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.