traveline telephone enquiries

The Traveline number is:

0871 200 22 33

Calls cost 10p per minutes plus any charges your network provider makes.

Until 31 July 2010, callers to the former number 0870 608 2 608, (and the former minicom number) get a message advising them to phone the new number.

Each Traveline region has put in place a plan for changing the number in literature, on bus stop flags, on vehicles and on the web. These plans should continue to have regard to:

informing staff and partners of the change and the reasons for it
avoiding negative publicity in the local press
give consistency to users
integrate with schemes to promote SMS
use updated Traveline branding guidelines
how information about charging will be disseminated.
policy relating to each circumstance in which the Traveline logo may appear, eg bus stop flags, timetable cases, vehicles, timetable books.

Format

It is best to display the number as:

0871 200 22 33
Calls cost 10p per minutes plus any charges your network provider makes.

Graphics

Download Graphics to promote the new number.

Refresh of Branding

A refresh of the Traveline design guidance is now available.

Cost of Calls

Services like Magenta systems publish impartial UK Telecom Tariff Cost Comparisons. The Traveline service is in the 0871 200 call cost range which is listed as "Premium 10p/min (p9)" or sometimes called "Premium Rate 9".

Most telephone suppliers recharge calls in this range at 10p and it is a constant charge throughout the day. However call set up charges vary and whether calls are rounded up to the minute has to be taken into account. The following illustrates the kind of variations found (27/08/2009) on the providers' websites or Magenta.co.uk and therefore the difficulty of correctly advising those who will use the service:

Provider	Per minute	Call Set up charge	Minimum cost	90sec call
BT residential landline	9.79p	8p	rounded to minute	28p
BT payphone	100p	0p	rounded to 10p	150p
Sky	10p	8p	rounded to minute	28p
Tesco	9.79p	6.9p	rounded to minute	27p
Kingston Communications	9.79p	3p		18p
Pipex Homecall	17.62p	8p	rounded to minute	44p
Phone Coop	9.79p	0p		15p
Virgin Media	14.79p	9.79p	rounded to minute	40p

PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, as of 1 August 2009, is the organisation which has responsibility for the day to day regulation of 0871 telephone numbers.

The PhonepayPlus code of conduct includes the following additional requirements which Traveline is considering:

3.2.2 provide PhonepayPlus with the name and contact details of a director with primary responsibility for premium rate services, and the name and home address of each of the directors
3.3.4 bring the Code to the notice of all contractors who provide the telephone service
3.3.5 provide a customer service phone number at a non-premium rate
5.8 The identity, contact details of Traveline and non premium rate customer service phone number must be clearly stated in any promotion, "unless reasonable steps have previously been taken to bring it to the attention of the user, or it is otherwise obvious and easily available to the user".
5.10 in publications.... there must be a statement that information given is correct as at the time of publication that that time must also be stated.
7.1.1.b as the Traveline phone service is provided by agents who may have no relevant qualifications, the source of the information must be explained.

A PhonepayPlus news alert refers to research which highlights significant consumer concerns around price transparency and the time some consumers are having to wait on the line before being connected to a service. Providers now have to comply with rules that ensure that the price of the call is made clear and that, if there is to be a delay, the consumer should be able to make an informed decision as to whether to stay on the line.

Information about the cost of calls

The advice about how to present the cost of the call has had to be alterred several times, in the light of experience and advice which has been somewhat conflicting.

The clearest wording comes from an exercise carried out by the ATCO Information and Ticketing group in the North West:
"10p per minute plus any charges your network provider makes"

If the context requires it "Calls cost..." can be added:
"Calls cost 10p per minute plus any charges your network provider makes"

These statements rely on separating out the core charge of 10p per minute which applies to all providers, from any decision the network provider makes on what rate to charge it out to the user or what additional charges to levy.

This is a principle used in wording from PhonepayPlus. They recommend the statement:
"Calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras".

It is difficult to see how this fully meets the objectives of being easy to understand given that most people would not know that network extras includes call set up charges and the varying costs of mobile phones and some networks.

Another suggested wording comes from text suggested by the Advertising Standards Authority:

* Calls provided by BT will be charged at 10 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up fee of 9.05 pence per call applies to calls from residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may vary

Or the shortened version:
* BT callers charged 10p per min plus 9.05p set-up fee per call. Mobile and other providers' charges vary

The problem with these texts from ASA/CAP are that they are long, they need to be changed every time BT change their call set up charges, they are difficult to display prominently, they do not cover BT business customers and they do not give costing information for calls from non BT providers, other than to say that they may vary.

