In article ,
(Mizter T) wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

wrote:

In article ,
(Mizter T) wrote:

wrote:

I don't think I've ever been to Kings Cross St Pancras tube
needing to get a ticket/top up Oyster without queues at similar to
that. I always try to have enough credit on Oyster to escape the
place before needing to top up. Westminster isn't much better
either, mainly because not enough windows are staffed most of the
time.

Head to the northern ticket hall which never seems to be that busy,
or to the FCC ticket machines - the ones in St Pancras (for
Thameslink) certainly 'do' Oyster (as do the ticket windows I
believe), not so sure about the ones at Kings Cross suburban.

So the answer is to walk a long way in the wrong direction. Terrific!

Yes Colin, it's all doom and gloom. If the KX suburban side
ticket machines do in fact 'do' Oyster, then I expect the
complaint would be about how that'd be no good when FCC trains
arrive in the main KX trainshed.

You wait till the new King's Cross is complete with the barrier line
across platforms 0-8!

Sorry, that's a bit unnecessary. Personally I'd prefer to go a
little bit out of my way in order to avoid somewhere where I knew
there'd almost certainly be a queue. I'd definitely agree with the
notion that there should be more ticket windows open in the main
and western ticket halls at KXSP - indeed I think it'd be great if
there was a TfL Travel Info Centre actually in St Pancras station
(but I guess the rent would be too high) - but dealing with things
as they are (rather than how they should be), I'd opt for one of
the workarounds and advise others to do the same.

My point is that nutters like us here would know that but the great
majority of punters wouldn't and would be put off using rail yet again.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message
, at
15:43:07 on Mon, 28 Feb 2011, Mizter T remarked:
it isn't targeted at tourists. The paywave scheme is.

Though by its nature this new scheme will not be aimed at families.

"Should not", I agree.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:38:19
on Mon, 28 Feb 2011, remarked:
Travelcards .... I presume you can't get them from Nottingham at all?

I think the furthest out you can get one is Kettering, or maybe
Wellingborough.

On the Midland Main Line I'm sure you're right but elsewhere? Exeter?

It might be correlated with the old NSE area, but I'm not aware of a
specific rule, or anyone checking this out recently.
--
Roland Perry

"Paul Scott" wrote in message
...

I'm wondering if someone in SWT's pricing department has made a major
cockup.

For a few origins I just checked down in Hants, the peak travelcard addon
is about £4, the offpeak is about £9.60, but the super offpeak is back to
about £4.00 ish. I usually get the super offpeak and hadn't noticed the
difference, but the two offpeak ticket types should really have the same
extra cost for the travelcard portion - surely?

PS to above, I've worked out the marginal cost of the travelcard 'addon' for
a few SWT stations - and for the Offpeak, it can be quite ridiculous - look
at Weymouth:

Origin/Anytime Day/Offpeak Day /Super Offpeak Day
Weymouth £5.90 / £13.40 / £3.40
Bournemouth £4.40 / £10.80 / £3.90
Southampton £3.30 / £9.60 / £4.50
Winchester £3.40 / £9.80 / £4.40
Basingstoke £5.50 / £4.50 / £4.80
Woking £7.10 / £4.50 / £3.60

I've emailed SWT's customer relations as well...

Paul S

In article ,
(Paul Scott) wrote:

"Paul Scott" wrote in message
...

I'm wondering if someone in SWT's pricing department has made a
major cockup.

For a few origins I just checked down in Hants, the peak
travelcard addon is about £4, the offpeak is about £9.60, but the
super offpeak is back to about £4.00 ish. I usually get the
super offpeak and hadn't noticed the difference, but the two
offpeak ticket types should really have the same extra cost for
the travelcard portion - surely?

PS to above, I've worked out the marginal cost of the travelcard
'addon' for a few SWT stations - and for the Offpeak, it can be
quite ridiculous - look at Weymouth:

Origin/Anytime Day/Offpeak Day /Super Offpeak Day
Weymouth £5.90 / £13.40 / £3.40
Bournemouth £4.40 / £10.80 / £3.90
Southampton £3.30 / £9.60 / £4.50
Winchester £3.40 / £9.80 / £4.40
Basingstoke £5.50 / £4.50 / £4.80
Woking £7.10 / £4.50 / £3.60

I've emailed SWT's customer relations as well...

What a can of worms this is turning into! Maybe we cad find someone in
Passenger Focus to take an interest?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Paul Scott) wrote:

"Paul Scott" wrote in message
...

