It paves the way for Oyster Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) to be implemented across
the whole National Rail network in London (currently Oyster PAYG is only

I'm sure they could have adopted Oyster without all this shennanegans -
when they finally roll out smart ticketing everywhere they're not going to
zone up the country then (maybe they will, for more money??).

The zonal system is great for the TOC and those traveling between extremes
of zones but short hops that happen to cross a boundry will lose out (more
likely take the car).

I commuted with a Z1-6 + extension to my nearest zone 6 station for years
marvelling at being able to travel anywhere in London for no extra cost
(which I did about 4 times a year). A point to point to a Z4 station then a
Z1-4 t/card is £400/pa cheaper and most cases performs the same role - also
can be applied to ODTC. It's cheaper because I'm paying for what I use, not
zones 5 and 6 on the three sides of london I hardly ever go to!

This scheme is the same - if's like asking for a taxi from point a to b and
being told you have to carry on (and pay) for travel to point c because it
"makes the fares simpler".

Sure there will be winners and losers but it has to be fairer with the
current pence per mile system. With zones the winners are not paying for
all they use, and the losers are paying for extra.

D