On 13 Oct, 15:32, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 13 Oct, 14:35, Mizter T wrote:

At the moment it is pure speculation to suggest WJ will join zone A -
there's been no announcements whatsoever, and could well stay outside
of the zonal system altogether.

"The consultation requires the 'London' fares and ticketing
obligations for the West Midlands franchise to only extend to 'the
London Zones', i.e. between Harrow & Wealdstone and London Euston and
not on to Bushey and Watford Junction. TfL draw DfT's attention to
the fact that local 'DC' services operated under the London Rail
concession from November 2007 and calling at Bushey and Watford
Junction will allow full 'Oyster' ticket availability and, on that
route, see an extension of the Zonal system to Watford Junction.
"http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/Franchises...

So I'd say it's fairly likely the situation shown on the promotional
map is accurate.

U


Interesting, thanks for that.

I would add that in that statement it is TfL who sees the extension of
the zonal system to WJ, as opposed to the new London Midland TOC who
may not be so willing if it loses them money. I do also wonder if DfT
Rail has a properly considered opinion on this issue at all!

I hope that the situation as shown on the map does come to be and WJ
does become part of zone A, with Oyster PAYG valid on both the DC
lines services and the fast London Midland trains. However I can see
that London Midland might want to kick up a stink about it - after all
there is a qualitative difference between a fast train from WJ to
Euston that stops once and the somewhat slower Met line service from
Watford to central London.