Contactless travel could be rolled out nationwide under new Labour pledge

Scheme would follow London’s ticketless system – but shadow minister fails to put a cost to proposals

EDITOR and

JEREMY CORBYN’s team are in talks with Transport for London about implementing the capital’s contactless ticketing system across the country, with daily price caps for bus, tram and rail passengers travelling within towns and cities.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, said that a Labour government plans to roll out London’s “pay and go” scheme across the country, as part of its renationalisation of the railway network. The move would enable passengers to pay for travel on buses, trams and trains using contactless credit or bank cards, or mobile phones loaded with contactless payment technology.

Mr McDonald, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, also indicated that he could join members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) on picket lines during a monthlong walkout starting this week, which is expected to cause misery for South Western Railway passengers.

“I would have no difficulty whatsoever in showing my solidarity with people who are trying to secure a safe and accessible railway,” he said.

The RMT says that plans to strip guards of the responsibility of operating train carriage doors is the first stage towards redundancies. But rail firms insist that handling the responsibility to drivers will speed up journeys.

Mr McDonald declined to put a cost on the ticketing proposals – the latest to be unveiled separately from the party’s £83billion manifesto, which was published last month. He insisted the costs would be “very reasonable”, because Labour would be using Transport for London’s existing technology rather than “starting from scratch”.

Separately, he announced that Labour was planning to build more than 3,000 miles of cycleways. Labour say they will double the number of cycling journeys undertaken by children and adults. Mr McDonald believes the plans, which include doctors prescribing cycling and bicycles to patients, will cost £7.2billion, which would be funded by a mixture of extra borrowing and revenue from vehicle tax.

Labour’s proposals for a new contactless ticketing system involve an “islands and bridges” system under which areas such as Greater Manchester would represent single “islands” each divided into zones through which passengers would pay to travel, within a daily price cap. Long-distance journeys would be treated as “bridges” between the “islands”, with passengers offered fixed prices for the trips.

Mr McDonald said: “You need look no further than London to see the success of contactless travel across the various zones. It works incredibly well, fares are capped, and people have faith in the system ... There’s no reason why that can’t apply to national rail.”

He added: “We should apply the same philosophy to the entire country – that people can move around at ease, confident in the system and in the pricing and ticketing structure that lies behind it. The discussions we’ve had with TfL have been very productive.”

Those without contactless cards and mobile phones could be offered a smart card akin to the London transport network’s Oyster card, on to which passengers can load funds to be used on a “pay and go” basis.

Mr McDonald said he was “relaxed” about first-class carriages continuing if Labour won the election and renationalised the railways. Speaking after Mr Corbyn refused a seat in first class on a train journey last month, he said: “I’ve no particular beef with first-class remaining. I think the greater priority is putting together a railway that functions properly.”