On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 17:49:18 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

WRONG! It helps if you read beyond the Evening Standard headline.
The real story is at
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-744.shtml

Flat fare of a quid for bus journeys everywhere isn't *too* bad -
it'll allow all buses to go to off-bus ticketing sooner, though it'll
not give much scope for further increases without involving loose
change. I *do* disagree with the free travel for children idea,
though - I can see it leading to troublemakers *legitimately* riding
around on buses for free all day harassing the passengers. 40p is not
an unreasonable child fare, IMO.

As for gbp2 single on the Tube zone 1, it's a complete rip-off,
blatently targeted at visitors and tourists. The fare should be
*reduced* to a quid, and made inter-available with buses to encourage
the two to be used as a system rather than two distinct means of
transport.

It's odd, as someone originating from the North West who now lives in
Milton Keynes and visits London a lot (normally with a Travelcard), to
see that bus and Tube/rail fares in the London area are opposite to
those in the Northern PTEs - there, bus fares are set at commercial
rates and so are high, while rail fares are heavily-subsidised and
rather cheap in comparison, while in London the opposite is the
case...

Neil