Rupert Candy wrote:
Dave Arquati wrote:

[snip useful and clear analysis]

All that's left are day return journeys to London terminals, which would
unfortunately be more expensive under this system. Single would be £2.50
from a Zone 4 station, return would be £4.70 (capped to the price of a
Travelcard).

If we take Crystal Palace as an example, a single to Victoria would be
£3.10 now, or a return would be £3.60. On the plus side, you get free
bus and tube travel "thrown in". I guess it all depends what proportion
of day-returners arriving at London terminals don't use any other
transport during the day.

However, as a YP railcard holder I can get a CDR from West Dulwich to
Victoria for around £2. Since railcards don't have any effect on zonal
fares, a comparable journey via bus 3 and Brixton will end up costing
over twice this. I wonder if they've thought about what will happen to
railcards if they go zonal?

I have wondered about the railcard issue, being a user myself (but
usually only for journeys between London and the "outside" :-) ). With
the last fares change, through tickets from NR to Tube stations were
fully discounted (before, only the NR portion was discounted), and it
would be odd to abandon a discount again.

A possible solution in our case might be for TfL to combine their
Student discount scheme with the YP Railcard scheme, with
Student-registered Oysters incurring the YP discounts whereever
necessary. Complicated though!

Given that return fares between the termini and South London stations
would rise considerably, TfL may have to offer some compromise to
satisfy the travelling public.

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