http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/new...ost_more. php

quote
Bushey rail trips cost more
London-bound commuters from Bushey are paying almost £2 a day more on
train fares than people travelling from Watford - even though they
have a shorter journey.
Even though Watford Junction and Bushey station are just three minutes
apart, they are managed by two different operators and have different
prices for commuters taking trains to London Euston.
London Midland charges customers £12.30 for a return journey from
Watford Junction to Euston.
However, the same ticket from Bushey, which is controlled by Transport
for London (TfL), now costs £14 - despite the journey being one less
stop and taking three minutes less.
Customers have also been angered by New Years' price hikes, which have
seen return ticket prices from Bushey to London increase by 46 per
cent.
However, Watford MP Claire Ward says she has been inundated with
complaints from residents, who, having returned to work following the
festive break, were shocked at the price hikes.
She has now written to Andy Thomas, London Midland's operations
director, and says it is easy to see why passengers are up in arms
about the "absolutely absurd" price policy.
Ms Ward said: "It is hugely confusing and it is the consequence of
having privatised lines.
"But there are some things which are stark, which are that it is more
expensive to travel from Bushey than it is to travel to Watford and
the access to the family off-peak fares from Bushey are more
restrictive and more expensive now than in December."
Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Watford Sal Brinton
agreed that the price discrepancies were wrong.
She said: "It is not very much of a difference, but it is a difference
and I just can't understand why - it is completely ridiculous.
"It just shows the poor state of the ticketing system."
TfL maintains customers using Oyster cards from Bushey will get a
cheaper fare.
However, commuters have become increasingly frustrated by confusion
over fares and the use of Oyster cars at Watford Junction since the
company took over the line in November.

unquote

Why has the local MP written to London Midland who do not control
Bushey rather than TfL who now do. Is her cunning idea to raise the
fares from London Midland controlled Watford Junction. Can't she ring
Ken?

Mwmbwls wrote:
Is her cunning idea to raise the
fares from London Midland controlled Watford Junction.

Probably - and thats probably what LM would do.

There was a problem with the Sudbury (Suffolk) to Ipswich and Felixstowe
fare - FLX fares being cheaper.
One Railway didn't then put the IPS fare down, they jacked the FLX fare up.

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:34:15 -0800 (PST),
Mwmbwls wrote:
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/new...ost_more. php

quote
Bushey rail trips cost more
London-bound commuters from Bushey are paying almost ?2 a day more on
train fares than people travelling from Watford - even though they
have a shorter journey.
Even though Watford Junction and Bushey station are just three minutes
apart, they are managed by two different operators and have different
prices for commuters taking trains to London Euston.
London Midland charges customers ?12.30 for a return journey from
Watford Junction to Euston.

So why don't both sets of people use PAYG?

At least one of my daily journeys from Watford Junction to Euston
(return) occurs before 7am or starts after 7pm. So I pay (usually)
5.50+3.00 per day. Sometimes it's 3.00+3.00 per day. An annual card is
2200 which works out at about 9.50 per day for me. (As I get a travel
loan from work for the season ticket the cashflow is almost identical)

However, the same ticket from Bushey, which is controlled by Transport
for London (TfL), now costs ?14 - despite the journey being one less
stop and taking three minutes less.
Customers have also been angered by New Years' price hikes, which have
seen return ticket prices from Bushey to London increase by 46 per
cent.

Bushey PAYG is 4.50 or 3.00.

It's the cash single fare that is 7.00

If people are worried about being tracked, then get an unregistered
oyster card and only top it up with cash. For the very paranoid, get
several, use them randomly and take them back to get the deposit back
every now and again and then get a new unregistered card.

However, commuters have become increasingly frustrated by confusion
over fares and the use of Oyster cars at Watford Junction since the
company took over the line in November.


Huh? Initially there was lots of confusion. But since 18th Nov it's been
very simple, Oyster is valid, paper tickets are valid on all trains.

The bit that annoys me the most is that when there is a problem with the
trains you can have several Virgin trains call at Watford Junction,
sometimes at the platform where everyone is waiting for the next train,
but nobody is allowed to get on. Then when the next valid train does
finally arrive, not everybody can get on it (sometimes almost nobody can
get on it) because it's already collected about three train loads of
people at earlier stations. This must annoy the Bushey people even more
(although they won't necessarily be aware that there is a simple
solution) because there are far fewer trains that call at Bushey so
people who can't get on have a much longer wait.

Tim.


--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:49:29 +0000, Great Eastern wrote:

Is her cunning idea to raise the
fares from London Midland controlled Watford Junction.

Probably - and thats probably what LM would do.

There was a problem with the Sudbury (Suffolk) to Ipswich and Felixstowe
fare - FLX fares being cheaper.
One Railway didn't then put the IPS fare down, they jacked the FLX fare up.

OK, but actually there isn't really an issue here. The real fares from
Bushey are cheaper than those from Watford Junction. The article is
just trying to stir up controversy by comparing the 'punitive' paper
ticket fare from Bushey with the 'non-punitive' one from Watford
Junction. It's like the ranting articles in the Evening Standard about
how it costs £4 to go 300m from Covent Garden to Leicester Square, or
how (whenever Livingstone's bid for re-election is mentioned) Tube
single fares have gone up x% in the last 3 years (when actually
they've all stayed the same or gone down), etc.

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:42:44 +0000 (UTC), Tim Woodall wrote:

Bushey PAYG is 4.50 or 3.00.

It's the cash single fare that is 7.00

If people are worried about being tracked, then get an unregistered
oyster card and only top it up with cash. For the very paranoid, get
several, use them randomly and take them back to get the deposit back
every now and again and then get a new unregistered card.

Or even register them under false names and addresses to throw TPTB
off (no checks are performed and AFAIK they never post you anything).

asdf wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:42:44 +0000 (UTC), Tim Woodall wrote:

Bushey PAYG is 4.50 or 3.00.

It's the cash single fare that is 7.00

If people are worried about being tracked, then get an unregistered
oyster card and only top it up with cash. For the very paranoid, get
several, use them randomly and take them back to get the deposit back
every now and again and then get a new unregistered card.

Or even register them under false names and addresses to throw TPTB
off (no checks are performed and AFAIK they never post you anything).

No doubt there are a fair number of M Mouses and the like recorded in
the database by now.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK