Agenda item

A report was considered which provided an evaluation of the concessionary fare reduction in August and September 2021.

Members were reminded that in August and September 2021, SYMCA had agreed to discount the majority of TravelMaster products by up to 25% for a period of eight weeks.

The discount was intended to encourage patronage to return to public transport as well as stimulate economic recovery in the region’s towns and cities.

It was noted that the discount period commenced on 2^nd August 2021 until 27^th September 2021 which covered a month of the summer holidays, the return to school and universities in September.

As the summer sale was agreed with shortened timescales there was no time to deliver a new marketing campaign, SYMCA marketing and communications officers re-used an existing campaign with adjusted messaging.

Since the discount period ended, officers had analysed the results and the findings were detailed within the report.  This included the amount of tickets and days travel sold, the cost in subsidy to SYMCA and the most popular tickets.  The Committee noted that the period covered by the discount coincided with the removal in prior weeks of final Covid-19 restrictions and a shift of public attitude to the safety of public transport generally.

The report contained a comparison of discount sales versus forecast sales for the period.  However it was acknowledged that, as there was no access to single operator own products and ticket sales, it was impossible to know if the discount generated additional trips and patronage or just transferred customers to the cheaper product.

Interchange footfall had also been analysed during the discount period.  This showed an overall increase of 16% compared to the 8-week period prior to the discount period.  However, it was noted that footfall in the 8-week period after the discount ended rose a further 16%.

Members were informed that, due to the short timescales available prior to launch and the relatively short time the discount was available, no direct customer research was undertaken.  Data was available from social media channels, details of which were contained within the report.

T Taylor commented that due to the factors mentioned above, it was a challenge to prove definitively that the discount had generated additional trips and patronage.

The Committee discussed at length the difficulties of making a judgement on the success of the discount scheme without direct data.  There had been a noticeable increase in the number of 1-day TravelMaster tickets purchased which could be attributed to the scheme, but no evidence of how many of these were additional trips.

It was noted that the operators would have the details of people who had purchased annual TravelMaster tickets and it was suggested that the operators be approached for these details so market research could be conducted into what had motivated the purchase.

T Taylor agreed that this would helpful.  He would contact the operators and bring any further information back to a future meeting.  Action:  T Taylor.

The Committee acknowledged that there had not been enough time to prepare for the launch of the scheme and to arrange for meaningful market research/publicity but felt unable to endorse the benefits that the discount scheme had generated due to a lack of evidence.  If further positive information could be provided they would be happy to endorse the scheme in the future.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.