On 12 Sep 2006 02:13:02 -0700, "Neil Williams"
wrote:

sweek wrote:

Well you should simply get an Oyster, even as a tourist.

It's all very well to say that, but walking into a Tube station or
joining a bus it is *not* obvious.

Sure it is. There's posters all over the network comparing the cash
and Oyster PAYG fares.

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

Kev wrote:

I am absolutely staggered by this increase. Last year it double from
£1.40 to £3, now it is going to £4. A 167% increase in a little over
a year. A little over 10 years ago it was £1, so 400% in just over 10
years.

£1.40 to £4.00 is a rise of 185%, not 167%

£1.00 to £4.00 is a rise of 300%, not 400%.



--
Bob

Bob Wood wrote:
Kev wrote:

I am absolutely staggered by this increase. Last year it double from
£1.40 to £3, now it is going to £4. A 167% increase in a little over
a year. A little over 10 years ago it was £1, so 400% in just over 10
years.

£1.40 to £4.00 is a rise of 185%, not 167%

£1.00 to £4.00 is a rise of 300%, not 400%.

I don't recall it being £1.40 - last year it was £2.00 cash AFAIK. In
real terms these rises will be somewhat less; certainly on buses, fares
have barely risen at all in real terms over the last six years.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:

Bob Wood wrote:
Kev wrote:

I am absolutely staggered by this increase. Last year it double from
£1.40 to £3, now it is going to £4. A 167% increase in a little over
a year. A little over 10 years ago it was £1, so 400% in just over 10
years.

£1.40 to £4.00 is a rise of 185%, not 167%

£1.00 to £4.00 is a rise of 300%, not 400%.

I don't recall it being £1.40 - last year it was £2.00 cash AFAIK. In
real terms these rises will be somewhat less; certainly on buses, fares
have barely risen at all in real terms over the last six years.

My memory is that three or four years ago, the single bus fare in Epsom
& Ewell was 70p. Thanks to the corrupt Labour government giving Mr
Livingstone powers of taxation without representation, he's now made it
£4. Note that Mr Livingstone has not made any way of topping up an
Oyster card available at any location more than 100yds in from the
boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.

Seeing as Oyster isn't valid on the K9 and K10 (and these routes have
sensible distance-based fares still), it would be very easy to extend
the same principle to the 406, 418, and 467. With a little re-routing,
the 293 and 470 could receive similar treatment.

James.

Kev wrote:

Why don't they just put signs up at
Heathrow and on the boundary of London saying **** off if you are a low
life visitor we don't want you in London.

Does seem odd, especially if TfL said on London Tonight that the vast
majority of people now use Oyster (presumably tourists mostly buy
travelcards) anyway. If that's the case, how are they able to say the
extra money will be reinvested in public transport? What extra money?!

It seems that the higher price we already pay is enough, so what's the
justification for a further £1 increase?

Jonathan

Kev wrote:
Yes, great if you have Oyster. Why don't they just put signs up at
Heathrow and on the boundary of London saying **** off if you are a low
life visitor we don't want you in London.

This recent visitor has not one but /two/ Oysters: one from Notting Hill
Gate last summer, one from Heathrow T123 this summer.
--
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA

On 11 Sep 2006 23:54:45 -0700, "Neil Williams"
wrote:

Dave Arquati wrote:

-- via Zone 1 singles from £3 to £4 (!)
-- bus singles from £1.50 to £2

Now that really is taking the ****. Why don't they just abolish cash
fares if that's what they want to do? It's nothing but an underhand
and dishonest tourist tax.

It's only a tax on stupid tourists. Anyone visiting a different city,
especially those from overseas where English is not their first
language, is likely to bring with them a guide book or do some
internet research before they set off. I certainly always do, and that
research always includes checking out the public transport options and
fares in my destination city.

If there really are any tourists that just turn up somewhere where
they don't speak the language without the sense to read the key points
of a guidebook / leaflet / inflight magazine and check for basics like
how to travel around the place, I'm fine with them paying a bit extra.

You also ignore the fact that typically newly arrived tourists come
with a huge pile of large denomination notes or travellers cheques.
Quite how you expect them to fit those into Oyster machines is beyond
me. Do you see what I'm saying? The people you're bleating about are
*extremely* likely to go to a tube station ticket office (e.g. the one
at Heathrow, Gatwick or a major train station) first because it's
probably the only place they can spend the large notes they've got
anyway.

Peter Frimberley wrote:

It's only a tax on stupid tourists. Anyone visiting a different city,
especially those from overseas where English is not their first
language, is likely to bring with them a guide book or do some
internet research before they set off. I certainly always do, and that
research always includes checking out the public transport options and
fares in my destination city.

I reiterate my previous statement - you, like other readers of this NG,
are clued up on transport and travel. Not every tourist/visitor is -
and nor will they necessarily take a guidebook.

You also ignore the fact that typically newly arrived tourists come
with a huge pile of large denomination notes or travellers cheques.

Or credit/debit cards?

Quite how you expect them to fit those into Oyster machines is beyond
me.

I would expect a machine selling tickets costing gbp10 to accept gbp10
notes, and maybe even gbp20 ones. I don't know, but I wouldn't
consider it likely that many are turning up with wads of gbp50 notes -
though I may be wrong...

Neil

Dave Arquati wrote:
Almost all Oyster fares remain the same except:
-- off-peak bus journeys (from £0.80 to £1.00)

OK, so that's an extra £1 a week for me then. I can't help wondering,
what's the reasoning behind abolishing off-peak fares on the busses?
--
Rob

Rob Hamadi wrote:

OK, so that's an extra £1 a week for me then. I can't help wondering,
what's the reasoning behind abolishing off-peak fares on the busses?

I thought a peak fare was higher on Oyster (1.50?)

Neil