I realise it's not deeply significant (well, except maybe to someone
who finds themselves in need of an annual Travelcard on New Year's
Day), but...

The TfL site shows fares for 2010 and 2011. Are the fares actually
ties to the calendar year, as this implies, or do they change on
2 January thus aligning with the National Rail fares change date?

I'd always assumed the latter, but now I'm curious as to whether TfL
change their fares on 1 January or 2 January. Anyone know?

-roy

On Dec 14, 9:33*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:
I realise it's not deeply significant (well, except maybe to someone
who finds themselves in need of an annual Travelcard on New Year's
Day), but...

The TfL site shows fares for 2010 and 2011. *Are the fares actually
ties to the calendar year, as this implies, or do they change on
2 January thus aligning with the National Rail fares change date?

I'd always assumed the latter, but now I'm curious as to whether TfL
change their fares on 1 January or 2 January. *Anyone know?

I've got no source to confirm it for this year but it's always the
same date as the railways.

(Though annual Travelcards prob best purchased on the 31st, just in
case of any purchasing difficulties - New Year's Day might not be the
best time for such a transaction! That said, it could start a booking
office (clerk) somewhere off onto a positive start for the year to
come...)

On Dec 14, 9:43*pm, Mizter T wrote:

On Dec 14, 9:33*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:

I realise it's not deeply significant (well, except maybe to someone
who finds themselves in need of an annual Travelcard on New Year's
Day), but...

The TfL site shows fares for 2010 and 2011. *Are the fares actually
ties to the calendar year, as this implies, or do they change on
2 January thus aligning with the National Rail fares change date?

I'd always assumed the latter, but now I'm curious as to whether TfL
change their fares on 1 January or 2 January. *Anyone know?

I've got no source to confirm it for this year but it's always the
same date as the railways.

Given the way that TfL fares are intermeshed with rail fares
(Travelcard etc) it makes sense of course.

In article ,
Mizter T wrote:
(Though annual Travelcards prob best purchased on the 31st, just in
case of any purchasing difficulties - New Year's Day might not be the
best time for such a transaction! That said, it could start a booking
office (clerk) somewhere off onto a positive start for the year to
come...)

Presumably you'd have no difficulty buying a Travelcard on the Oyster
web site (assuming you already have an Oyster card). Could be
relevent to someone waking up and making a New Year's resolution to
stop driving to work...

Are booking office clerks on commission, then?

-roy

Thanks, Paul, Mizter T.

I guessed as much but nice to have my curiosity satisfied :-)

-roy

On Dec 14, 9:50*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

(Though annual Travelcards prob best purchased on the 31st, just in
case of any purchasing difficulties - New Year's Day might not be the
best time for such a transaction! That said, it could start a booking
office (clerk) somewhere off onto a positive start for the year to
come...)

Presumably you'd have no difficulty buying a Travelcard on the Oyster
web site (assuming you already have an Oyster card). *Could be
relevent to someone waking up and making a New Year's resolution to
stop driving to work...

I wouldn't be so sure about that actually - Oyster 'products' (top-ups
and Travelcards) bought online for an existing card need to be ordered
before 11pm the day beforehand in order for them to be sent to the
relevant station's ticket gates/ validators to await being picked up.

So it's a question of whether or not the Travelcard prices charged
online on the 1 Jan for tickets that are to be picked up from - and
start validity on - 2 Jan are the old or new prices, and I dare say
they're the new prices. If I'm concious after my new yearly liver
replacement op I'll try and remember to log in and see what the system
wants to charge me for season Travelcards.

Someone could always buy their annual Travelcard via Oyster online on
the 31 Dec to start from 1 Jan, but then pick it up on the 2 Jan or
whatever (I think it remains active to pick up for a week or eight
days or something).


Are booking office clerks on commission, then?

Erm, not sure of the arrangements I must admit - I was thinking that
NR ticket offices in particular quite poss have some sort of
incentives scheme, not necessarily commission for the individual clerk
but perhaps per station targets (though such a thing might run April-
April i.e. financial years or some other timescale of course), and
that LU would likely have something too - I dunno, TBH.

On Dec 14, 9:41*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:33:24 -0600, (Roy Badami)
wrote:

I realise it's not deeply significant (well, except maybe to someone
who finds themselves in need of an annual Travelcard on New Year's
Day), but...

The TfL site shows fares for 2010 and 2011. *Are the fares actually
ties to the calendar year, as this implies, or do they change on
2 January thus aligning with the National Rail fares change date?

I'd always assumed the latter, but now I'm curious as to whether TfL
change their fares on 1 January or 2 January. *Anyone know?

They change on 2/1/11 although I accept it is not at all clear from the
website info. I went back to the press release about the increase to
find the date.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...ive/17092.aspx

I can't think of an annual increase in Jan (in recent years) when LT and
NR fares have not changed on the same date. Given the long standing
links on some fares like through tickets and Travelcards it has long
been essential that fares change on the same day. *With PAYG rates etc
it is probably even more important than ever. * Obviously there are
minor changes in May and September which also link to NR fare change
dates but the scale of change is usually very small on TfL fares.

