Download Executive Freedom Pass: update Item no. 4 Report by: Stephen

Executive
Freedom Pass: update
Report by:
Stephen Benton
Date:
27 April 2009
Contact Officer:
Stephen Benton
Telephone:
020 7934 9908
Summary:
Recommendations:
Item no.
Job title:
Email:
4
Programme Director, Transport
& Mobility
[email protected]
This report gives the Executive a progress report on the preparations
for the 2010 reissue of the Freedom Pass and the finalisation of the 5
year deal with the Mayor, including proposals to amend the reserve
scheme
The Executive is asked:



to note progress on preparations for the 2010 reissue
to note progress on finalising the legal basis of the 5 year deal
with Transport for London
to discuss and agree how they wish to proceed in relation to
legislating to amend the reserve scheme
Freedom Pass: update
Background
1.
Freedom Pass is operated by London Councils on behalf of the boroughs under the
terms of s.244 of the GLA Act 1999, supplemented by the Transport and
Environment Committee (TEC) Agreement. Freedom Pass provides free travel for
about 1 million elderly and 100,000 disabled Londoners on:
2.

The Transport for London (TfL) London Bus Network

Other local bus services operated in London under London Service Permits

London Underground

London Overground

Croydon Tramlink

Docklands Light Railway

National Rail services within London
London Councils negotiates the costs of the scheme with transport operators and
undertakes overall administration. The costs are apportioned to boroughs. For bus
and underground this is on the basis of usage data and for other elements this is
mostly on the basis of pass numbers. Decisions on the detail of the scheme are
matters for TEC.
2010 reissue
3.
The Freedom Pass uses TfL’s Oyster smartcard system. The current cards were
first issued in 2004. They have a programmed life of 6 years, but on the face of the
card they were given a 2 year life. This is in line with previous policy to reissue cards
every two years both for fraud prevention and to ensure users’ borough of residence
details are kept up to date. London Councils “reissued” cards in 2006 and 2008 by
placing stickers with a new expiry date of 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2010
respectively. The 2010 reissue therefore starts with the need to replace all the
current 1.1million cards as the chips will not work after 31 March 2010.
4.
However as a result of the introduction of the English national bus concession,
London’s elderly and statutory disabled passes will have to conform to a national
standard design from 1 April 2010. This design requires the photograph of the holder
to be printed on the card (instead of the current practice of using a separate
photocard) and it also requires the pass to be a smartcard based on the national
standard known as ITSO. Oyster does not conform to ITSO and the chips on the
cards, therefore, will need to have both Oyster and ITSO applications which gives
them a unique configuration.
5.
The requirement to have a photograph of the user printed on the card means that it
will no longer be possible for passes to be issued over the counter. Instead, the
completed application forms and photographs will be sent to a contractor (procured
by London Councils) who will personalise the card with the holder’s name and
photograph and return the Pass to the user by post. All cards will come with an
information leaflet and a wallet inscribed with the logo of the borough where the
holder is resident.
6.
London Councils proposes to continue to use the Post Office to process the vast
majority of applications. This means that applicants will not need to send any
documentary proof of eligibility in the post, as the checking is done at the Post Office
counter. The Post Office will also ensure that applications have all the necessary
information, thus reducing the risk of rejection at a later stage. A high level of
rejected applications can be a serious problem where application is wholly by post.
The main constraint with using the Post Office is that the reissue process cannot
start until after Christmas for obvious reasons. However it is proposed to start the
reissue process at the start of January rather than February, as has been the case
on previous occasions.
7.
There will be a much larger publicity campaign than in previous years, not simply
relying on posters in buses and on underground stations, but using networks of user
groups, both London wide and in boroughs, posters in libraries, GPs surgeries and
the like, social networking targeted both at users and at friends and families to
encourage them to remind users to renew their passes. Because of cost, London
Councils does not propose to write to all of the current 1.1 million pass holders
individually at the outset. However, once the main application period of four weeks
is over, it is proposed that letters will be sent to all those current pass holders who
have not reapplied. In past reissues, around 20% of existing passholders applied
after the main renewal period. This could mean contacting about 200,000 people.
Inevitably there will be cases where people have died, but sensitive wording should
be able to encompass this issue. The objective is to ensure that no reasonable
steps to remind users of the need to renew will be overlooked.
8.
A few boroughs have indicated they wish to undertake some of the application and
dispatch process themselves. At present London Councils is discussing with four
boroughs (Barking & Dagenham, Camden, Kensington & Chelsea and Sutton) how
they would like to handle elderly and disabled applications, whilst discussions are
underway with Newham over disabled pass applications only. Some of these
boroughs are proposing to require users to attend their town hall or a local centre to
collect their passes.
9.
It is currently intended that passes will be dispatched from the bureau in
February/March by standard post. There has been concern expressed over the
security of using the post. However, this was the method used by the majority of
authorities outside London when they issued the national standard passes in 2008
and there is no evidence to suggest there were major problems with this. However
London Councils will look at the option of sending by recorded delivery in selected
postcodes.
10.
There will inevitably be many people who do not apply in time and so do not have
their pass for 1 April. London Councils is discussing with TfL and the train operating
companies how this will be handled. It is currently proposed there will be a 6-8 week
transition period during which passes will be accepted manually and pass holders
will be reminded by transport operators’ staff to apply for a new pass.
11.
In summary the broad timetable is as follows:
London Councils to finalise contracts for
By Mid June 2009
bureau services and Post Office
checking service
Boroughs issue letters of authorisation
Autumn 2009 – to be completed by mid
to eligible disabled people
January 2010
TfL deliver Oyster encoded cards to
By 31 December 2009
bureau contractor
Publicity campaign starts
Start January 2010
Main period for applications at Post
Four weeks starting 11 January
Offices
Reminder letters sent to current pass
Mid February
holders who have not reapplied
Passes dispatched to pass holders
February/March 2010
Old passes cease to work Oyster
31 March 2010
readers and ticket gates
Transition period where old passes will
To mid May 2010 (6-8 weeks after 31
be accepted manually and pass holders
March 2010)
will be encouraged to apply for new style
passes
Applications for non renewed passes
Aim to have all passes replaced by end
continue
March, but dependent on applicants
actually applying
12.
There are a number of significant risks which need to be managed, including

