London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · October 8th 10, 12:38 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(tim....) wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(tim....) wrote:

As I understood that the travelcard "add on" was "mandated" at a
fixed amount more than the DR, I find your difference surprising.

I thought that too but it appears that the travelcard addon price
varies hugely and totally lacks transparency.

Consider Oxford and Cambridge. Same Day Return fares to London
Terminals (£20 or £13.20 with railcard, TOCs in same ownership (First
Group) but Cambridge's travelcard addon is more than double Oxford's.

Some digging has explained why

It seems that the normal DR from Cambridge to London is at a
discount to the "normal" DR to London as it costs less than a
ticket to the boundary station

"Normal"? Discount? The rate is set by FCC (and previously by WAGN)

SET do this as well, though more transparently(or they did last
time I looked). They offer a "special" DR which cannot have a
travelcard added and an "normal" one which can. But it is cheaper
to buy the special ticket and then pay full price for the travel
card when you arrive in London.

There is only one travelcard fare from Cambridge (off-peak anyway).

--
Colin Rosenstiel