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#1
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According to the 2005 prices on the TFL website, for the "average" Zone
4 commuter it is now cheaper buying Oyter pre-pay every day on the tube than it is buying a monthly or annual travelcard. Let me explain.... The average person would travel to work 236 days a year. That figure comes from 265 "working days", minus 8 bank holidays, and 21 days average annual leave. The daily cost from a Zone 4 station for a variety of ticket types is as follows : Oyster-pre pay singles : 5UKP (2 x 2.50) Monthly travelcard : 5.94UKP (116.80 * 12 / 236) Annual travelcard : 5.16UKP (1216 / 236) This doesnt include any days taken off sick (most people have a few per annum) or any travel taken at weekends (which a travelcard would cover), but overall, travelcards for Zone 4 tube travel are no longer the cheapest option! I wonder if TFL have spotted this anomaly?! Cheers, /Neil/ -- Web design, hosting and domain registration http://www.spellings.net/ |
#2
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"Neil Spellings" wrote in message
k According to the 2005 prices on the TFL website, for the "average" Zone 4 commuter it is now cheaper buying Oyter pre-pay every day on the tube than it is buying a monthly or annual travelcard. Let me explain.... The average person would travel to work 236 days a year. That figure comes from 265 "working days", minus 8 bank holidays, and 21 days average annual leave. The daily cost from a Zone 4 station for a variety of ticket types is as follows : Oyster-pre pay singles : 5UKP (2 x 2.50) Monthly travelcard : 5.94UKP (116.80 * 12 / 236) Annual travelcard : 5.16UKP (1216 / 236) This doesnt include any days taken off sick (most people have a few per annum) or any travel taken at weekends (which a travelcard would cover), but overall, travelcards for Zone 4 tube travel are no longer the cheapest option! I wonder if TFL have spotted this anomaly?! I think it's now also the case that Oyster pre-pay is cheaper for a return trip from Zone 4 to 1 than a one-day off-peak travelcard (which has gone up 10.6% in 2005). And that's even if you return before 7pm. So, for a simple return trip, with no extra bus journeys, etc, Oyster pre-pay seems to be generally the best value for most Underground journeys. This can't be an accident -- it does look like it's a deliberate policy to promote Oyster cards. |
#3
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Neil Spellings wrote to uk.transport.london on Wed, 5 Jan 2005:
The daily cost from a Zone 4 station for a variety of ticket types is as follows : Oyster-pre pay singles : 5UKP (2 x 2.50) Monthly travelcard : 5.94UKP (116.80 * 12 / 236) Annual travelcard : 5.16UKP (1216 / 236) This doesnt include any days taken off sick (most people have a few per annum) or any travel taken at weekends (which a travelcard would cover), but overall, travelcards for Zone 4 tube travel are no longer the cheapest option! I wonder if TFL have spotted this anomaly?! That would be true only if your travel was point-to-point on the Tube - it doesn't work if you have to use the bus at either end, or change from NR to the Tube. -- "Mrs Redboots" http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/ Website updated 2 January 2005 |
#4
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On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 22:03:06 GMT, Neil Spellings
wrote: According to the 2005 prices on the TFL website, for the "average" Zone 4 commuter it is now cheaper buying Oyter pre-pay every day on the tube than it is buying a monthly or annual travelcard. Let me explain.... The average person would travel to work 236 days a year. That figure comes from 265 "working days", minus 8 bank holidays, and 21 days average annual leave. The daily cost from a Zone 4 station for a variety of ticket types is as follows : Oyster-pre pay singles : 5UKP (2 x 2.50) Monthly travelcard : 5.94UKP (116.80 * 12 / 236) Annual travelcard : 5.16UKP (1216 / 236) This doesnt include any days taken off sick (most people have a few per annum) or any travel taken at weekends (which a travelcard would cover), but overall, travelcards for Zone 4 tube travel are no longer the cheapest option! I wonder if TFL have spotted this anomaly?! Probably not, because most reasonable people wouldn't see it as one! I'm sure that there might be a handful of people who fit the very narrow criteria you have set, but it means that they'd never be able to use buses, use their PP on days off, etc. -- Nick Cooper [Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!] The London Underground at War: http://www.cwgcuser.org.uk/personal/...ra/lu/tuaw.htm 625-Online - classic British television: http://www.625.org.uk 'Things to Come' - An Incomplete Classic: http://www.thingstocome.org.uk |