The late delivery of Oyster encoded cards to bureau

Failure of cards to operate on both smartcard systems

Lack of capacity at bureau, in particular if there is a slow take up followed by a
surge of applications in March

Other failures in the application processes which cause backlogs of applications
and mean passes are not available for use on 1 April 2010
13.
London Councils has set up a Programme Board to manage these risks and take
mitigating action. Separately there is a regular liaison meeting with TfL and its
contractor particularly to address the first two of these risks. There will be close
management of the bureau contractor to ensure that capacity constraints do not
jeopardise the reissue. And there will be regular liaison with the Post Office and
“own application” boroughs to ensure that the application process goes smoothly.
5 year deal
14.
The 5 year deal (for the years 2010/11 – 2015/16) negotiated with the Mayor and
agreed by Transport and Environment Committee on 12 February needs to be
translated into a legal framework contract. Then each annual settlement will be a
separate contract within this framework. Officer level discussions have been taking
place and we expect the framework contract to be finalised shortly.
15.
Part of the 5 year deal was an agreement that the Mayor would support legislation to
amend the reserve scheme. This can be done by promoting a private Bill in
Parliament which can only be done in November each year. If a General Election is
called before the Bill completes its passage, it can be carried over to the next
Parliament and so would not be lost. Such a Bill would have to have every boroughs’
support as this affects the operation of the joint Committee’s powers.
16.
The main proposal would be for an arbitration provision in the reserve scheme. At
present, if TfL considers that by 1 January prior to the financial year there is not in
place a concessionary fares scheme which meets the statutory requirements in
relation to the national bus concession on buses and in relation to scope and
uniformity in relation to other modes, then it can impose a reserve scheme and set
the charges for this. If this were to happen (and it has never happened yet), neither
London Councils nor individual boroughs would have a say in how much the scheme
would cost or how the costs were to be apportioned. It would be much fairer for
there to be an arbitration mechanism if London Councils were unhappy with what
TfL proposed. A short Bill addressing this point only is likely to be uncontroversial.
17.
However there is another issue with London’s concessionary fares legislation which
could be addressed at the same time as providing for an arbitration mechanism.
Under present legislation, boroughs have no choice but to offer the same
concession for each class of pass holders on each TfL mode. In practice this means
that the same hours of validity must apply on all each mode for the entire length of
their routes. This really only matters with railways. The three separate railway
systems controlled by TfL – Underground, Docklands Light Railway and the national
rail services branded as London Overground – all have to have the same validity on
all these services for each class of passholder. Thus the Freedom Pass has always
been valid on the Underground beyond the London boundary to Amersham,
Chesham and Watford on the metropolitan line and Epping on the central line. When
TfL took over responsibility for the former Silverlink metro services, the Freedom
Pass then became valid to Watford Junction (whereas previously it has ceased to be
valid at the London border). The hours of validity needed to be the same as on the
Underground and DLR and a decision was taken to standardise up the London
Overground times of validity to those of the Underground and DLR. With the recent
agreement with the Mayor, Freedom Passes are now valid 24 hours a day on all of
the TfL controlled rail services.
18.
In late 2010 the East London line will reopen and operate to West Croydon and
Crystal Palace as a London Overground service. At a number of stations south of
New Cross Gate, there will be 24 hour validity on London Overground services but
there will be trains operated by Southern serving these stations and going to central
London stations where Freedom Pass would not be valid before 9.30 am Monday to
Fridays. As it is not possible to change the validity of just these Overground
services, the only way in which the validity could be standardised would be to offer
24 hour validity on the Southern services. However if that is done there may be
pressure to extend this to journeys into London Bridge from these stations and then
on other south London rail services. Such an extension is likely to increase the cost
of the scheme by many tens of millions of pounds. Any extension in relation to
Southern services would be entirely discretionary and would be outside the reserve
scheme.
19.
Legislation to allow boroughs and TfL to agree that in certain circumstances the rule
on scope and uniformity would not apply is likely to be controversial as it could be
portrayed as seeking to reduce the validity of Freedom Pass. Even if a Bill were
introduced in November 2009, it is unlikely this would get through the necessary
Parliamentary processes before the East London line reopens in late 2010 and so
that issue would have to be faced up to under the current provisions.
20.
The Executive will wish to consider whether they want to propose to Leaders
Committee that there should be a Bill this year and whether this should focus solely
on getting an arbitration mechanism in place or whether it should address other
potentially much more controversial issues around the Freedom Pass legislation
Equalities Implications for London Councils:
21.
Most boroughs already use the Post Office to issue the majority of passes. There is
no evidence that either older or disabled people will be disadvantaged by the
proposed issuing methods to be used in 2010.
Financial Implications for London Councils:
22.
The Government is providing around £4.75million in grant to London Councils to pay
for the extra costs of issuing Freedom Pass in the national standard format. This
should ensure that the costs of the 2010 reissue for boroughs will not be out of line
with previous reissues. There will be costs in relation promoting legislation which will
be in line with previous year’s private Bills although a short and simple Bill could be
cheaper. The more controversial the Bill, the more costly this will be.
Legal Implications for London Councils:
23.
The Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007 requires that London issues passes that
conform to the format set out in the legislation by 1 April 2008