5.2 Fares
Consultation with the public frequently raises the issue of fare levels as a deterrent to bus use. This is of particular concern in terms of social exclusion and accessibility, where the most vulnerable people in the County are unable to afford access to key services such as healthcare, education and employment. In practice, Local Authorities have little influence over fares. Approximately 55% of bus mileage operates commercially at fares decided by the bus operators.
Individual operators have enabled fare offers in the past, particularly for a limited time period and associated with the launch of a new service. Throughout the course of the LTP2, it is anticipated that limited fare offers will be used as a complementary tool with information and marketing to encourage potential non bus users to use particular bus services. We will also consider introducing low fare trials on Sunday services to see if growth can be encouraged.
5.2.1 Concessionary Fares
We currently administer a countywide Concessionary Fares scheme on behalf of the District Councils. A new Concessionary Fares scheme will be introduced from April 2006 that will increase the statutory minimum requirement in the Transport Act 2000 from half fares to free fares for older people and for people with disabilities on ‘off peak’ local bus services.
The existing arrangements for cross border concessions into Plymouth and Devon will continue. However, given that the new scheme will also be available for travel 24 hours a day, seven days a week (which makes it one of the most generous schemes in the UK), further work will be required to understand the impact that this may have on cross border journeys. The benefits of providing such a generous scheme, aside from the access benefits to the customer, are that the potential demand is spread out across a broader time period.
Some of the impacts from this change in legislation are likely to be significant however, particularly in and around the main urban centres. Short, town service journeys that may have been considered too expensive beforehand will be expected to show an increase in patronage. This is expected to be particularly evident in Truro and Falmouth and may well lead to potential capacity issues on some of the services that are already operating at 80% capacity. The policy set out under Section 6.3 regarding investment in new vehicles may apply to this scenario, where capacity pressures highlight the opportunity for investment to expand the level of service. Patronage increases on longer distance services are also expected.
We sit on the South West Regional Monitoring Group, which is studying the potential impacts of the scheme. We are also working with the DfT and the GOSW to determine the eligibility within the remit of the scheme of locally registered coach services. The bus patronage target in Chapter 12 identifies the additional increase in patronage expected as a result of the new scheme, which also demonstrates the value of core LTP2 spend on bus growth.
With regards to the use of Smart Card technology in delivering concessionary fares, following the introduction of a Mifare card in May 2005, Cornwall expects to be in a good position to cope with the new Concessionary Fares scheme from 2006. Following on from the Cornish Key Smart Card, technology is in place with two large bus companies and the remaining large operator (who uses Wayfarer ticket machines), is working with us to update their equipment to use the card. That would mean that approximately 95% of bus passengers would travel on Smart Card reader equipped vehicles.
In the future, it is expected that operators themselves will be using the technology to offer products (tickets or stored travel rights) on cards from any local source. The standards of the Integrated Transport Smart Card Organisation will be a requirement here, but we should be well placed to take advantage of these technologies.
