On Sun, 14 May 2006 17:28:56 +0100, Colin McKenzie wrote:

At the "State of London" debate today I went to the session on transport
with Peter Hendy (TfL Commissioner). One of the audience raised the example
of travelling from Clapham to Waterloo - from Clapham Junction a CDR with a
Young Person's Railcard is about £1.60 wheras on Oyster PAYG Clapham Common
to Waterloo and back is £4.00.

Hendy said he was surprised that there are any places where National Rail
fares are cheaper but declined to give explicit assurances that fares will
not be pushed up if/when PAYG is rolled out on National Rail.

And what about Ealing Broadway to Paddington? That's about £2.70 CDR.

If Mr Hendy is "surprised" then he must really have no idea. There
must be many many such examples - it's easy enough to find them even
if you only look at routes where PAYG is already valid and even if you
disregard Railcard discounts.

e.g.
Harrow & Wealdstone to Euston: CDR £5.30; PAYG £5.80
Harrow & Wealdstone to Queens Park: CDR £3.40; PAYG £3.60
Harrow & Wealdstone to Stonebridge Park: CDR £3.00; PAYG £3.60
Willesden Junction to Euston: CDR £4.00; PAYG £4.90
Wembley Central to Queens Park: CDR £2.50; PAYG £3.60
West Ruislip to Marylebone: CDR £4.50; PAYG £5.80
South Ruislip to Marylebone: CDR £4.50; PAYG £4.90
Kentish Town to Kings Cross Thameslink: CDR £3.20; PAYG £4.00
Kentish Town to London Bridge: CDR £3.20; PAYG £4.00
Seven Sisters to Liverpool Street: CDR £3.60; PAYG £4.90
Tottenham Hale to Liverpool Street: CDR £3.60; PAYG £4.90
Walthamstow Central to Liverpool Street: CDR £4.00; PAYG £4.90
Stratford to Liverpool Street: CDR £3.60; PAYG £4.90
West Ham to Fenchurch Street: CDR £3.10; PAYG £4.90
Limehouse to Fenchurch Street: CDR £3.00; PAYG £4.00
Upminster to Barking: CDR £2.50; PAYG £3.60
Barking to Limehouse: CDR £3.00; PAYG £3.60

In some of these cases, the CDR remains cheaper even if one or both of
the outward/return journeys are during evenings/weekends when the PAYG
fares are discounted.