Revenue raised by TFL by making changes to freedom pass travel times permanent on 18th January 2023
Request ID: FOI-0827-2425 Date published: 27 June 2024
You asked
Revenue raised by TFL by making changes to freedom pass travel times permanent on 18th January 2023
The changes to freedom pass travel times was made permanent because "The government funding came with conditions to generate more income. This is why the Mayor had previously outlined a number of fares proposals which he was having to explore in order to generate income". What has been the consequent increase in income generated over the period since then? If actual data are not available, what factors have been used to estimate this figure?
We answered
TfL Ref: 0827-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 11 June 2024 asking for information about Freedom Passes.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. You specifically asked: Revenue raised by TFL by making changes to freedom pass travel times permanent on 18th January 2023: The changes to freedom pass travel times was made permanent because "The government funding came with conditions to generate more income. This is why the Mayor had previously outlined a number of fares proposals which he was having to explore in order to generate income". What has been the consequent increase in income generated over the period since then? If actual data are not available, what factors have been used to estimate this figure?
We do not hold the information you have requested aswe don’t have data on this as Freedom Pass holders cannot be identified as such when they pay for their travel. Before the pandemic Freedom Pass users could travel for free before 9am on weekdays, so we had data on their free journeys. This meant we could estimate how much they would spend if they had to pay based on this data and estimates of how their behaviour might change if they had to pay which is why we were able to estimate this previously.
Free AM peak travel was withdrawn during the pandemic lockdown, when demand was at incredibly low levels and therefore the revenue impact was likely to be very small but, as we’ve established, we don’t have the ability to directly measure this. The numbers of Freedom Pass holders paying for travel in the AM peak will have grown since the pandemic, but will have remained lower than pre-pandemic..
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
