Bus Hopper transfer time cut by Transport For London

One of the best changes to TfL’s transport network in recent years is the bus hopper ticket which has seen tweaks to time limits this month. The ticket allows unlimited transfers within an hour, and you can tap as many times within the time limit and only pay once. But what some perhaps didn’t know is that passengers actually had 70 minutes to use it instead of the advertised hour.

This was to mitigate against any discrepancies in timings on buses – but the perk has now been removed as TfL look to claw back money.

The 10 minute leeway has gone alongside an increase in fares to £1.55.

Despite being a good tool to encourage bus travel for people – especially those needing to make connections en route to a destination and bringing London into line with many other world cities that long had such a policy – Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has criticised it as being a “tourist ticket”. A baffling assertion given it available to anyone. In his world perhaps every single Londoner uses a travelcard? Who knows.

One perhaps more valid point is that it has permitted TfL to curtail some bus routes or remove entirely given people could transfer free of charge. As for the future of the hopper, who knows given TfL’s finances and Bailey’s hostility. If it does go it’ll be a retrograde step discouraging public transport and dragging London behind similar cities abroad – and for me at least would make me consider weather it’s worth taking buses on certain journeys.