Northern Oyster Card idea faces major challenges - despite 'outdated' current system, report warns

Hopes of introducing an Oyster Card-style system for public transport across the North face multiple hurdles, transport bosses have warned.
Oyster Cards have long been part of commuting in London - but a similar scheme for the North has failed to get off the ground. Picture: Yui Mok/PA WireOyster Cards have long been part of commuting in London - but a similar scheme for the North has failed to get off the ground. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Oyster Cards have long been part of commuting in London - but a similar scheme for the North has failed to get off the ground. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

The idea of replacing the “outdated” current system of needing separate tickets for different types of transport and with different operators is discussed in Transport for the North’s new report on the Visitor Economy and Transport in the North of England.

But it said while stakeholders would like to see something along the lines of the Oyster Card used in London, there are “constraints” to this - including operators having separate operating systems which are incompatible with joint ticketing and the majority of train ticket sales being made through third party websites.

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Transport for the North launched the £150m Integrated and Smart Travel programme in 2016 which was intended to eventually become a system for travelling across multiple different forms of public transport in a similar way to the Oyster Card in London. But the programme was closed down earlier this year after “insufficient commitment” from regional bus operators to taking part was followed by the Department for Transport stopping further funding.

The new TfN report interviewed passenger focus groups as well as regional transport chiefs, with one of the points of discussion being a Northern version of the Oyster Card, which has been used across public transport in London since 2003.

It said: “The concept of integration and ticketing across the North was a recurring theme throughout the stakeholder workshops.

“Participants mentioned that the North needs a joint and integrated ticketing offer to make using public transport a more seamless experience, and to encourage visitors to use public transport while in the North.

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“The current complicated system of separate tickets for different modes or operators is often difficult for visitors to navigate, particularly for international visitors; this can intimidate and deter visitors from utilising public transport.

It added: “The current ticketing offering in the North is also seen as outdated by stakeholders and there is a need to digitalise the system, some using the London Oyster Card as a good example. This could then allow for more data collection and sharing on visitors in the region which could feed into creating a better transport offer within the North.

“Though, as mentioned by stakeholders, there are some constraints to this. For example, with trains, most ticket sales are through third party websites which doesn’t allow for data sharing. Furthermore, integrated ticketing at the moment is a struggle where operators may have incompatible systems which will not allow for a joint ticketing offer.”

Charles Johnson, head of development Leeds Bradford Airport, is quoted in the report saying smart ticketing “is both an opportunity and a challenge”.

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“When we have international visitors arriving at the airport, they’re often looking at spending time exploring what the Yorkshire region has to offer.

“There is a huge amount of tourism associated with the area, but current ticketing is confusing for a non-UK based arrival to understand, to have smart ticketing in whatever form or shape it takes provides a great opportunity for encouraging the non-UK based visitors to explore a wider area.”

An unnamed representative of a long-distance train operator said: “Data sharing is an important issue to get right, we can only do this with customers that have bought with us direct but 80 per cent of customers buy their ticket through third parties. We want to find a way as an industry to be able to have access to the customers that are travelling with us.”

The report said while some “innovative” schemes have been launched, “they are not always well marketed and therefore do not have recognition or use amongst visitors to the North”.

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Michelle Gorman, from Visit County Durham, said: “We want people using public transport so want to incentivise them in a sensible way, a family ticket that covers the North would cater to that.

"Go North East do a ticket from the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle, down to Scarborough and everything in between across to Carlisle, a day explorer ticket which is trains, buses, ferries but hardly anyone knows about it. If we could have it across the North we could start to disperse people around the region and get them away from the honeypots and get them into the less well known areas.”

The report said: “Stakeholders believe and agree that there is a strong need for an integrated transport and ticketing system across the North. This will not only make travelling easier across the North for people visiting but will also provide the North with an up-to-date integrated system where data can be collected on travel patterns and shared across stakeholders.

"However, challenges currently arise in terms of the popularity of third party ticket vendors, meaning this data is not available; there may be an opportunity for TfN to regulate and facilitate enhanced data sharing.”

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