"Peter Smyth" wrote:
"Bruce" wrote in message ...
"Recliner" wrote:
Actually, Chiltern has shown very little interest in picking up more
commuter traffic from the London suburbs. It's more interested in
becoming a regional operator, focused on moving people from towns more
than 50 miles to London. I say this sadly, as my nearest station is on
the Chiltern line, and it gets a derisory service.

That's probably because Chiltern gets derisory revenue from TfL for
services within Travelcard zones 1-6 and also stations from Amersham
to Rickmansworth.

For example, Chiltern has reduced peak services to and from Amersham
because the returns simply don't justify providing services. I feel
sure that this problem is shared by other TOCs with London termini,
plus cross-London services, so let's not use it as an excuse to bash
one particular TOC, eh?

I don't know whether this was the reason behind last year's swingeing
price rise for Travelcards from Amersham. The price of a one day off
peak Travelcard rose from £9.00 to £11.00, a 22% rise, set against an
average LUL fare rise of 6%.

Even at £11 it is still cheaper than anywhere else a similar distance from
London.

eg Beaconsfield £18.00, Hemel Hempstead £17.00.


True, but the 22% rise was out of all proportion to the average LUL
fare rise of 6%. How on earth could an additional 16% on top of the
average rise be justified?

I live in Aylesbury. I used to drive to Amersham, park and buy a
Travelcard because it was cheaper than buying a Travelcard from
Aylesbury, especially if more than one of us was travelling. The 22%
rise took away enough of the saving to make it no longer worthwhile.

As I said (you snipped it) the result is that I rarely use the train.