide passengers with advice on the changes
The decision to move to cash
free bus travel follows a considerable drop in the number of people paying
their bus fare in cash. In 2000 around 25 per cent of journeys were paid
for with a cash fare, today that figure stands at less than one per cent. With
extensive use of Oyster and over 14 million journeys having now been made using
contactless payment cards, cash usage is expected to fall even further as more
customers take advantage of the convenience and cheaper fares these
provide.
This change will not affect 99
per cent of bus passengers who already pay for their journeys using Oyster,
prepaid tickets, contactless payment cards or concessionary tickets. The
latter group represents a third of all customers and includes children and
young people, older and disabled people and the unemployed. TfL
research shows this change is also unlikely to affect tourists as the vast
majority use Oyster or a prepaid ticket to get around the
capital. Removing cash fares will also speed up boarding times, leading to
faster journeys and will also ensure customers benefit from the best value fare
for each journey they make.
- The trial of Oyster ‘One
More Journey’ commenced on 4 April 2014 on around 500 buses operating on
60 routes.
- The public consultation on
proposals to withdraw cash fare payments on London buses ran from 19 August
until 11 October 2013 and attracted over 37,000 responses. The consultation
report can be viewed at:
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/cashless
- To ensure the correct card is
charged for the journey, customers should ensure they present their Oyster or
contactless payment card separately when touching in. Any customer with
queries about the fare they have been charged should contact our Customer
Services team on 0343 222 1234 or oysterenquiries@tfl.gov.uk.
- It costs £24 million a
year to accept cash on London’s buses. The removal of cash fares
will deliver £130m savings to 2022/23 and this will be reinvested in
improving transport in the capital.
- Cash fares will not be accepted
from 04:30 on Sunday 6 July, the start of TfL’s next fare
charging period