Joe Patrick wrote:

wrote:
This week TfL pledged £150,000 to Work Wise UK, an organisation
encouraging more flexible working hours. TfL's press release
highlighted how this helps manage demand on the transport network.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=960
But simultaneously TfL are ending the Oyster Pay As You Go price
differential between peak and off-peak travel on the buses. Why are
they contradicting their policy to incentivise encourage off-peak
travel? Wasn't one of the reasons for introducing Oyster the ease with
which it handles this differential pricing?

Did 20p really make much of a difference anyway? Considering most of
the "commuters" would probably hold a bus pass, for which the price
stays the same regardless of time of day, and those who don't may end
up being capped for doing more than 3 Jrnys.

The idea that most commuters will hold bus passes isn't necessarily the
case - sure, many will but depending upon the circumstances Oyster PAYG
can work out cheaper. Under the new 2007 prices, a bus pass will cost
£14, whilst 10 single bus fares on Oyster will cost £10.

Of course this will only be the case if a passenger only uses one bus
for the whole journey there and back, and if that's all the bus travel
they'll be doing that week.

That said when I've commuted by bus in the past I've preferred to buy a
bus pass so as to have more flexibility - (a) I didn't have to wait for
the one bus that took me all the way to my final destination, instead I
could change buses, and (b) I could make use of at all times, apart
from just for my commute.

I should add that I'd actually never bought a buss pass per se, instead
I'd buy a two-zone weekly/monthly Travelcard (in my case for zones
2&3). They're a little more expensive but allowed me to use a few
useful rail lines, plus - depending again on the circumstance - it'd
allow me to save a little bit of money when I went into zone 1 by Tube,
as the I'd only be paying the Oyster PAYG zone 1 fare as zones 2 and 3
would be covered by my Travelcard (this obviously only works if you buy
the weekly/monthly Travelcard on Oyster).