London Banter - View Single Post

Michael R N Dolbear · March 1st 11, 05:58 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote

Note that many other TOCs, including the also First-owned Great
Western,
have lower travelcard premia so it is still a no-brainer to get one,
e.g.
from Oxford where the premium is £3.50 on the same £21 day return
fare to
London Terminals and £5 (FCC & super off-peak only) from Brighton
(CDR
£15).

Checking some more locations I see the premium from Winchester is
£9.80.
With a zones 1-6 day travelcard at £8, what is the point of selling
an
out-of London day travelcard at that price other than to rip people
off to
avoid a queue at Waterloo? This is especially odd given that the
premium
from Basingstoke (also SWT) is only £4.80 (via Woking).

The Basingstoke (and Reading) oddity is due, I think, to the existence
of the other route to London via Reading and GWR. The differential
between SOP and OP has a similar distribution.

The premium from Winchester is just weirdness. A SWT ticket office will
sell me a 1-6 day travelcard at £8 - I ask for a ODTC "from Surbiton" -
so you buy two tickets with no need to queue at Waterloo even to use a
machine (but you can't buy it from a machine /at Winchester/ so you may
have a longer queue there).

--
Mike D