On 4 Dec 2005 11:03:39 -0800, "TheOneKEA" wrote:

How is revenue earned from ticket sales for services that pass between
LU and NR metals shared out? I've heard that it's based on a
cross-section of the types and destinations of tickets sold.

I may be horribly out of date but here goes.

For Travelcards there is the travelcard survey that seeks to model
journeys across the whole network to derive the appropriate share of
trips in order to share out the Travelcard "pot". Oyster card data is
obviously helping to improve TfL's knowledge of travel on its system
with weekly or longer Travelcards.

For through tickets it is simply a question of counting all those that
are issued which is easy enough through all of the computer systems.
Almost all through tickets are summated between a NR fare and a LU one
and it is simply a case of splitting out these values and allocated the
monies. I think the Rail Settlement Plan system called ORCATS did this
but many of the RSP systems have been replaced since I was last involved
in this area to any great extent.

I confess I don't know quite how the interavailable routes work - i.e.
where LU fares apply and the TOC has to get a share. I would imagine
this is based on a composite of sales and ridership surveys. The
existence of ticket gates at places such as Fenchurch Street will
provide some extra data as to journey volumes.

For Oyster Pre-Pay these journeys are obviously logged via the gates and
validators so more sophisticated data is available to determine trip
patterns. This will reduce the reliance on surveys but obviously cannot
be 100% accurate.

All sales attract varying rates of commission depending on ticket types
and who is selling the ticket.

I'm sure other group members can add to the above in greater detail.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!