Customer loyalty tested in London Transport scheme

London Transport will be relying on customers’ honesty in a trial which scraps the inspection of travel passes to cut buses’ waiting times and ease traffic congestion.

Customers with pre-paid tickets go to the right-hand side of a central barrier as they board the bus and aren’t required to show the driver their passes before taking a seat.

Those without a ticket have to pass along the left-hand side of the barrier and pay the driver for a ticket. Extra inspectors have been recruited for the trial, called Passright, which is being carried out in north London on bus routes W3, W7, 41 and 144.

According to London Transport around 70 per cent of travel is paid for in advance. A spokeswoman for London Transport says: “Nine months will be a reasonable period to assess the scheme’s impact on revenue and whether customers like it.”

The schemes success depends on customers volunteering to pay for tickets when necessary. “We are hoping our customers will be honest”, LT’s spokeswoman comments.

London Transport has no plans to increase the 5 penalty for failure to produce a valid ticket.