14% rise in cost of Zones 2-3 Travelcard

Ref: TFL101414

Dear Mr Redford

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10
December 2009.

You have asked for any documents supporting the decision to raise fares.

We will deal with your request as soon as possible and in any case provide
you with a response by 11 January 2010.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your
request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards
Transport for London
Customer Relations

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Ref: TFL101414

Dear Mr Redford

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10
December 2009.

You have asked for any documents supporting the decision to raise fares.

Your request is being considered under the Freedom of Information Act. 

Unfortunately we will not be able to resolve your request within the
statutory 20 working day deadline. This is because the response is being
finalised.

We will respond as soon as possible.

Please accept my apologies for this delay and any inconvenience it may
cause you. In the meantime, if you have any queries relating to your
request, please do not hesitate to contact me.   

If you are not satisfied with this response, please read the attached
help-sheet entitled `Your Right to Appeal'.

Kind Regards

Transport for London

Customer Relations

Your Right to Appeal

Internal Review

If you are dissatisfied with the way TfL has handled your information
request, you can ask us to conduct an internal review of our decision.

The internal review will be conducted by someone other than the person who
made the original decision, in accordance with the complaints procedure
published on our website at [1]www.tfl.gov.uk/foi. 

Requests for internal review should be addressed to:

Head of Information Access and Compliance

6^th Floor Windsor House

42 - 50

Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0TL

Complaints to the Information Commissioner

If, following the internal review, you remain dissatisfied with the way
TfL has handled your request, then you can take your complaint to:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

A complaint form is available on the Information Commissioner's Office
website

[2]www.ico.gov.uk

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Ref: TfL101414

Dear Mr Redford

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10
December 2009. I am sorry for the delay in responding to you.

You have asked for any documents supporting the decision to raise fares.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of
Information Act and I can confirm that TfL does hold the information you
require.

Please see the below a response to the points you have raised.

It was the Mayor's decision to increase fares in January 2010 in view of
the severe budgetary pressures facing TfL. The changes aim to raise a
total of £130m per annum and are an essential component of TfL's 2009
Business Plan, in conjunction with a major programme of efficiencies and
cost reductions.

TfL's 2009 Business Plan can be viewed by selecting the link below:

[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/c...

 

The key fare changes include increases in the Pay As You Go bus fares from
100p to 120p; the Zone 1 Pay As You Go Tube fare from 160p to 180p and an
increase in the Bus Pass season price from £13.80 to £16.60 for a 7 day
ticket.

Additional information can be viewed by selecting the link below:

[2]http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/mayor-dec...

Many TfL fares have increased, including most bus fares and Tube Pay As
You Go fares in Zone 1.

Travelcard season ticket prices have generally been frozen because they
are set jointly with the Train Operating Companies (TOCs). The TOCs have
been required by the Department for Transport (DfT) to freeze or reduce
their commuter fares on this occasion.

Most Travelcard season ticket prices are substantially higher than the new
Bus Pass price. For example, a Zone 1 plus 2 Travelcard for 7 Days costs
£25.80 compared with the new London wide Bus Pass price of £16.60 for a
7-day ticket. However, the Bus Pass price increase created pricing
problems for Travelcard season tickets, for one or two zones not including
central London Zone 1. These were the cheapest tickets in the Travelcard
range, and were priced at £16.60 for 7 Days in 2009, the same as the 2010
price for the 7 Day Bus Pass.

To maintain a significant relativity with the Bus Pass it was agreed
to increase the price of this particular Travelcard from £16.60 for a 7
day ticket to £19.00 for a 7-day ticket (£73 for a monthly). The
increase in the price of this Travelcard - £2.40 for a 7-day ticket - is
rather less than the increase of £2.80 in the price of the 7-day Bus
Pass.

TfL research indicates that most users of the 2 zone non-central
Travelcard make large numbers of trips a week (typically 15 bus trips; 6
tube trips; and 4 train trips). For the average user, this means the
increase amounts to just over 10p a trip.

For less frequent users, the extension of Pay As You Go to include
National Rail means that 10 peak trips per week by rail or rail plus Tube
are possible at £14.00 (140p a ride) if travel takes place within a
single zone such as Zone 2 or at £18.00 (180p a ride) if two zone travel
is involved e.g. Zones 3 plus 4.

The cost is less than this if some trips are made when off-peak fares
apply i.e. outside the hours of 06 30 to 09 30 and 16 00 to 19 00 Monday
to Friday. If travel is made on London Underground only, 10 PAYG rides
covering 2 zones outside central London cost £13.00 whatever the time of
travel.

I hope this information is useful. If you feel the information above does
not suitably address the concerns raised, or if you are unable to access
it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see below an information sheet for details of your right to appeal
as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to
re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Transport for London
Customer Relations

Your right to appeal

If you are dissatisfied with the way TfL has handled your information
request, you can ask us to conduct an internal review of our decision. The
internal review will be conducted by someone who was not involved in the
processing of your original request, in accordance with the complaints
procedure published on our website at www.tfl.gov.uk/foi

Requests for internal review should be addressed to: 

Head of Information Access and Compliance

Floor 5, Windsor House

42-50 Victoria Street

London

SW1H 0TL

E-mail: [email address]

Complaints to the Information Commissioner

If, following the internal review, you remain dissatisfied with the way
TfL has handled your request, then you can take your complaint to:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

A complaint form is available on the Information Commissioner's Office
website at

[3]www.ico.gov.uk

Copyright  

Any copyright in the material provided with this response is owned by TfL
or one of its subsidiary companies unless otherwise stated. The disclosure
of information does not give the person or organisation who receives it an
automatic right to re-use it in a way that would otherwise infringe
copyright (for example, by making copies, publishing it, or issuing copies
to the public). Brief extracts of the material may be reproduced under the
fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
(sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial
purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting. In respect
of use for criticism, review and news reporting, any reproduction must be
accompanied by an acknowledgement that TfL or one of its subsidiary
companies is the copyright owner.

Re-use

If you would like to re-use the information supplied with this response
please contact TfL using the details provided in the attached letter.
Requests for re-use will be considered in accordance with the Re-use of
Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.

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