Council Welcomes U-Turn on Proposed Withdrawal of One Day Travelcard

THE Council has welcomed the news that Transport for London (TfL) has this week reversed its proposal to withdraw the one-day travelcard, which would have penalised rail passengers travelling into and out of London from Reading.

Reading Borough Council was one of a large number of local councils and transport campaigners who lodged an objection to the proposals earlier this year which, if agreed, would have seen the cost of an off-peak adult return to Paddington including zones 1-6 Tube travel rise from £29.60 to £38.90.

The Council’s official objection centred on the proposed 31% price increase for Reading residents, the inconvenience of passengers having to purchase separate tickets and the undermining of sustainable travel alternatives to the private car.

This week TfL announced that after close collaboration with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train companies, and the Department for Transport, a solution has been found which allows the day travelcard to continue to be accepted on TfL services.

Welcoming the news, John Ennis, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said:

“I’m sure many regular commuters from Reading into London will breathe a sigh of relief at this u-turn as the proposed 31% increase would have been unacceptable at a time when the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact on residents.

“While the proposal only came forward as a result of the conditions of Government funding settlements for TfL, we are pleased that all sides have come to a solution after talks and seen sense.

“As a Council we have made significant progress in recent years on cutting our carbon footprint, and a big part of our success to date is attributable to developing realistic and cheap alternatives to the private car, through investment in bus services and cheaper fares in Reading, building more priority routes for buses and delivering new and improved cycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Rail travel also plays an essential role and anything which would have encouraged commuters away from sustainable travel options would have been counterproductive to the progress being made both in Reading, and indeed in London by the Mayor.

“In that respect, the average 3 per cent one-off price increase on day travelcards bought outside zones 1 – 6 from next March, also announced by TfL this week, is not so welcome but I’m certain Reading residents would prefer that to the alternative.”