On Sun, 22 Oct 2006 15:53:52 +0100, Richard wrote:

embers25 wrote:
[Phil Richards:]
Will zonal rail tickets show origin/destination stations like they do at
present and therefore a return be A to B & back to A only? Or could I
buy a Zone 1 to 5 Rail only CDR say to go from Victoria to East Croydon
and later in the day Bromley South back to Victoria?

www.nationalrail.co.uk confirms that although zonal tickets will be
issued they will still be point to point and I quote "We are
considering whether in future we could make buying tickets in London
simpler still by offering tickets to specific zonal destinations.
However at present this is not practical." Surely it's easy to make
pratical if the tube can. Basically the system will simplify fares
without the zonal travel flexibility and so in the short term just
means fare raises of untold proportions for most people...a real "win"
for everyone! If this was a truly zonal system this would have been
great.

Exactly. I cannot think of any reason whatsoever why zonal destinations
are not practical. Looking at the last National Fares Manuals that I
had (NFM 80 from 2002, when it was my job to keep up with things),
Wimbledon, for instance, had day single and return fares defined to
"ZONE U1 LONDON" (zone 1) up to "ZONE U1256 LONDON", which is exactly
what we would need for a truly zonal system. If the objection is the
inability to set routes or allow/deny particular transport modes, the
geography and history of London's rail network aren't going to go away
and a decision simply needs to be taken now to remove these distinctions.

To introduce "simple" zonal fares without zones and still only usable on
National Rail seems like a clever way of increasing fares by, in my
case, 35%. Get rid of the rail only fares and issue to zonal
destinations, and we have a proper, simple system and one where people
may easier stomach the rises because they can see the benefits.

It does not "pave the way" for pre-pay - the fares need not be
introduced until the day pre-pay becomes available (I would hope that it
is on *one* day). This way they get the money and we keep the queueing
for tickets.

Richard.

Did you not read the press release? Fares are not - on average -
increasing.

A