5 Lessons U.S. Transit Systems Should Learn from London - CityLab

[realizm]

 

ERIC JAFFE Jun 30, 2014

 

Public transportation in London achieves the sort of financial efficiency that most U.S. transit agencies can only dream of matching. Last year, Transport for London (TfL) spent 6.8 billion pounds operating its bus, rail, and metro systems, and generated 4.8 billion pounds in revenue (mostly through fares). In the parlance of transit wonks, that's a recovery rate of roughly 70 percent. In general terms, it means riders pay for most TfL operations, leaving taxpayers on the hook for only a slice.

 

The agency isn't stopping there. By the end of this decade, TfL expects to break even across its entire system—meaning it won't need any public subsidies for operations at all. (It will still require public support for major capital projects and some periodic maintenance.) TfL even plans to cover the cost of routes and services that lose money but provide valuable public services.

 

So what makes TfL so efficient? We posed that question to Shashi Verma, TfL's director of customer experience, in the hopes of gleaning some wisdom from our friends across the pond. Since 2008, says Verma, TfL has made a "relentless push" to reduce operating costs while increasing revenue. Our chat revealed five big lessons for U.S. agencies to consider—with a recurring theme being that transit should operate more like a private business than a public service.

 

"Improving productivity and reducing cost is something that the private sector does every day," he says. "Why people in the public sector think this is not part of their job is beyond me."

 

===========================================================================

 

Embrace Technology

 

TfL is way ahead of most U.S. transit agencies when it comes to ticketing technology. In addition to its Oyster card, a pay-as-you-go smart card that reduces the need for ticket transactions, TfL has implemented contactless credit and debit payment on its bus network (and will soon expand the service to the Tube). By deducting fares directly from a bank account, contactless payment means riders don't need to buy a ticket at all.

 

The obvious advantage to ticketing technology is cost reduction. Verma says TfL once spent 14 percent of its expenditures on fare collection, but that figure is now closer to 9 percent, and falling. In bigger news, the agency plans to close down all its ticket windows within the next year, an initiative that will save 60 million pounds annually.

 

 

Read More: Source

[qjtransitmaster]

Hmm if only NJT can expand smartphone tickets to buses not just rail pass cross honoring.