The TFL website is well worth a browse. If we had even a quarter of the functionality, we'd have little to complain about.
One thing about travelling around London is that it would be very easy to believe that everything is run by one or two transport companies, when in fact there are a number of bus companies, two tube companies (under three licenses), another company running the DLR, a tram company, and a number of suburban rail operaters. Yet they all interoperate seamlessly, with a single fare structure and zone map.
I think this is what we need here. We need to stop having seperate identities for all the transport companies, even though the services are actually operated by different companies. If I have a ticket to zone 1, it shouldn't matter how many changes to how many different modes I have to make, my ticket should cover it (within a reasonable timeframe). There should be none of this "Luas add-on" nonsense.
If I understand correctly, the intention is for:
- The RPA to cease to exist and be absorbed into the DTA.
- BAC to cease to be part of CIE and come under control of the DTA.
In principal, these both seem like a good move. The RPA has always been almost exclusively a Dublin entity, and it included non-rail projects like integrated ticketing, so forming the DTA out of it makes some sense (or at least its existance outside of the DTA does not).
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