The Transport Ticketing Global 2017 conference took place in London in January. At last year’s event, Claire Perry, then Rail Minister, declared the Death of the Tangerine Ticket. The prize could be cost savings in the production and handling of these tickets, but this holy grail has eluded a succession of transport ministers. This year it was reported that tangerine tickets still account for 83% of rail tickets and continue to be issued at the rate of 650 million a year.
No Rail Minister this year, but Valerie Shawcross, Deputy Mayor for Transport in London, could tell the delegates that contactless pay-as-you-go (PAYG) in the capital is also running at 650 million transactions a year. The new Bus Hopper, a PAYG product, has generated 2% extra journeys.
Despite contactless payment cards (CPC) having been available for payment for travel in London for some time now, Oyster still accounts for 60% of PAYG, with 7-8 million cards in use. In later presentations, Cubic and TfL explained that there is a wide geographical variation in the Oyster / CPC split, from 18-56% for CPC at different stations. There is some socio-demographic explanation for this. Stratford is very low, and yet a gateway station like …
