On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:45:20 +0000, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008, Mizter T wrote:


This is how things are done in Tyne & Wear - see:

http://www.nexus.org.uk/ufs/shared/i...ne_Map_Col.pdf

The numbering logic behind the zones seems bizarre at first sight -
the zone numbers ascend in a sort of diagonal sweep from the south
west to the north east of the metropolitan county of T&W.

I can understand why you say that but I got used to it quickly - zones
17 and 26 covered my regular journeys!

Surely north west to south east? Oh, you mean like a raster? Yes, i see -
the lines of the raster run SW-NE, and the raster progresses NW-SE.

The diagonal is basically the axis parallel to the Tyne, isn't it? At
least, the downstream reach. It's akin to Stanford's 'logical north'.

Not seen it described like that before but you've made me go back and
look at it afresh.

However I think it may be designed this was to make it easy to issue and
- crucially - verify the validity of tickets with zonal combinations
that are in a row or in a ring (think of a busy bus driver checking
tickets).

I remember picking up the original leaflet for the zonal system before
it was brought into use and being very confused by it. I'd never seen
anything like it and yet it's simple when compared to some German fares
systems.

It settled down very quickly and the ease and simplicity of the
Travelcard ticket was massively popular. It was certainly one aspect of
the Tyne and Wear system that encouraged people to use public transport.
Fares were cheap but the Travelcard - in both peak and off peak versions
- offered very good value for money.

Now it's undermined by everyone - including the Metro - having their own
bewildering range of own operator tickets. The "updated" Transfare
scheme is another mess - another zonal system imposed on top of another
one. Dreadful and indicative of the worst aspects of deregulated
practice.

39. I wonder which zones it counts as being adjacent to? Any which have
piers, i suppose.

Although the zone is very long the sole remaining ferry service runs
between North Shields and South Shields. Therefore the valid and logical
adjacent zones are zones 29 and 38. There is a bus link to the pier at
North Shields as there is a very steep hill up to the town centre and
Metro station. There's little height differential on the South side and
a short walk up a ramp and some stairs brings you to the Market Place
where many buses leave from and 5 minutes further on is the Metro
station.

The only other ferry I recall being in a local timetable book was from
Wallsend to Hebburn and was timed for the shipyard shifts. It was never
in the Travelcard scheme although zone 39 would cover it.

The '4 zones in a ring' option is described as 'any 3 zones in a ring plus
one adjacent zone'; does that mean i could have three in a ring and one
touching just one of them? 56, 58, 59 and 60, say?

As a former Tyne and Wear resident and extensive user of Metro, the
original Transfare scheme and regular Travelcard purchaser then yes that
combination is perfectly valid.
--
Paul C