The only thing that has changed in recent years has been the move to
make the increase as early as possible in January rather than the first
Sunday regardless of the date.

It could also have depended which side of the road you were on - late
on the evening of New Year's Day (well, quite poss. sometime past
midnight into the 2nd) a few years back I saw the bloke from Almex re-
configuring the roadside bus machines for the new higher single fare
(and also I guess the new bus pass price) that came in to force that
day - so on one side of the road a ticket would have cost £1.50, and
the other side £2! (Or whatever - can't remember what the change
actually was now.)

On Dec 15, 12:50*am, Mizter T wrote:
On Dec 14, 9:50*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

(Though annual Travelcards prob best purchased on the 31st, just in
case of any purchasing difficulties - New Year's Day might not be the
best time for such a transaction! That said, it could start a booking
office (clerk) somewhere off onto a positive start for the year to
come...)

Presumably you'd have no difficulty buying a Travelcard on the Oyster
web site (assuming you already have an Oyster card). *Could be
relevent to someone waking up and making a New Year's resolution to
stop driving to work...

I wouldn't be so sure about that actually - Oyster 'products' (top-ups
and Travelcards) bought online for an existing card need to be ordered
before 11pm the day beforehand in order for them to be sent to the
relevant station's ticket gates/ validators to await being picked up.

So it's a question of whether or not the Travelcard prices charged
online on the 1 Jan for tickets that are to be picked up from - and
start validity on - 2 Jan are the old or new prices, and I dare say
they're the new prices. If I'm concious after my new yearly liver
replacement op I'll try and remember to log in and see what the system
wants to charge me for season Travelcards.

Hmm. Interesting thought. When one uses a machine at a station to
renew a season on Oyster, it'll say "start today, start tomorrow,
start whenever ...". I wonder if the prices are different?









Someone could always buy their annual Travelcard via Oyster online on
the 31 Dec to start from 1 Jan, but then pick it up on the 2 Jan or
whatever (I think it remains active to pick up for a week or eight
days or something).



Are booking office clerks on commission, then?

Erm, not sure of the arrangements I must admit - I was thinking that
NR ticket offices in particular quite poss have some sort of
incentives scheme, not necessarily commission for the individual clerk
but perhaps per station targets (though such a thing might run April-
April i.e. financial years or some other timescale of course), and
that LU would likely have something too - I dunno, TBH.

In article ,
Mizter T wrote:

Presumably you'd have no difficulty buying a Travelcard on the Oyster
web site (assuming you already have an Oyster card). *Could be
relevent to someone waking up and making a New Year's resolution to
stop driving to work...

I wouldn't be so sure about that actually - Oyster 'products' (top-ups
and Travelcards) bought online for an existing card need to be ordered
before 11pm the day beforehand in order for them to be sent to the
relevant station's ticket gates/ validators to await being picked up.

Hmm, looking at the Oyster web site, even now (09:38) the earliest
start date that the site will let me specify if I want to buy a
Travelcard is tomorrow, 16 December.

So I guess it would be a matter of trying to find a TfL booking office
that's open on New Year's Day.

-roy

On Dec 15, 12:50*am, Mizter T wrote:
On Dec 14, 9:50*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

(Though annual Travelcards prob best purchased on the 31st, just in
case of any purchasing difficulties - New Year's Day might not be the
best time for such a transaction! That said, it could start a booking
office (clerk) somewhere off onto a positive start for the year to
come...)

Presumably you'd have no difficulty buying a Travelcard on the Oyster
web site (assuming you already have an Oyster card). *Could be
relevent to someone waking up and making a New Year's resolution to
stop driving to work...

I wouldn't be so sure about that actually - Oyster 'products' (top-ups
and Travelcards) bought online for an existing card need to be ordered
before 11pm the day beforehand in order for them to be sent to the
relevant station's ticket gates/ validators to await being picked up.

So it's a question of whether or not the Travelcard prices charged
online on the 1 Jan for tickets that are to be picked up from - and
start validity on - 2 Jan are the old or new prices, and I dare say
they're the new prices. If I'm concious after my new yearly liver
replacement op I'll try and remember to log in and see what the system
wants to charge me for season Travelcards.

Someone could always buy their annual Travelcard via Oyster online on
the 31 Dec to start from 1 Jan, but then pick it up on the 2 Jan or
whatever (I think it remains active to pick up for a week or eight
days or something).

Well, I don't know if this exactly answers the online question, but
the principle is probably the same.

Using a bog-standard LU machine, I've just stuck a weekly Zone 1 - 2
travelcard on me Oyster to start from Tuesday (ie expire 10 January)
and it told me it was charging £25.80, which is the 2010 price.

Didn't think to get a receipt.