UK: Details are still to be agreed on how to implement Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s proposed trial of all-day off-peak Underground and National Rail fares on Fridays.
On January 28 the Mayor announced that he had ‘asked’ Transport for London to conduct a three-month trial of removing peak fares on Fridays. The aim is to encourage more people to travel on what is now a quiet day; midweek Underground ridership is now at up to 85% of pre-pandemic levels and growing, but Friday ridership remains at around 73%.
Peak fares currently apply between 06.30 and 09.30 and between 16.00 and 19.00.
The proposed trial would need the support of the wider rail industry. The Mayor said early discussions about this and the technicalities of how it would work were underway, with a view to a trial beginning in March.
Asked for more details of the proposed trial, TfL provided Rail Business UK with the Mayor’s statement.
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group told Rail Business UK that ’we want rail to grow and will work with TfL, the Department for Transport and other industry partners to find a solution that encourages more people onto trains and boosts local businesses’.
The Mayor said the proposed trial would help TfL and train operators to understand how off-peak fares on a Friday could help drive ridership and boost London’s wider economic recovery. The Mayor said the trial would be ’keenly watched by other global cities struggling to bounce back after the pandemic’.
Commenting on the proposal, Harriet Berwick, Director of Retail Products at ticket retailing technology company SilverRail, said ’with workers in many cases now having the choice of whether they commute to work or not, the industry must adapt to make rail travel more enticing and there is a serious need for more trials like this on a nationwide level’.
The next election for Mayor of London is on May 2.
