Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

OfficesCoronavirusLatest NewsEconomics, government & businessCommuting

Flexible season tickets being considered to drive office return

by Ashleigh Webber 3 Sep 2020
by Ashleigh Webber 3 Sep 2020 J M Ritchie / Shutterstock.com
J M Ritchie / Shutterstock.com

The government and the rail industry are working to introduce flexible season tickets to encourage employees to return to the office, Boris Johnson has indicated.

One option is a ticket that can be used three days in seven, while another is 12 tickets that can be used on a particular route each month, according to reports.

Return to the office

UK lags behind Europe on returning to office

One in three thinks return to office will be in 2021

Two-thirds anxious about returning to offices

Cities suffer as only a sixth return to offices

Johnson said at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday: “We are working at pace with rail companies to try to deliver new products in terms of ticketing to ensure not just better value, but also enable people to get back to work in a flexible way.”

The government is set to launch a renewed plan to encourage more people back to the workplace, after reports emerged that city centres and business parks were turning into “ghost towns” and local businesses such as coffee outlets and dry cleaning shops were suffering.

However, the Bank of England has warned that a mass return to central London and other major city centres will risk further Covid-19 outbreaks and would not be possible under current social distancing guidelines.

Alex Brazier, the bank’s executive director for financial stability strategy and risk, told the commons Treasury Committee: “With Covid safe guidelines, it’s not possible to use office space – particularly in central London and dense places like that – with the intensity that we used to use it. So it’s actually not possible to bring lots of people back very suddenly.

“Because of those constraints I don’t think we can expect to see a sudden and sharp return of lots of people to the very dense office environments that we were used to. We should expect a more phased return depending on the public health outcomes that we’ll see over the coming weeks and months.”

Yesterday, former Conservative cabinet minister Damian Green told the Prime Minister that many office staff would only want to return to the workplace for two or three days a week.

He asked Johnson to “encourage the rail industry to introduce immediately flexible season tickets”.

Due to the perceived success of home working during the lockdown, with numerous studies suggesting that employees tend to be more productive while working from home, many commuters have not yet returned to the office after the lockdown. Many organisations are considering abandoning their offices or moving to a model where staff are able to work from home more often.

Rail passenger numbers have fallen dramatically since the lockdown and are still a long way off last year’s levels. Last Friday, the number of passengers was only 31% of the pre-lockdown average.

Some rail franchises including Great Western Rail have submitted proposals to the government for flexible tickets, as well as multi-buy offers.

Small-scale trials of new flexible season tickets were launched on Govia Thameslink Railway earlier this year, but the results were hampered by the restrictions introduced earlier in the pandemic.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents passenger and freight rail companies, confirmed it was working with the government to introduce more flexible travel options.

Director of nations and regions Robert Nisbet said: “Train companies fully understand that the way people are working and travelling is changing and that new types of ticket are needed to reflect that.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“We are working with the Department for Transport on proposals for flexible season tickets and will be putting forward suggestions for how this could work very shortly, as well as continuing to push for wide ranging regulatory reform of the entire fares system.”

HR roles in the travel and transport on Personnel Today


Browse more HR roles in the travel and transport sector

Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Sexual harassment ‘endemic’ within GMB Union
next post
Pandemic causes NHS sickness absence to hit record high

You may also like

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Senior execs at BlackRock to work in office...

8 May 2025

Reform UK councils’ staff face WFH ban

6 May 2025

Remote working may have triggered jump in employee...

17 Apr 2025

Employers struggling to manage rising levels of sickness...

7 Apr 2025

Hybrid workers less sick and less stressed

28 Mar 2025

Dog owners more likely to want to work...

24 Mar 2025

Five years on: how has work changed since...

12 Mar 2025

Return to the office: Gartner highlights the risks...

27 Feb 2025

Ramadan in the workplace: top tips for employers

21 Feb 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+