Mizter T wrote:

I'm surprised that no-one has referred to this yet, though it doesn't
seem to appear anywhere on the Southern (or any other) website(s).

I've only just seen this, despite having been to Sutton station twice in the
last week.

I've seen a poster at a Southern station, which has been there at least
a week, that states that from 2 January 2006, when new fares are
introduced, the London's Zone 6 will be extended to include the
following stations to the south of Croydon and Sutton:

Banstead and Epsom Downs
Chipstead, Kingswood, Tadworth and Tattenham Corner

One of the side effects is that a Travelcard holder can now go for a walk on
Epsom Downs and go between the two terminuses.

From a personal point of view I *think* Epsom Downs is the closer station to
my parents home, but it's not entirely clear (not least because there's
quite a bit of doubling back to get to the station itself at the end of the
estate) but I've hardly ever used it, taking Epsom instead. (Also I recall
that the Epsom-Sutton fare is or was cheaper than the Epsom Downs-Sutton
fare.) Now that Epsom Downs doesn't require a ticket extension on my
travelcard this may well change my travel pattern when visiting. I wonder
also if this will lead to others using Epsom Downs more for visiting the
College end of Epsom.

I've grouped them together for ease of reference. They all appear on
the London Connections map [1], and (logically) they're all outside the
Greater London boundary in the county of Surrey.

Have the district councils had any input on this? Despite the name, the
Epsom Downs line is pretty much in Reigate & Banstead (okay it's the border
in places).