On Jun 18, 5:00*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Agreed - that is a *monumentally stupid* example.

A far better example would have been Balham (zone 3) to Victoria (zone
1). The Tube PAYG fare is £2.70/peak, £2.20/off-peak. A single rail
fare is £3.10 (within the London zones, all rail fares are conform to
the same fare scale and are all priced zonally, albeit issued on a
point-to-point basis).

But that isn't the full story, as it is only true when comparing single
fares. If (like most pax I imagine) you are clever enough to buy a 'rail'
standard return at £5.30 or off peak return at £4.10 it is less than the
equivalent two PAYG singles. *I don't recall anything in the media that has
looked at that level of detail, it's more normal for them to go off on one
about the £4.00 cash fare (as in the BBC article above)...

Agreed - I kept the example simple and so didn't mention return fares
(I recall posters on 'one'/NXEA advertising their 'increased
acceptance' of Oyster PAYG specifically pointing out that a CDR could
nonetheless be cheaper).

The return fare situation can be complicated further by the existence
of capping too - and there remains the question of how combined LU+NR
journeys would be priced.


So there is possibly an opportunity for the TOCs to move to LU like fare
scales within the zones on a cost neutral basis by switching to a singles
only system? Swings and roundabouts, slightly cheaper singles but no
returns...

I have thought of this before - however they ditched return tickets,
then that could perhaps have adverse knock-on effects - e.g. people
arriving at the Surbiton ticket office and asking for a return from
Esher, or going to Knockholt and asking for returns from Dunton Green
or Sevenoaks.

I didn't really follow the story at the time (though I've been
intending to look into it ever since), but there was a bit of a
controversy when London Overground took over from Silverlink Metro and
initially ditched a number of CDR fares - only to have to reinstate at
least some of them after complaints were made (presumably these were
journeys for which 2x PAYG single fare was a significant increase over
the CDR). Afraid I'm hazy on the details - but that's perhaps an
example of how an LU-like single fares only policy didn't translate
too well when they tried to apply it elsewhere.