I'm wondering if someone in SWT's pricing department has made a
major cockup.

For a few origins I just checked down in Hants, the peak
travelcard addon is about £4, the offpeak is about £9.60, but the
super offpeak is back to about £4.00 ish. I usually get the
super offpeak and hadn't noticed the difference, but the two
offpeak ticket types should really have the same extra cost for
the travelcard portion - surely?

PS to above, I've worked out the marginal cost of the travelcard
'addon' for a few SWT stations - and for the Offpeak, it can be
quite ridiculous - look at Weymouth:

Origin/Anytime Day/Offpeak Day /Super Offpeak Day
Weymouth £5.90 / £13.40 / £3.40
Bournemouth £4.40 / £10.80 / £3.90
Southampton £3.30 / £9.60 / £4.50
Winchester £3.40 / £9.80 / £4.40
Basingstoke £5.50 / £4.50 / £4.80
Woking £7.10 / £4.50 / £3.60

I've emailed SWT's customer relations as well...

What a can of worms this is turning into! Maybe we cad find someone in
Passenger Focus to take an interest?

Agree entirely - I'll await SWT's response first though. After PF, I think
the Weymouth local paper might be interested...

Paul

In message , Paul Scott
writes
Agree entirely - I'll await SWT's response first though. After PF, I
think the Weymouth local paper might be interested...

For what it's worth, although I don't have the figures handy, there are
similar discrepancies in my area, e.g. between Luton and Luton Airport
Parkway. It makes for a complex calculation when visiting London as to
whether to get a Travelcard or a simple return plus a few trips using
Oyster.


--
Clive Page

In article , (Clive Page)
wrote:

In message , Paul Scott
writes
Agree entirely - I'll await SWT's response first though. After PF, I
think the Weymouth local paper might be interested...

For what it's worth, although I don't have the figures handy, there
are similar discrepancies in my area, e.g. between Luton and Luton
Airport Parkway. It makes for a complex calculation when visiting
London as to whether to get a Travelcard or a simple return plus a
few trips using Oyster.

That is EXACTLY what annoys me. When I started working in London it was a
complete no brainer. If you were going to use TfL at all a travelcard was
the easiest and cheapest way. It's still easiest but often a rip off now.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote

Note that many other TOCs, including the also First-owned Great
Western,
have lower travelcard premia so it is still a no-brainer to get one,
e.g.
from Oxford where the premium is £3.50 on the same £21 day return
fare to
London Terminals and £5 (FCC & super off-peak only) from Brighton
(CDR
£15).

Checking some more locations I see the premium from Winchester is
£9.80.
With a zones 1-6 day travelcard at £8, what is the point of selling
an
out-of London day travelcard at that price other than to rip people
off to
avoid a queue at Waterloo? This is especially odd given that the
premium
from Basingstoke (also SWT) is only £4.80 (via Woking).

The Basingstoke (and Reading) oddity is due, I think, to the existence
of the other route to London via Reading and GWR. The differential
between SOP and OP has a similar distribution.

The premium from Winchester is just weirdness. A SWT ticket office will
sell me a 1-6 day travelcard at £8 - I ask for a ODTC "from Surbiton" -
so you buy two tickets with no need to queue at Waterloo even to use a
machine (but you can't buy it from a machine /at Winchester/ so you may
have a longer queue there).

--
Mike D

On Mar 1, 3:40*pm, wrote:

In article , (Clive Page)
wrote:

In message ,
Paul Scott writes
Agree entirely - I'll await SWT's response first though. *After PF, I
think the Weymouth local paper might be interested...

For what it's worth, although I don't have the figures handy, there
are similar discrepancies in my area, e.g. between Luton and Luton
Airport Parkway. *It makes for a complex calculation when visiting
London as to whether to get a Travelcard or a simple return plus a
few trips using Oyster.

That is EXACTLY what annoys me. When I started working in London it was a
complete no brainer. If you were going to use TfL at all a travelcard was
the easiest and cheapest way. It's still easiest but often a rip off now.

Excessive premiums being charged for the Travelcard add-on is solely
the responsibility of the TOC in question - they're the ones who are
messing up the old concept of integration. If they point the finger at
TfL for this they are talking out of their backside, end of - make
sure your justifiable ire is aimed at the right target and don't be
deflected by any attempt to shift the blame elsewhere, because it
rests with the TOC who sets the fare.

(There are other points in this thread I'd like to address and will
return to when I have the energy!)