On 23 Dec, 13:46, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:12:40 -0800 (PST), Chris wrote:
At this point a fare structure based on the peak/off-peak principle that
is being introduced on the Underground, Overground & DLR will be put in
place.

I thought that Underground, Overground & DLR has had a peak/off-peak
principle for years.


Yes it does, but that needs to be explained a bit! What is happening
is a new 'off-peak' period for London Underground (LU) fares during
the day.

Let me try and explain this quickly and concisely. When buying a
suburban (i.e. mainline) rail ticket, one can either get a more
expensive *Anytime* Day Return for unlimited use at any time including
before 0930, and a cheaper *Off-Peak* Day Return only available for
use *after 0930* weekdays (and all the time at weekends and public
holidays). This basic rule applies across London and the south east of
England, albeit with a number of exceptions - though there are no
exceptions for journeys wholly within London. (Note that in London
single rail tickets do not have a peak/off-peak divide - they are all
the same price)

This principal extends to Day Travelcards, which allow unlimited
travel on any suburban, Underground, and DLR trains within the zones
of the Travelcard (and any London buses regardless of zones - the bus
network doesn't have a zonal fare system any more). There are (pretty)
expensive *Anytime* Day Travelcards (the new name for Peak Day
Travelcards) which permit unlimited use at any time including before
0930 weekdays, and then cheaper Off-Peak Day Travelcards only for use
after 0930 weekdays and (and all the time at weekends and public
holidays).

When using Oyster PAYG there are daily price caps that are
'equivalent' to the Day Travelcard, with both higher 'Peak' caps and
lower 'Off-Peak' caps (the caps depend on what zones you have
travelled through)
N.B.- the system is designed to ensure that you always get the best
value, which might mean that during one day you could be capped at the
relevant Off-Peak daily price cap rate and also pay for a single
journey during the peak time if this is cheaper than paying the Peak
cap.


OK, got that? Now let's make things more complicated! There is a quite
separate peak/off-peak regime for Oyster PAYG single fares on LU fares
(this includes the DLR and also the limited number of NR routes that
currently accept Oyster PAYG). So far this has not actually
explicitly been called "Peak" and "Off-Peak", presumably to avoid
confusion with the Travelcard and daily price capping Peak and Off-
Peak regime as described above - it has instead been referred to in
TfL publicity by the different times of the day the different fare
levels apply to (see below), also the different fare levels have also
been called the "higher Oyster fare" and the "lower Oyster fare" (and
in internal documents they are called the "standard Oyster fare" and
"discount Oyster fare"). However it seems that TfL have given up on
any attempt not to pollute the meaning of Peak and Off-Peak, and have
given in to the inevitable and now also calling these Oyster single
fares "peak" ("higher"/ "standard") and "off-peak" ("lower"/
"discount"). In large part I expect this is because of the fares
changes coming into effect in 2009.

What has happened so far (up until the 2008 fares) is that the higher
Oyster PAYG fare has been charged for single LU journeys "Monday to
Friday from 0700 and before 1900", and the lower fare has been charged
"All other times including public holidays" - see page 16 of the 2008
Fares booklet here (PDF):
http://mizter.t.googlepages.com/fare...s-zones1-6.pdf


This is all changing next year - basically the higher Oyster fare will
only be charged during the morning and evening rush hours, at other
times the lower fare will apply. Specifically this is what the new
2009 Fares booklet has to say:
"Peak Oyster single fares apply from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to
1900 Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). At all other times,
the Off-Peak Oyster single fare applies."
(see page 5) (PDF)
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...6-02-01-09.pdf


The London Travelwatch document suggests that when Oyster PAYG is
implemented all across National Rail in London next September, whilst
the actual level of fares will be different to LU (though standardised
across all TOCs) the same Peak/Off-Peak time windows will apply.

There are thus now two different charging regimes which both use the
"Peak" and "Off-Peak" terminology but to mean different things.
Confusion, here we come!

(It's worth noting that the higher Peak fare will be charged if a
passenger touches-in or out anytime during the relevant Peak time-
window. Buses and trams do not charge peak fares, and the daily price
cap for bus and tram journeys of £3 - £3.30 next year - applies
regardless of the time of day, i.e. there is no peak/off-peak divide
when it comes to bus-only capping. Likewise the paper one day Bus Pass
is valid at any time of the day.)

I trust that's all as clear as the muddy Thames?