congokid wrote:

I travelled today from FB to C&L via Baker Street and my Oystercard was
charged GBP6 for the outward journey at about 7.45am, and GBP3 for the
return journey at about 11.15am.

First of all, are these the correct fares?


Paul Terry's already answered this so sorry for covering the same
ground, but just in case you want it to check this or any other fare
for yourself you can query the TfL Fare finder online he
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/2009/farefinder/

As it explains, the higher (Peak) fare applies Monday to Friday from
0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900, the lower Off-Peak fare at all
other times including public holidays.


Secondly, this may become a regular commute for me for a while, and I
wonder what my most economic option would be for a season ticket (weekly
or monthly - I don't see it going beyond 5-6 months). I asked at a
ticket office, but the TFL person wasn't able to tell me offhand and I
wasn't able to wait for him to spend lots of time checking.


Again, sorry for retreading David Jackman's earlier answer - as he
said a zones 1-8 Travelcard will cost £228.10 for a monthly and £59.40
for a weekly. You can also buy a season Travelcard for any period up
to a year - the price will be calculated on a pro-rata basis. There
isn't an option of a point-to-point season ticket on London
Underground and there hasn't been for quite some time.

The Travelcard you get needs to be valid for all the zones you travel
through, so cost-wise there's nothing to be saved by starting your LU
journey at say Baker Street as opposed to Fulham Broadway. See the
Tube Map marked with the zones he
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-Tube-map.gif

You could also travel on a Chiltern Railways train from London
Marylebone to Chalfont & Latimer - for fares purposes the Chiltern
line is basically regarded as an Underground line as far as Amersham,
so the same Oyster PAYG fares apply and a zones 1-8 Travelcard would
also be valid. As a result of this fares arrangement there isn't a
separate Chiltern trains only season ticket for this rail journey, so
cost wise it's no more economical.

The only other way I can see to make this journey cheaper is to avoid
travelling through zone 1 altogether - this would mean you would only
need to get a zones 2-9 Travelcard at £172.80 monthly and £45.00
weekly (a zones 2-8 Travelcard is not available) [1].

From Fulham a non-zone 1 route this could involve taking a West London
Line (WLL) train from West Brompton to Willesden Jn, then a Bakerloo
or London Overground train to Kenton, alighting and nipping round the
corner to Northwick Park station on the Met line and continuing your
journey from there.

OK, that sounds fairly insane - but if one was instead to cycle to a
Bakerloo line station in zone 2 - i.e. one north/west of Warwick
Avenue, then that could work. I haven't checked cycle routes but off
the top of my head you could head to say Kensal Green or Queen's Park
or even Willesden Junction.

Despite the fact that Kenton and Northwood stations are almost
literally around the corner from each other, there is an issue with
this masterplan - fast trains heading for Chalfont & Latimer don't
stop at Northwood, as shown on this Met line diagram:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/metropolitan.pdf

But all Met line trains, including the fasts to Amersham, stop at
Finchley Road - so if you really wanted to save money you could cycle
up here. Plus the Oyster PAYG fares from Finchley Road to C&L are £4
Peak, £2 Off-Peak - so five Peak return journeys (i.e. a weeks worth)
would come to £40, less than the £45 cost of the weekly zones 2-9
Travelcard.


The first part of my journey would be a walk to the nearest tube and the
last part another walk - each about 1mile. I'm thinking of taking my
folding bike for these bits, assuming there's room for it on the first
leg of the tube journey, but I imagine I could also cycle straight to
Baker Street to take the Metropolitan line.

Not only would I enjoy the exercise, but I think I could also cycle this
stage faster than the tube takes, especially if I use my regular bike.
The Met train to Amersham this morning was virtually empty, so I presume
there'd be no objection to taking a bike on board.


This leads me to question 3 - is it OK to take a regular bike on board?


Unfortunately I'm about to repeat stuff Paul Terry posted earlier, but
only to elaborate on it - as he said, regular bikes cannot be carried
anywhere on the Underground network, specifically they are totally
verboten between 0730-0930 and 1600-1900 (Mondays to Fridays) - see
the Bicycles on the Underground map here (PDF):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/bicycle-tube-map-0108.pdf

Folding bikes can however be carried at any time:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/9049.aspx

This is also the case with regards to Chiltern Railways trains.


And fourthly, would travelling from Baker Street instead of FB make my
season ticket more expensive?


No difference whatsoever - note that fares are calculated based on
what zones you pass through, as opposed to where you start or finish
your journey. Therefore there's nothing to be gained by starting a
journey outside of zone 1 if it subsequently passes through zone 1,
for example. (The Oyster system 'knows' if a journey passes through
zone 1 - more precisely, it is programmed with a number of presumed
routes between A&B. Most of the time the system just applies 'common
sense' logic.)

Indeed if you were to travel on the Underground between Baker Street
and FB that journey would effectively be 'free' if you had started
from Chalfont & Latimer - likewise it would cost you nothing extra if
you were to continue down to Heathrow, for example.


-----
[1] Travelcard season prices including zones 7-9 are on page 10 here
(PDF):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-junction.pdf