wrote:

On Tue, 5 Jul 2011 15:04:47 +0100
"Mizter T" wrote:
What I did say is that there's no non-z1 fare from H&I to Putney - fact,
see
the fare finder. And the TfL blurb is clear in stating that "Some journeys
have been defined as requiring travel via Zone 1 and will be charged
accordingly, irrespective of the route taken".

Can't say I'm surprised. The zone system is only ever used as a way of
extracting the most money from of passengers and if theres a way someone
could
use it to get a lower fare then by its nature TfL will move its own
goalposts
to make sure that can't happen.

If you follow that logic through then there wouldn't be any alternative
non-z1 fares available, nor would TfL have moved Hampstead Heath back into
z2 (from z3) and Willesden Junction back to being a z2/3 station (from being
in z3).

Though I remain irked about the withdrawal of non-z1 daily caps and Day
Travelcards (e.g. for z2-6), which means that pax who may go nowhere near z1
still end up paying for (or more to the point contributing towards) zone 1
validity when it's not needed (and that comes from someone who said they'd
not be a 'zone 1 Mayor', but I'll leave that to one side for now).

That, and the placing of the new Shoreditch High St station in z1 rather
than z2, does show a bit of a disconnect with the policy of encouraging
people to avoid z1 (and so take some pressure off the Tube in the centre)
and instead make their journey orbitally if possible.

All that said, there are a number of journeys which are charged as if they
avoid z1, but where you can travel the z1 route if you want to. And non-z1
season Travelcards can offer pretty good value for money.