HP wrote:
It is not that five pounds is so outrageous...But £5.10 just means
you need a tenner, and have £4.90 in small change.

Surely the amount of change that is required at the ticket office,
negates the benefit of the extra 10p.

It just seems like a silly price....£5.10p...just shave off the 10p
for crying out loud....

I agree with you, but believe the reason is due to the Evening
Standard/Daily Mail and the poor memories of the public at large.

Given that the fare goes up each January they have to keep the rises fairly
regular in percentage terms (OK they have been jumping about a bit in recent
years as Ken messes with them). If it goes up by 4% every year the public
only moan a little bit. If it goes up by 2% one year (to a nice round £5)
this means it has to go up 7% the following year to make up for it. And a 7%
rise means the Evening Standard having a field day, inciting the public to
riot etc etc - nobody remembers that the previous year it only went up 2%.

Hope that makes sense.