Transport for London

Transport for London (TfL), is the strategic transport authority responsible for most aspects of the transport system throughout Greater London, accounting for 27 million journeys a day. It is considered, in the industry, a benchmark for public transport systems. The role of TfL is to implement the Mayor of London's transport strategy, and to manage transport services across London, including London Underground, London Buses, Congestion Charging and Docklands Light Railway.

TfL's Fares & Ticketing is responsible for the operation of a single integrated fare collection system. The vast majority of the assets, in this fully integrated multi-modal ticketing system, are provided by Transaction Systems Limited (Transys) under the Prestige PFI contract. There is a 17-year agreement for the provision of a full ticketing system, including the successful Oyster smartcard, as an integrated service across the TfL network.

The Challenge

Under the terms of the PFI contract, Transys' obligation is to provide a ticketing system that meets performance targets for functionality and availability. TfL has an option to terminate the contract should they feel they could get better value for money from an alternative arrangement. Pcubed was engaged by TfL to support them in making an informed decision on the future of the PFI contract. To achieve this required:

• A strategic business case together with a development roadmap that ensured relevant TfL content was incorporated and stakeholders consulted
• A preferred course of action in line with TfL's strategic vision for future ticketing
• The provision for innovative solutions such as making payments via mobile phone

Other key challenges included:

• The business case must stand up to the scrutiny and review that TfL requires of its investments
• The case needs to ensure that value for money was upheld in any preferred course of action
• The challenges, risks, costs and benefits needed to be appropriately captured. These needed to be modeled a 10-year period, and not exceed £100m

The Pcubed Solution

Pcubed was selected based on their expertise and experience in public sector business case development. Using its proven practices, Pcubed helped TfL shape and structure a two-stage business case, breaking down the complex technology and contract alternatives into understandable parts, the outcome of which will have major implications for the London public transport system. Stage one assessed the options around which contract model was best to adopt to achieve performance improvements. Stage two compared the introduction of a new ticketing system against the Oyster smartcard scheme, as it exists today. Pcubed's solution encompassed the following activities:

Structuring Decision Making and Defining the Best Way Forward

• Simplifying the understanding of the various options and structuring stages
• Developing an overview of each option for stakeholder approval

Capture Key Assumptions

• Identifying, refining and managing assumptions that underpin the options

Option Descriptions

• Developing a detailed description of each option, describing each activity
• Capturing key option assumptions against which resources can provide costs

Stakeholder Management

• Ensuring that stakeholders have visibility on how the business case is developing

Data Capture

• Adopting an iterative approach to gathering data and building up the case
• Producing a cost template to collate data and gather information in a consistent and concise way
• Undertaking structured interviews with key stakeholders

Production of Business Case

• Including a cost summary and graphical comparison charts for each option

Quality Assurance

• Ensuring a thorough and comprehensive Quality Assurance process is undertaken
• Ensuring that the client takes ownership of business case

Project Management

• Providing project management expertise to ensure key dates are achieved, the business case methodology is adhered to, and risk and issues are dealt with efficiently
• Capturing scope and directions from the client
• Identifying the approval path for the business case

Key elements of the solution included:

• Cost template to collate data and consistently gather information
• Cost summary and graphic comparison charts for each option
• A thorough and comprehensive Quality Assurance process
• Project management expertise to ensure precise business case methodology was adhered to