1.  The London Regional Passengers Committee (LRPC) is a body established under the London Regional Transport Act 1984, to represent the concerns and further the interests of bus and rail travellers in and around London. Its remit embraces the users of all services operated by or for London Transport (LT), Docklands Light Railway Ltd (DLR) and Heathrow Express Railway (HER), together with those provided by the train operating companies (TOCs) and Eurostar within an area extending roughly 30 miles around London. Its functions include complaint handling, performance monitoring, liaison with operators on service innovations and future developments affecting passengers, and lobbying central and local government to safeguard the interests of public transport and its users. Members of the Committee are appointed (after consultation) by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and are chosen to provide a broad cross-section in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, occupation, physical ability or disability, and place of residence and work. As a non-departmental public body, LRPC has no political affiliations, and its sole concern is for the well-being of London's travelling public.

The Jubilee Line

  2.  Given that up to half of those attending the Experience are expected to travel by the Jubilee Line, the timely opening of the Jubilee Line Extension is clearly vital to the Dome's transport provision. However, the planned opening date for the project has slipped on a number of occasions. The Select Committee was right to express caution, in its previous report, on the (then) proposed opening date (HC (1997-98) 818-I, para 25); London Underground has now admitted that, despite earlier assurances to the contrary, the line will have to open in stages, and will not be fully open until late 1999. The recent discovery of damage to electrical equipment, and the history of slippage on the project, suggest that even the latest prediction must be treated with some caution.

  3.  It is unclear whether the other transport systems would be able to cope with the level of use if the Jubilee Line Extension were not to open in time for the start of the Millennium Experience period. By the same token, even with the line in full operation there is, as with any other railway, the potential for disruption of the service due to security alerts, train failure or other causes. In view of this, it is essential that there is both a fall-back option, in case the line is not ready in time, and short-term contingency plans to cope with unexpected disruption to services.

National railways services for the Dome

  4.  The focus on rail access to the Dome has been largely on the London Underground network. This is principally because the Jubilee Line, which connects into the rest of the Underground network, is the single most important transport link to the Dome. However, for visitors from much of south-east London (where the Underground has little presence) and Kent, access to the Dome by rail is potentially easier by national railways (ie former British Rail) services to Charlton station, connecting with the proposed Millennium Transit bus link. This avoids the need to travel into central London.

  5.  It is not presently clear to what extent (if at all) the train operators will augment their existing service patterns to cater for visitors to the Dome. There will clearly be strong demand peaks before sessions start and after they finish, and there may need to be frequency increases on some routes to match this. Such increases would also make the services more attractive to visitors, relieving pressure on other transport facilities.

  6.  As important as access to the Dome is the ability to leave it. Many rail (and bus) routes currently have reduced frequencies in the late evening, at the time when the planned evening performances in the "Baby Dome" are likely to finish, and at the time of day when the wait for a train is at its least pleasant. Attention should therefore be given to ensuring that late evening services are attractive to visitors. Similarly, Sunday services operate at relatively low frequencies all day.

River services

  7.  The LRPC has long taken the view that the River Thames has been under-utilised as a transport artery. We therefore support the plans to provide river passenger services between Central London, the Cutty Sark and the Dome, and also within Central London. We particularly welcome the intention that a "legacy" service will continue after the Millennium Experience has finished. However, such services are only likely to reach their true potential if they are integrated with London Transport's other services.

  8.  We agree with the Select Committee that the river services should be brought within the scope of the integrated zonal ticketing scheme (including concessionary passes). It is also important that their routes and piers should be shown on the rail and bus network maps. In this way, potential passengers would be easily aware of their existence, and would be more likely to treat the services as an integral part of the transport system.

  9.  LT presently sees the river bus services as premium services, and is therefore intending to charge premium prices. However, the Minister for Transport in London appears to have suggested, in oral evidence to the Committee's previous inquiry (Q. 65), that integration with Travelcard may be possible for the "legacy" services, after the Millennium celebrations. The LRPC would warmly welcome such a development.

Ticketing and encouragements to use public transport

  10.  The stated ticketing strategy for the Millennium Experience aims to ensure that the arrangements for marketing and release of tickets will positively influence the mode of travel to the Dome. Sales through call centres, and from transport providers, will enable the issue of travel tickets with the Experience ticket, but other outlets (including lottery terminals) will not have this facility. In the former case, it will be for ticket retailers to make the case for public transport to purchasers. In the latter case, it will be essential for visitors to be given adequate information about public transport to the Dome—for many people, car travel is the automatic first choice of mode, a situation which the information provided with the ticket must redress. The Committee may wish to examine whether these issues have yet been sufficiently addressed.

  11.  Pre-booked park-and-ride spaces will be available in those car parks controlled by the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC), but at the time of the last inquiry the NMEC was still to discuss with LT and the train companies the scope for similar arrangements in car parks controlled by the latter. It is essential that these arrangements are fully thought-out. For visitors to be willing to use park-and-ride facilities, they must receive adequate assurance that spaces will be available for their cars, and that they will have an easy onward journey by public transport.

The Millennium Access Co-ordination Group

  12.  The Millennium Access Steering Group, which comprised representatives of a number of stakeholders and has been co-ordinating transport issues with regard to the Dome, has recently been disbanded. Its successor body, which is focusing on the delivery of specific projects, comprises a similar group of members, except that there is no longer representation either of passengers (a role which had previously been carried out by an LRPC representative, among others) or of local authorities (who are the planning, highway and parking authorities). This is of some concern to us. It surely cannot be right that neither the interests of travellers to the Dome, nor the interests of residents or travellers who may be affected by the Dome, are represented on the steering group. The LRPC welcomes the Select Committee's view, expressed in its previous report (para. 23), that the support and involvement of the local community are likely to be integral to the success of the transport strategy. In our view, passengers need to have a say not only in the formulation of the "grand plan", but also in the detail, because it will be problems in the implementation of the detail which will give rise to complaints to the LRPC at a later stage.

November 1998