[x-posted to uk.transport.london]
[original thread at uk.railway]

On 24 Dec, 16:31, Christopher Griffin
wrote:
This seems to have been kept quiet, and maybe it only affects a limited
number of stations.

I've just checked what my Season Ticket price will be for the new year,
and it seems to be less, rather than more than this year. *Using the
Season Ticket calculator on National Rail from WHC to LST, if I start
the ticket on 5/1/09 I get this:

7 Days * * 1 Month * * * * 3 Months * * * *6 Months * * * *12 Months
£18.80 * *£72.20 * * * * * * * * £216.60 * * * *£433.20 * * * *£752.00

But if I start the ticket on 29/12/08 I get this:

7 Days * * 1 Month * * * * 3 Months * * * *6 Months * * * *12 Months
£19.00 * *£73.00 * * * * * * * * £218.90 * * * *£437.80 * * * *£760.00

OK, it's hardly a huge drop in price, but it makes a nice change.
Anybody know the reasoning behind this?


Translatiion mode
WHC = Walthamstow Central (London zone 3)
LST = (London) Liverpool Street (London zone 1)
/Translation mode

I do indeed know the reasoning behind this - it's because the prices
of rail-only season tickets within the London zones are currently
subject to a process of gradual year-by-year harmonisation that
started in January 2007, the end result being that when the fares
change in January 2010 all London rail-only season ticket will be
priced on a zonal basis - so this is the last step before things go
fully zonal next year, in pricing terms at least.

It is unclear as to whether they will be issued on a zonal basis or on
a point-to-point basis - I can certainly envisage a possible future
scenario whereby rail-only season tickets are made available on Oyster
and issued with a zonal validity (rather than point-to-point) - i.e.
they could be used for travel anywhere on National Rail within the
relevant zones (and the Oyster pay-as-you-go facility would allow
passengers to travel beyond the zones held on their season tickets
validity and automatically extend their ticket, as happens now on the
Underground with season Travelcards on Oyster that are used beyond the
zones held on their Travelcard). Whether paper rail-only seasons would
follow suit, or would still be issued as point-to-point tickets, or
indeed be gradually withdrawn altogether in favour of Oyster remains
to be seen.


Anyway the basic information about zonal fares harmonisation is
confirmed by this paragraph from a report presented at the last
meeting of the London Travelwatch board:

quote
[Paragraph 2.5]
Since 2007 zonal fares have applied to National Rail journeys in
London, and for daily tickets these fares are increased by RPI plus
one per cent. In the case of point to point rail-only season tickets
within London, there is a phased introduction of zonal pricing between
2007 and 2010 to lessen the impact of what would have been some
substantial increases (such as on Southeastern). In some areas this
has also meant that point to point season ticket prices have remained
constant since 2007 or only increased very marginally. The change to
zonal fares was recommended in our ‘Fare deals for London’ research
report, and London TravelWatch has supported this change (which is
necessary to allow Oyster pay as you go to be introduced generally on
National Rail routes).
/quote

Source document available here (follow link to PDF on webpage):
http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/document/513/3617

HTH