Hiya
Quick question ... I'm aware that in some regions hospitals have been able to negotiate discounts with public transport providers. Does anyone have experience of doing this with TFL? Do we know what their position is on helping hospitals in this way (and, of course, helping staff and patients to travel more sustainably)?
Many thanks
Gerry
Hi Gerry. I've had the following from someone at NHS England re this:
'We held conversations with TfL two years ago now in an effort to understand their appetite / willingness to provide discounts for access to hospitals. Unfortunately we weren't able to secure anything - for two principal reasons:
a) Funding - we had nothing to give and they didn't have anything budgeted either.
b) Technology - the Oyster system is now 23 years old, which in IT terms is very old and limits the extent to which TfL have been able to introduce new products. In January of this year, TfL signed a contract with a company (Indra) to operate the whole of their Oyster and contactless system. The new system should provide the potential for a greater number of concessionary tickets to be offered than at present.
Happy to have a further conversation on this if you want to drop me a line: a.bradley10@nhs.net.'
Thanks Sara - might follow up ... yes I can see the issues; might be worth seeing if anything's changed over the last two years...
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