On 13 Sep 2006 01:33:19 -0700, "James" wrote:


My memory is that three or four years ago, the single bus fare in Epsom
& Ewell was 70p. Thanks to the corrupt Labour government giving Mr
Livingstone powers of taxation without representation, he's now made it
£4.

Err no he hasn't. A single fare is £1.50 in cash. I fail to see how
you can possibly get to £4 - even with the 2007 fares for a *single*
fare.

Note that Mr Livingstone has not made any way of topping up an
Oyster card available at any location more than 100yds in from the
boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.

Mr Livingstone and his transport authority don't have jurisdiction
beyond the boundary. They also cannot force newsagents to become ticket
stops nor can they force TOCs to convert their ticket machines. This is
a commercial arrangement and there must be limits on how far public
funds are used.

You could quite easily get an Oyster card set for auto top on bus and
then you would never need to seek out an agent or station.

Seeing as Oyster isn't valid on the K9 and K10 (and these routes have
sensible distance-based fares still), it would be very easy to extend
the same principle to the 406, 418, and 467. With a little re-routing,
the 293 and 470 could receive similar treatment.

The K9 and K10 have been replaced by Epsom Buses anyway and don't run to
Kingston. I note you are quite happy to suggest that you keep the TfL
provided bus services but want to pay lower fares for them. Perhaps the
alternative would be that they are all withdrawn by TfL - why should
they provide much higher quality services to Surrey when Surrey County
Council consistently cuts back its bus network at every opportunity? At
least then the cross boundary service provision would be the same in
Surrey as it is for Herts, Bucks, Essex and Kent - i.e. non existent.

You don't know when you are well off.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!