"Paul Corfield" wrote:

While I understand the desire to make a political point on this issue I
really think they are all being
disingenuous by hinting that if they were in power that "of course"
fares would reduce by dint of the inflation figures earlier this year.
I suspect that faced with the reality of the TfL budget and forecasts
they might well decide differently.

Indeed.

As we are about to enter a period of high inflation, the idea of making
pricing policy on a 'rear view mirror' basis, against historic inflation
rates, is foolish in the extreme, and would be so whoever was running
London.

Chris

On Sep 13, 2:42*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
"Paul Corfield" wrote:

* While I understand the desire to make a political point on this issue I
really think they are all being

disingenuous by hinting that if they were in power that "of course"
fares would reduce by dint of the inflation figures earlier this year.
I suspect that faced with the reality of the TfL budget and forecasts
they might well decide differently.

Indeed.

As we are about to enter a period of high inflation, the idea of making
^n't
pricing policy on a 'rear view mirror' basis, against historic inflation
rates, is foolish in the extreme, and would be so whoever was running
London.

Corrected for you.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B wrote:
On Sep 13, 2:42 pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
"Paul Corfield" wrote:

While I understand the desire to make a political point on this issue I
really think they are all being

disingenuous by hinting that if they were in power that "of course"
fares would reduce by dint of the inflation figures earlier this year.
I suspect that faced with the reality of the TfL budget and forecasts
they might well decide differently.
Indeed.

As we are about to enter a period of high inflation, the idea of making
^n't
pricing policy on a 'rear view mirror' basis, against historic inflation
rates, is foolish in the extreme, and would be so whoever was running
London.

Corrected for you.

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:36:05 -0400, redcat
wrote:

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?

London bus fares have, haven't they?

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sep 13, 4:18*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:36:05 -0400, redcat
wrote:

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?

London bus fares have, haven't they?

Yes. Oyster PAYG fares were £1 at the beginning of 2007, but then
dropped to 90p that September IIRC. To be blunt, this was a fairly
transparent electioneering gambit from Ken given the upcoming
elections in May 2008. The fare went back up to £1 in January 2009.

Looking at a longer term perspective, the introduction of the flat
fare for buses had the effect of cutting the price for a load of bus
journeys. Ten years ago I used to pay £1.20 to get into central London
on a bus - nowadays the same journey would of course cost £1 (though
one suspects not for much longer - hence the subject of this thread).

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:32:27 +0100, John B wrote:

On Sep 13, 2:42*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:

As we are about to enter a period of high inflation, the idea of making
^n't
pricing policy on a 'rear view mirror' basis, against historic inflation
rates, is foolish in the extreme, and would be so whoever was running
London.

Corrected for you.

Sez you. I'd say Chris is a lot more likely to be right. Can you think of
an easier way for the government to reduce all this debt it's taken on?


Colin McKenzie


--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the
population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

Mizter T wrote:
On Sep 13, 4:18 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:36:05 -0400, redcat
wrote:

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?
London bus fares have, haven't they?

Yes. Oyster PAYG fares were £1 at the beginning of 2007, but then
dropped to 90p that September IIRC. To be blunt, this was a fairly
transparent electioneering gambit from Ken given the upcoming
elections in May 2008. The fare went back up to £1 in January 2009.

Given inflation over the intervening period, the fact that they're £1
now and were £1 from early 2000 in central London is a cut, too.

External to central London they were 70p in 2000, so that I suspect has
gone up even allowing for inflation.

What is, unfortunately, true is that anyone comparing London with, say,
Birmingham is going to conclude that bus fares in London are too low
(mind you, rail fares in Birmingham are lower, the last trip I made
across the West Midlands was £1.50 from Moseley to New Street by bus and
£1.50 from New Street to Wolverhampton by train).

Tom

On 13 Sep, 21:56, Tom Barry wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
On Sep 13, 4:18 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:36:05 -0400, redcat
wrote:

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?
London bus fares have, haven't they?

Yes. Oyster PAYG fares were £1 at the beginning of 2007, but then
dropped to 90p that September IIRC. To be blunt, this was a fairly
transparent electioneering gambit from Ken given the upcoming
elections in May 2008. The fare went back up to £1 in January 2009.

Given inflation over the intervening period, the fact that they're £1
now and were £1 from early 2000 in central London is a cut, too.

External to central London they were 70p in 2000, so that I suspect has
gone up even allowing for inflation.

What is, unfortunately, true is that anyone comparing London with, say,
Birmingham is going to conclude that bus fares in London are too low
(mind you, rail fares in Birmingham are lower, the last trip I made
across the West Midlands was £1.50 from Moseley to New Street by bus and
£1.50 from New Street to Wolverhampton by train).

Tom

The train being after 1830? In Manchester and Birmingham (also
Newcastle on the Metro), there are special reduced evening fares to
encourage travel.

Jonathan

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Sep 13, 4:18*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

On Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:36:05 -0400, redcat
wrote:

Srsly, have fares ever gone down?

London bus fares have, haven't they?

Yes. Oyster PAYG fares were £1 at the beginning of 2007, but then
dropped to 90p that September IIRC. To be blunt, this was a fairly
transparent electioneering gambit from Ken given the upcoming
elections in May 2008. The fare went back up to £1 in January 2009.

Looking at a longer term perspective, the introduction of the flat
fare for buses had the effect of cutting the price for a load of bus
journeys. Ten years ago I used to pay £1.20 to get into central London
on a bus - nowadays the same journey would of course cost £1 (though
one suspects not for much longer - hence the subject of this thread).

You young people won't remember Fares Fair in 1981/2. Fares were cut to
10/20/30/40p for 1 to 4 zones. Even after the court challenge and the
subsequent increase to 20/40/60/80p they were cheaper than they had been
before for most journeys.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message of Fri, 18
Sep 2009 07:48:49 in uk.transport.london,
writes

[snip]

You young people won't remember Fares Fair in 1981/2. Fares were cut to

I DO remember and look forward to a Freedom Pass next year.

10/20/30/40p for 1 to 4 zones. Even after the court challenge and the
subsequent increase to 20/40/60/80p they were cheaper than they had been
before for most journeys.


I have just failed to find a URL describing Fares Fair in detail.
I DO remember even cheaper Sunday fares from Zone 1E to Epping Forest.

These days, I think cheaper Sunday fares would be a bad thing as the
zone 1 load levels on the restricted network are fairly high.

I suppose planned engineering closures won't happen during the Olympics.
--
Walter Briscoe