Local Lib Dems Back One Hour Bus Ticket Campaign (Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats)

Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats <info@hflibdems.org.uk>

Local Lib Dems Back One Hour Bus Ticket Campaign

May 26, 2009 6:13 PM
Originally published by Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats

London Campaign for 1hour bus ticket, Butterwick, (merlene)

Liberal Democrat Campaigners for the One Hour Bus Ticket.

Hammersmith Lib Dems joined Richmond MP Susan Kramer and Lib Dem London Assembly Transport Spokesperson Caroline Pidgeon to launch a campaign for one hour bus tickets for London bus users.

The scheme, which already exists in other European cities, would allow passengers to switch from bus to bus within an hour for a fixed cost of just one ticket.

Mrs Kramer travelled to Hammersmith bus station to launch the campaign. She commented: "It is ridiculous that people have to pay a new fare every time they change bus. You can already switch from Tube to Tube on the same ticket so it makes sense to allow people to do the same with buses. Many local people use Hammersmith bus station as a hub to change between buses, and often end up paying £2 or more to travel quite a short journey."

Caroline Pidgeon said: "One hour bus tickets already operate successfully in Paris, Rome and Brussels. It is now time London caught up and gave bus users a fair deal. One hour bus tickets would also make bus travel very attractive to a lot of people who often don't use the bus at present. One hour tickets could even lead to a shift away from people using their cars for short trips and help to reduce congestion across London. The Liberal Democrats are challenging Boris Johnson to introduce one hour bus tickets and people can support the campaign by signing our petition."

***

The one hour bus ticket would allow passengers to touch in with their "Pay As You Go" Oystercard and they would have 60 minutes in which to make additional bus journeys without further deduction from their card.

An increasing number of bus passengers use Oyster 'Pay As You Go'. Figures released by TfL indicate that the average bus journey length is 3.5 km (2.2 miles, 9 stops), and an estimated 16 % of bus journeys on Oyster 'Pay As You Go' involve using a second bus within 60 minutes of the first.

Almost a million car journeys every day in London are less than one mile in length.