When do you need to display charges?

It is the policy of Traveline to display information about the cost of calls where it is reasonable to do so, because

it is good that users are told the cost of calls is not excessive
an indication of charges will reassure users
public transport users include people on low incomes
users may be able to obtain information from the internet at less cost to themselves and to Traveline

Where the Traveline telephone number is quoted as a source of information rather than a marketing communication then it may be best not to put charging information. The reasons to be taken into account are:

it would be impossible to advise all non-Traveline organsations on how to interpret the requirements
incorrect pricing information could be more misleading than no pricing information
over detailed pricing information requirements will slow down the updating of the all references to the Traveline service to the new telephone number
there is no pricing information when telephone directories quote the Traveline number

It is better not to put charging information on a bus stop flag, a real time system display or on the exterior of a vehicle.

ASA/CAP have advised that they do not consider a bus stop flag to be advertising (advised from Rupa Pattni to Tony Ferguson on 15 May 2007). Graphics are available that can be used to display the Traveline telephone number on bus flags.

OFCOM advise (Clive Hillier to Tony Ferguson, 15 May 2007) "that it would be reasonable for Traveline to quote the pricing information on the bus stop timetable and only the telephone number on the bus stop flag, given that the print would be too small to read on the flag."

The legal position:

In their code of practice for service providers PhonepayPlus state (section 5.7.5) that,

Premium rate services which do not generally cost more than 50 pence are exempt from all PhonepayPlus requirements on pricing information.

however this is not relevant to Traveline as PhonePayPlus have provided the additional guidance that it is "only applicable where you can prove the service is never likely to cost more thatn 0.50p."

Where the Traveline number is part of an advert of the Traveline service then the advice of the Advertising Standards Authority should be considered and points to charging information always being included.

OFCOM advise entries in telephone directories and other 'paid for' advertising space would fall within ASA/CAP definition of advertising.

ASA/CAP advice on 08 numbers arises from cases in 2005 and early 2006 and originally related to 0845 and 0870 numbers:

... if those numbers are featured in a marketing communication,
the marcom should include pricing information that states the
maximum cost or the maximum price per minute (ppm) of a call to BT
customers: BT is the dominant call provider in the UK so
information about costs from BT is meaningful to the largest
readership. Also, it should make clear that the price of calls
originating from non-BT call providers varies and, if space allows,
state that callers can check the price with their phone company
(Windsor Telecom plc, 4 Jan 2006; Langley Miniature Models,
6 April 2005)

The ASA/CAP advice continues:

It would clearly be impracticable for directory owners to include
those disclaimers in all display, semi-display and classified ads
featuring 084 and 087 numbers. Although not considered by the ASA,
CAP believes it would be acceptable for directories to include the
disclaimers on every (or nearly every) page

Another source of guidance is to see what text PhonepayPlus would recommend if calls to Traveline were generally to be 50p or more, (they are generally much less than that). The PhonepayPlus Pricing Information help notes include these relevant points:

Pricing information will need to be easy to locate, read, understand and be presented in a way that follows convention and is unlikely to cause confusion
loose or unclear descriptions such as 'premium rate charges apply', '10ppm', are all unlikely to provide sufficient information
include a statement that calls from mobile phones and some landline networks may cost more than others
consumers will trust the service more if the pricing information is beside the telephone number
Pricing information should be prominent and not only found in terms and conditions, a separate webpage or by scrolling down a screen.

Some Rules of Thumb

If you have a good reason for not showing information about the cost of calls to Traveline, think of an alternative place where you can show the cost of calls.

If you are showing the minimum amount of information about the cost of calls consider where you could put more details in a place that someone might expect to look for more information.

Press releases

Please note that some of the details in these press released do not now fully conform to changes in this guidance.

Internet

The internet enquiry service and more details of the telephone service, continues to be available at Traveline.info

Minicom

The number should not be publicised any more. Very few calls are received now as increasingly we are receiving calls from TypeTalk. The minicom number is now answered by GMPTE.

Why change the number

OFCOM is altering the way 0870 telephone numbers operate and as a consequence of this the traveline telephone number will alter.

What will happen to the old number

Over 80% of calls to Traveline are received on the new phone number and this is rising all the time. Since 1 August 2008 a recorded message has been played advising of the new number to any callers phoning 0870 608 2 608. This message will be available for several years.