Solar Penguin wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 12 Feb 2005:

--- Mrs Redboots said...

Why? It is probably cheaper (almost certainly, if you have Pre-pay)
to buy a ticket from Oxford Circus to Brixton & then take one of the
3 or 4 buses that go from there to Crystal Palace, and reverse it.

Or even take a Number 3 bus all the way from Crystal Palace to Oxford
Circus. The only trouble with these methods is that you end up having
to travel on a bus. Not a pleasant way to travel at the best of times.

But infinitely preferable to the Tube!

Worse, it means you're on a double-decker bus, which means annoyingly
low headroom. (Well, unless you get the single decker 322 from Crystal
Palce to Brixton, but that goes via a very long way round and takes
forever, so even the double deckers are preferable to it.)

And you can't see out of a single-decker. But sat in the front seat
upstairs on a double-decker (and since those are just by the stairs, no
problem with headroom), and in no hurry, it's a joy!

(And besides, it's all academic because I don't have Pre-pay anyway. It
isn't valid on my local NR services and I don't travel by bus enough to
bother with it.)

Well, that is fair enough!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 January 2005 with new photos

--- Mrs Redboots said...

Solar Penguin wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 12 Feb 2005:

Not a pleasant way to travel at the best of times.

But infinitely preferable to the Tube!

And yet you'd take the Tube all the way from Brixton, instead of just a
couple of stops from Victoria to Oxford Circus. :-)

Ok... Just to prevent this thread turning into a dull debate on the
subjective merits of Tube vs. single deckers vs. double deckers, I'll
withdraw my original statement and replace it with:

Suppose you want to travel, for example, from Crystal Palace to
Oxford Circus *by* *train* *and* *tube*. Why can't you simply
buy a cheap day return from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus?
Instead you have to buy a One Day Travelcard for zones 1-4,
which means you're also paying for the flexibility of travelling to
Morden, Mill Hill East, Waterloo, and dozens of other places that
you won't actually visit today!

How's that...?

--

"Sexaphones are bad." -- Yads

Solar Penguin wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 12 Feb 2005:

--- Mrs Redboots said...

Solar Penguin wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 12 Feb 2005:

Not a pleasant way to travel at the best of times.

But infinitely preferable to the Tube!

And yet you'd take the Tube all the way from Brixton, instead of just a
couple of stops from Victoria to Oxford Circus. :-)

No I wouldn't - I suggested you might want to!

Ok... Just to prevent this thread turning into a dull debate on the
subjective merits of Tube vs. single deckers vs. double deckers, I'll
withdraw my original statement and replace it with:

Suppose you want to travel, for example, from Crystal Palace to
Oxford Circus *by* *train* *and* *tube*. Why can't you simply
buy a cheap day return from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus?
Instead you have to buy a One Day Travelcard for zones 1-4,
which means you're also paying for the flexibility of travelling to
Morden, Mill Hill East, Waterloo, and dozens of other places that
you won't actually visit today!

How's that...?

Still untrue. You can buy a Network Rail ticket & a Tube ticket
separately, there's no law requiring you to buy a Travelcard! Of
course, the former would cost you a minimum of £7.10 return, while the
Travelcard would cost you £5.20 and you would have the option of
deciding to go somewhere else that evening and not have to pay more for
your transport, but hey, it's a free country!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 January 2005 with new photos

--- Mrs Redboots said...

Still untrue. You can buy a Network Rail ticket & a Tube ticket
separately, there's no law requiring you to buy a Travelcard! Of
course, the former would cost you a minimum of £7.10 return, while the
Travelcard would cost you £5.20

Good point. But we're still charged £1.90 *less* for the chance to make
*more* journeys. Or, alternatively, charged £1.90 more for the chance
to make fewer journeys. Whichever way you look at it, it goes against
common sense. Doesn't that indicate that there's something very wrong
at the heart of the system..? Why shouldn't we be able to save money by
not buying those journeys that we don't make?

--

"We can't stand around here doing nothing. People will think we're
workmen!" -- Spike Milligan

Solar Penguin wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 12 Feb 2005:

--- Mrs Redboots said...

Still untrue. You can buy a Network Rail ticket & a Tube ticket
separately, there's no law requiring you to buy a Travelcard! Of
course, the former would cost you a minimum of £7.10 return, while the
Travelcard would cost you £5.20

Good point. But we're still charged £1.90 *less* for the chance to make
*more* journeys. Or, alternatively, charged £1.90 more for the chance
to make fewer journeys. Whichever way you look at it, it goes against
common sense. Doesn't that indicate that there's something very wrong
at the heart of the system..? Why shouldn't we be able to save money by
not buying those journeys that we don't make?

Perhaps it's like those "Buy two for £2.00" offers at Tesco (or "Two for
£5.00"), where whatever it is, is often too expensive to be worth it if
you only wanted one, but two is a bit much, really.....
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 January 2005 with new photos

Hi

Any fans of Spike Milligan here? There's a new message board on the
Spike Milligan Tribute Site. The address is
http://www.messages.spikemilligan.co.uk/

Any comments or memories of Spike would be welcome

Cheers

Mrs Redboots wrote:

And you can't see out of a single-decker. But sat in the front seat
upstairs on a double-decker (and since those are just by the stairs,
no
problem with headroom), and in no hurry, it's a joy!

Annabel - it must have been a while since you've been on the 3 for you
to describe a long journey on it as "a joy"... (On the other hand, IMHO
the 137 is a very pleasant way to travel from this corner of London to
Oxford St!)

Rupert Candy wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 13 Feb 2005:


Mrs Redboots wrote:

And you can't see out of a single-decker. But sat in the front seat
upstairs on a double-decker (and since those are just by the stairs,
no
problem with headroom), and in no hurry, it's a joy!

Annabel - it must have been a while since you've been on the 3 for you
to describe a long journey on it as "a joy"... (On the other hand, IMHO
the 137 is a very pleasant way to travel from this corner of London to
Oxford St!)

Yes, I don't like the 3 very much, you are quite right. On the other
hand, it does go through some nice parts of London before crossing the
river!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 January 2005 with new photos