On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:25:10 +0000, Michael wrote:

Hi,

Can someone confirm to me what would happen in the following situation
regarding the new price cap for an Oyster card with a loaded National
Rail railcard:

On one day a person makes four bus journeys and a tube journey between
zones 3 and 4, all of which begin after 9:30am.

Would that be charged at the bus price cap (£3) plus the tube fare (£1),
or would the zone 2-6 off peak (£2.80) Tube cap apply to cover
everything?

I would assume the cheaper fare would apply as it is theoretically a
Travelcard replacement. I am also assuming that the cap applies when
the discounted rate is met, rather than the normal cap level and the
price then discounted.

But even if the tube cap was not applied, what would then happen if
instead three such tube journeys were made? At £3 this would reach the
£2.80 cap so the bus journeys would then not be charged separately.

In either situation though, and the reason for my confusion, the fare
for the bus travel is reduced by adding a tube journey (or three).
Surely that cannot be right? Granted 20p is not that much to quibble
over for it not to be worth it in practice, but in theory it would mean
you can save money by adding gratuitous tube journeys to your day.

Don't know for certain but I think the logic is like this.

If you undertook four bus journey they'd be £3.60 in total but capped to
£3. If you then undertook the tube journey as described then if you
also have the Railcard discount activated then the total cap should
reduce to £2.80. I agree it seems odd if you make the bus trips first
then the bus one day cap will be applied first until such time as
another mode is added that might trigger a different product /
geographic gap.

Your logic in the second example of 3 tube rides and then the bus is
correct from my understanding of how the "lowest cost" capping logic
works.

While I agree it might seem illogical the fact is that you get no
Railcard discount for just bus travel but as soon as you include tube or
rail then a lower cap may be activated (if off peak and outside zone 1).

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!