London Banter - New Fares

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4307770.stm

Tubes and buses hit by fare hike

Tube and bus fares in London paid for with cash are set to increase
next year, the Mayor has announced.
A single Tube journey in zone one will cost £3 instead of £2 while a
single bus journey will rise from £1.20 to £1.50, said Mayor Ken
Livingstone.

However fares will fall for holders of the Oyster pre-pay smartcards.

With Oyster, a zone one Tube ride will be cut from £1.70 to £1.50 -
half the cash fare. Mr Livingstone said the aim was for fewer people to pay
with cash.

Speaking at City Hall, Mr Livingstone said the increased fares to be
introduced from January would raise about £80m.

'World's most expensive'

"This proposed fares package focuses on halving the number of cash
journeys made in 2006 to speed up journeys and improve the efficiency of the
network," he said.

He conceded the new single Tube fare of £3 would probably be the most
expensive in the world.

Roger Evans, conservative chairman of the London Assembly Transport
Committee, said: "How can the Mayor expect people to leave their cars at
home when bus and Tube tickets are spiralling out of control?"

London Assembly Lib Dems said the price hikes would clobber tourists
and ultimately businesses during what is already a difficult time in the
wake of the London bomb attacks.

Geoff Pope, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport spokesman, said
it would also hit those who cannot use Oyster cards because the majority of
train companies running services to and from the capital still refuse to
accept the card.

A further rise in fares is expected in 2007, the last of three
previously announced price hikes.

The basic fare on London's buses rose by 20p to £1.20 in January this
year.

From August this year, all under-16s have been entitled to free travel
on London's buses and trams and this will be extended to all under-18s in
full-time education by September next year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4307770.stm

Tubes and buses hit by fare hike
[...snip...]

Oh dear, those spokesmen are going to look a little silly when they read
their quotes.

Graham J wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4307770.stm

Tubes and buses hit by fare hike
[...snip...]

Oh dear, those spokesmen are going to look a little silly when they read
their quotes.
And to think that just over 10 years ago a zone one fare was £1.
Imagine if you had said that in 10 years time the fares would be 300%
dearer.

Kevin

I think I shoul have said 200%

Kevin

Now we know who's paying for all the kids/yobs to travel free.

In article , Paul @whydoyoucare.co.uk
(Paul) wrote:

Geoff Pope, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport spokesman,
said it would also hit those who cannot use Oyster cards because the
majority of train companies running services to and from the capital
still refuse to accept the card.

Absolutely! No Oyster in Cambridge or Putney. If only there was a
travelcard Network Awaybreak or Saver return. I get penalised for
visiting my parents in Putney and staying overnight.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Oh dear, those spokesmen are going to look a little silly when they read
their quotes.

And to think that just over 10 years ago a zone one fare was £1.
Imagine if you had said that in 10 years time the fares would be 300%
dearer.

That would indeed be a fair point. I know you meant 200% but of course that
is a cash fare. The Oyster Pre-Pay fare will be £1.50. A 50% rise doesn't
sound so bad. Bad enough, but not so bad.

My point was aimed at the absurdity of the comments. The first one talked
about bus and tube fares spiralling out of control. The season ticket
prices are going up around 4% I believe, which could be considered
excessive, but certainly not out of control. Oyster Pre-Pay prices seem to
be staying the same or even being reduced, so they aren't out of control.
Only for those wishing to use cash for daily fares is there an issue.

The next one said the price hike would clobber tourists. Why? They can use
an Oyster Pre-Pay just like anyone else and are encouraged to.

Finally we had one saying that it would hit those who don't use Oyster cards
because many train companies refuse them (I assume he meant don't issue
them). Well I don't see how that forces them to pay cash fares instead of
using Pre-Pay. OK with through daily tickets there may be an issue but
surely not a huge one in the scheme of things.

Seems to me that really the announcement was pretty reasonable and not
really very controversial at all.

asdf wrote:
But the fare increases won't affect journeys from those stations.

While it's a fair point that the train companies ought to start
accepting pre-pay, Mr Pope has ended up looking a bit clueless IMO.

In addition, I believe you cannot use a railcard (eg YP) on Oyster
travel cards.

Chris Hills wrote:
asdf wrote:

But the fare increases won't affect journeys from those stations.

While it's a fair point that the train companies ought to start
accepting pre-pay, Mr Pope has ended up looking a bit clueless IMO.

In addition, I believe you cannot use a railcard (eg YP) on Oyster
travel cards.

Also the passengers charter says that rail users are entitled to a
discount if punctuality falls below a certain level. This discount does
not apply to oyster period travel cards. You know where you can stick
yer oyser Ken!