London TravelWatch - "Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year"
http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news.php?id=431
BBC News online - "Transport fare rises 'too high'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6217331.stm
Here's a few excerpts from the BBC news story, with quotes from the
London TravelWatch chairman and Mayor Livingstone...
-----
Brian Cooke, chairman of passenger watchdog body London TravelWatch,
said non-Oyster card users were being penalised by too high fare
increases.
[...]
Mr Cooke said: "We are extremely concerned about the exorbitant cash
fares on both buses, which rise by a third to £2, and on Tubes in Zone
1 (in central London), which passengers will see rise to an
astronomical £4 - even if only going one stop.
"This will especially hit infrequent visitors and tourists to London,
who will not necessarily benefit from the cheaper prices available when
using Oyster cards.
"These fare increases could drive people away from public transport
back to cars and taxis, which would be deeply disappointing."
[...]
Mr Livingstone said: "There are now huge savings to be made by using
Oyster. We have been able to freeze many Oyster pay-as-you-go bus and
Tube fares this year. Many now cost half the same journey paid by cash.
"We said that in order to pay for massive investment in our public
transport system, including new rail links and better services, there
would be three years of 10% fares increases.
"The savings and efficiencies made by Transport for London mean that
the planned 10% increase in fares for this year has been cut back."
-----
I do disagree with the following statement in London TravelWatch the
press release:
"Obtaining, and recharging, an Oystercard is still not an easy process,
and in areas where there is no tube system, there are few places in
which to buy them, so this will hit London - already an expensive city
to visit - hard."
You can obtain and charge Oysters at 2,200 newsagents - or in TfL
parlance 'Oyster Ticket Stops'. These newsagents are all over London,
not just in areas served by the Tube. I'm sure there are blackspots in
some parts of London, in which case I'd suggest that TfL encourage
retailers to become Oyster Ticket Stops, perhaps by having some kind of
introductory offer for the first year or something along those lines.