John B wrote:
On Feb 12, 11:25 pm, "Boltar" wrote:
Thats all very fascinating and I'm sure you and your Casio had a great
time. What I can tell you is that my monthly travelcard cost me about
95 quid 3 years ago (which is as far back as I can remember, I've been
using the tube to go to work on and off for 10 years) , this month its
over 120. For 3 years with inflation of say 3% that 95 quid should now
be 95 * 1.03 ^ 3 = 103.80. So where has that other 17 quid come from
then?


A z1-3 Travelcard cost £91.40 in 2004 and now costs £105.30, which is
only slightly above the inflation-adjusted increase you suggest above.
I'm not sure what kind of exotic ticket you're using...

The additional increase is fair enough, because the UK economy is
currently showing substantial deflation in goods prices combined with
inflation in services prices. The Tube's cost base is primarily based
on services and wages rather than goods, so its costs will be rising
faster than inflation too...

Just to supplement this thread, the London Travel Report 2006 has a
graph which nicely shows London Underground fare trends from 1971 to 2006.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/lt...2006-final.pdf
Chart 2.2.2

It shows that whilst the inflation-adjusted average fare paid has risen
by about 50% since 1985, the average fare deflated by real London
earnings has just oscillated slightly around the 1985 level (and in fact
dropped gently from 1997 to 2003, rising slightly to 2005 but still
several percentage points lower than the 1985 mark).

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London