massive fare rises for met users'

they wouldn't,tfl are an entity,however what makes this worse is statements like this.

I have fought shy of entering into this discussion, but I am amazed at your repetitive hyperbole: you have a far better public transport infrastructure than the majority of the country and you are baulking at the need to pay more for what is better.

I strongly suggest that you consider the situation of a single parent with two children living in a village with only one convenience store with a surgery that is only open on three days a week. The post office, railway station, cottage hospital are all a 40 minute 'bus ride away.

Please look at what you have got and consider how fortunate you are.

NB. for the avoidance of doubt what I've written applies to a fair old chunk of Kent, not my homeland.

Journeys in zones 7,8 and 9 probably make up significantly less than 1% of all journeys made on TfL rail services, and over a week or more, an even lower percentage of customers. It is understandable that the statements made by TfL focus on the general changes that affect most of their customers.

It isn't great to see fares going up, and the loss of non-zone-1 travelcards is a bit rubbish.

I've spent a lot of my life living on the borders of TfL services, and the difference in cost between getting on a red bus heading towards london and a green bus away from london is significant...

I believe we may be approaching a simplification of zones ahead of the Olympics, (although can't remember the source as it was a while ago). The playing around of travelcards this new year is possibly part of this plan...

That's the driving force behind LU service density!

Good points but you forgot that bus companies now run some of the railway services and holds a monopoly in many cases So they increases fares and find any excuse to cancel trains especially at weekends and run buses instead whereby charging railway fares to travel, in some cases on 15-20 year old vehicles that are less than ideal! Then certain well known wealthy owners plead for help to run their franchises as they stash their excessive profits in their castles!


Xerces Fobe

was hoping this thread would die out,sorry started it really.fares subjects do not really fit the forum,however the rise did come as a shock as it did (or will) to most.

Spot on SE13, I agree with every word!

There is a great deal in the thread that I disagree with, however, I certainly do not believe that motoring is cheaper in real terms but then I have been driving on a full licence for just a few months shy of 40 years so I expect my experience is different from others.

As I live in the sticks, not even in the village and was effectively cut off for five days I know the difficulty of lack of availability of public transport. There is little to speak of locally and what there is would be no use for going shopping or to the bank so I have to have a car to get around but I can no longer afford to do more than a thousand miles a year on the income that I have. Of course I have my Retired Oyster but it's no use 130 miles from the nearest TfL services and I still have a few years to go to get a free bus pass. I have no idea what the bus fares are here, the only time I've really seen buses is when I've been to the city to photograph them but that's an expensive hobby now, it wasn't when I first retired!

Londoners and those in the surrounding areas are lucky to have the variety and frequency of travel services available to them, they are to a great extent spoilt for choice and yet have little appreciation for it. To be honest there is much to be said for limiting car usage in such places, by law if necessary, such things as the school run for instance should be outlawed. Children would be healthier walking to school as we used to in the 1950s and 1960s and with less cars on the road (the stated original idea behind the Congestion Charge) the bus services would perhaps be able to keep to time and run at the specified frequencies. Having been born a Londoner, raised, lived and worked there for 52 years I have to say that as far as travel goes in many ways Londoners have never had it so good. Nobody likes fare hikes but people seem to forget just how much the standard of living of the average Londoner has increased over the last three decades.
Perhaps in the lean times that we are all facing people will appreciate what is important, living in the capital a car is a luxury and I would shift the burden of transport subsidy away from taxpayers and towards those who insist upon driving cars, not only in the city but also in the suburbs, during morning and afternoon/evening peaks. Much of the rest of the country has looked at park & ride which couldn't work in the same way within Greater London but making residents leave their cars at home would have so many more benefits than boosting public transport services.

A lot of what the car owners who live outside London are saying makes a lot of sense - outside London people have the choice of using a car to commute, and so most do - hence the much lower public transport provisions and requirements.

The consequences of living in London mean a car is not viable for commuting for the majority of people (parking availability and cost, time to commute and of course congestion zone charge) and hence many people do not have a car.

Therefore they are forced to rely public transport for every journey, as there is not a sensible alternative of using a private car - and it is not affordable to keep a car just for a journey to tescos at the weekend.

This is why the public transport service in London needs to be better than the villages in the back of beyond - and why price increases hit much more of the population than would in other parts of the country.

Also, when disruption occurs in London it hits many more people much harder than it would it a lot of the rest of the country.

I live near Watford and have a car. It's not economical to do so, but I have one for the times when I need it. I'd probably be better off hiring one, but that's a lot of hassle that takes the shine off being spontaneous.

I have TfL buses to get me to each of the 5 stations nearby, and why on earth would I drive when I could have a drink and get home past midnight for £1.20? I pity my poor friends that live off the TfL routes and have to pay £15 for a taxi home. It was even cheaper when I used to have a Travelcard for work as the buses were effectively free.

if you live near a town you might feel you dont need a car,its one of the reasons i left chesham and moved to aylesbury, everything is at hand and there's no need to travel now.the towns got everything i need,otherwise i would have faced the large fare increase to say harrow at £11 return from chesham with the fare increase from aylesbury its £12.25.but there is no need now.

well whoever did post this has been candid and deserves praise for being open and honest,its a bloody disgrace this increase and the way it was introduced by tfl and published and handled.



an anomaly still exists in chilterns fares from aylesbury,harrow £12.25 to zones 5-6 via harrow £11.50 at least its a saving if anyone's interested,the ticket works fine.

One point that hasn't been touched on. Young persons railcard discount now available on PAYG singles. Something that should have happened from the word go, mind.

Ah that explains why I was charged a different fare to my friend. I did Cyprus-Victoria (via Tower Gateway/Tower Hill) to meet her and help her back across London with heavy bags. We returned via Green Park and Canning Town, so I wondered if Oyster had interpreted my travels as a single journey rather than as two (I wasn't going to complain about being charged less than I expected!)