#5
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Nick Cooper wrote:
I'm sure that there might be a handful of people who fit the very narrow criteria you have set, but it means that they'd never be able to use buses, use their PP on days off, etc. A quick poll of the 6 nearest people sitting around me at work : 3 - *just* use the tube to get to work 2 - *just* use the train 1 - uses tube and train Its a small selection, and is highly dependant on where you are travelling to, but I think the number of people to use the tube end-to-end for their daily commute is higher than you make out. Regards, /Neil/ -- Web design, hosting and domain registration http://www.spellings.net/ |
#6
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![]() Neil Spellings wrote: Nick Cooper wrote: I'm sure that there might be a handful of people who fit the very narrow criteria you have set, but it means that they'd never be able to use buses, use their PP on days off, etc. A quick poll of the 6 nearest people sitting around me at work : 3 - *just* use the tube to get to work 2 - *just* use the train 1 - uses tube and train Its a small selection, and is highly dependant on where you are travelling to, but I think the number of people to use the tube end-to-end for their daily commute is higher than you make out. It's not a question of _just_ the "daily commute," it's also whether or not they use LT services outside of that, particularly at weekends and in the evening. Pretty much everyone _I_ work with who actually lives in London uses local buses in the evening/at weekends because they're covered by the TCs they already have for their LU commute during the week. On your own figures, the difference between the annual cost of monthly Z1-4 TCs compared to using Oyster PP is £221.60, so a person would have to be using LT services for an additional £18.47 per month to make that up. Making just four extra peak-time Zone 1-4 returns (i.e. 8 singles), five off-peak returns (i.e. 10 singles), 24 single bus trips, or any combitation in between, would eat that up. Not hard to do in a month. On an ATC, they'd only have to make the equivalent of £36 worth of "extra" journeys over the entire year. Your model sounds appealing, but it presupposes someone will never use LT services on their days off or at weekends, and that they will willingly rob themselves of the flexibility that a TC gives with being able to break journeys to or from work (so to go shopping on their way home), unlimited bus use, etc. I suppose someone who lives or works within walking distance of a supermarket, and all other retail outlets or amenities they may need can restrict themselves in such a way, but that genuinely won't apply to as many as you seem to think. Unless, of course, all the "real life" examples you have cited have cars for their local/non-work transport needs, which pretty much wipes out any supposed cost difference in spades, anyway. Of course, it's notable that the pricing structure for singles has changed, so that a Z1-4 is the same as Z1-3, while also Z1-6 is the same as Z1-5. This applies to ordinary singles, as well as Oyster Prepay, while in previous years both ticket types were costed at a point mid-way between the ones "either side." In fact, on the non-Oyster tarrif, a Z1-4 single for this year costs the same as it did in _2003_ (i.e. two years ago), and Z1-6 is only 10p more, while all the other "including Z1" singles are between 30p and 50p more. In other words, your model is specific for people who commute between Zones 1 & 4. In fact, adjusting you model of 236 "commutes" for a Z1-2 user would make a MTC user £4.80 per year better off than Prepay, and £28 for Z1-3. Z1-4 would be £221.60 per year better off _with_ Prepay, £168.40 for Z1-6, but only £20.80 for Z1-5. Annual TCs for travel including Z1 are all better value than Prepay with the _exception_ of Z1-4 (and a Z1-6 ATC is only £72 cheaper). Looking at the current pricing structure, I can't help wondering if this is a hint that the the number of Zones may be reduced in future, presumably by merging 3 & 4, and 5 & 6. Another factor worth considering is that one does not necessarily have to "use" 12 MTCs per calendar year. If, for example, the day after mine expires is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, I often don't renew it until the next working day. Likewise if it expires while I'm on holiday. In that way, it's fairly easy to get a calendar year + 2 or 3 weeks out of 12 MTCs. This would furthur minimise your "on paper" savings for a Z1-4 user, the same would apply to Z1-6, but it would tip the balance for Z1-5 in the favour of MTCs. |
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