The desire for integrated fares and tickets remains undiminished, although it has proved more difficult to deliver than many would hope
FOCUS ON SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND
There is still much emphasis in the public sector on integrated smart ticketing in the region. It is there in Transport for the South East’s (TfSE) new strategy too, but tempered by a realisation that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for such a large and diverse area.
As the strategy notes, ‘There are limits to the degree that bus and rail companies can align timetables and ticketing arrangements [thanks to competition law)].’
While large amounts of public money have been pumped into smart ticketing for trains (though achieving little so far beyond swapping paper season tickets for plastic ones), bus operators across the area have been modernising and pushing boundaries forward.
South-east England has long been a champion of integrated ticketing. For more than 30 years, the London Capitalcard – today’s Travelcard – has allowed residents of the region to buy bus and tube travel in London at the same time as they buy their rail tickets to get there. A similar local ticket existed in Brighton — one of the few outside of a PTE area — until …
