Third Party Season Ticketing Retailing Trial.

Descriptions

ATOC Limited is the trade association owned by each of the franchised train operating companies (TOCs) in Great Britain. ATOC, on behalf of the TOCs, now wishes, for a one year trial period commencing in April 2015, to enable licensed third party retailers to issue season tickets.In the year to mid-August 2014, the rail industry issued 29 200 000 season tickets. The bulk (83 %) were weekly tickets, while monthlies accounted for 16 %. Annuals accounted for 1 % of issues. However the value of these sales is split differently; weeklies 33 %, monthlies 31 %, annuals 35 %. The volume and value of Seasons with other validity periods is relatively marginal.The principal objectives of the trial will be: i) to gauge the scale of the market for season ticket purchases through third party retail channels; ii) to evaluate the practicality, both operational and economic, of third party retailers being able effectively to operate the associated issuing and support procedures; and iii) to assess the level of satisfaction among season ticket purchasers who have used third party retail channels.Participants must be able to issue rail Season Tickets, including London Travelcard Seasons, with duration of either 1 week or any validity between 1 month and 1 year, on ticket stock appropriate to the type of season being sold, such ticket stock to be procured through normal industry procurement channels. This should apply either in the case of a customer purchasing a Season for the first time, or in the case of a customer renewing an existing season ticket.All seasons must be issued on a Ticket Issuing System (TIS) which has been approved by Rail Settlement Plan Ltd, who will issue appropriate accreditation waivers for the duration of the trial. Any costs associated with activating a TIS’s season ticket issuing functionality will be borne by the participant. There will be no requirement for participants to issue seasons on smartcards, although those who have TIS capable of doing so are free to offer such a service during the trial.Participants must be able to offer the full range of ‘after sales’ services to holders of Season Tickets purchased from them. Examples of these requirements are:Calculate and process refunds on unused or partly used season tickets;provide replacement season tickets where the original has been lost, stolen or damaged;provide replacement season tickets where the original becomes illegible or ceases to activate ticket barriers;change one season ticket for another where the holder wishes to change the journey part way through the validity of a season ticket (for example following home relocation), calculating any refund due to, or payment due from, the holder as appropriate.Participants should devise expeditious methods for fulfilling orders, and should give particular consideration to how they will cater for customers’ immediate travel needs in the event that a Season Ticket they have sold ceases to work or becomes lost. It will not be possible to offer a ‘ticket on departure’ (TOD) service for season tickets during the trial period.Where specified to meet operational management and fraud prevention requirements, participants must keep a record of season ticket sales (including relevant personal data relating to the holder). In such cases holders must be notified that their details will be shared with the relevant train companies and/or Transport for London, for the purposes of operational management and research.Participants will be responsible, at their own cost, for advertising to their customer base that they are able to retail season tickets during the trial period. ATOC is likely to conduct co-ordinated media relations activities with interested parties and relevant industry stakeholders.ATOC will schedule a programme of formal reviews during the trial period, and will conduct an assessment of its success on conclusion. The success of the trial will be objectively measured against three main criteria:The volume of Season Ticket sales made by participating agents;Overall customer satisfaction with sales made by agents; andParticipant’s ability effectively to perform the issuing procedures.