Fare's fair?

From the 2nd of January 2010, a new fare structure applied to all TfL and National Rail services. In general, “new fare structure” is a euphemism for “increased prices”, and it was no different this time around. The Train Operating Companies (TOCs) which run National Rail services, companies like Virgin, South Eastern Trains, London Midland etc, disguised the fact that some fares would rise by percentages in the double figures by stating that the average rise was about 1% - a nifty trick made possible by the fact that the government regulates the prices of the most popular tickets.

On TfL services, the price rises announced by the Mayor a couple of months ago took effect. These were unfortunate – London already compares unfavourably with other world cities for transport costs, and most people who still have a job which requires commuting to are facing pay freezes or even cuts. Unfortunately they are necessary to complete the upgrades, which I guarantee will be worth the pain when they are delivered, but which is not much consolation right now. At least our rises are for good reason, rather than to create larger profits with no discernible passenger improvement as on National Rail.

In the case of the TfL “new fare structure” though, there have been structural changes as well as the inevitable price hikes. In the finest tradition of the British rail industry, these structural changes have made the hideously complicated fare system even more difficult to understand. First off, the long-awaited integration of NR services within the TfL Zones to Oyster has spawned the “Oyster Extension Permit” or OEP. If you have a travelcard, say Zones 1-2, but live in Zone 5 and want to travel into town on your Oyster using NR services, it is not good enough to have enough money on your card. Oh no. You must also have an OEP loaded onto your card which permits you to do this.

Then, there is the abolition of 3 Day Travelcards. These have quietly been removed and all customers will be sold Oyster pay as you go (PAYG) instead, on the premise that three days of PAYG price capping is cheaper than a 3 Day Travelcard. While this is true, most Londoners do not understand price capping and get stung by it. In addition, Oyster cards seem to ignore the price cap with alarming regularity. It is difficult for staff to communicate exactly how much money a customer will need on their Oyster to cover the cap amount, and it is not written anywhere in leaflets that you can take away. So Londoners find capping difficult, and now we are forcing tourists to use it by taking away a simple ticket type aimed at visitors to London. The One Day Bus and Tram pass has died a death for the same reason in this fares revision.

Likely to be the most unpopular change, however, is the minimum top-up limit at ticket office windows. From now on, it will not be possible to top-up less than £5 at a ticket office window. This is a measure designed to cut queuing times at ticket offices and has merit at the major interchange stations, but even in these busy places it is unpopular both with staff, who don’t like telling people to go away, and passengers, who don’t like being told to go away. I can only imagine that it will be even less popular at far-flung stations where a ticket office queue would be a nice change from the norm.

So, happy new year from TfL! If you can afford to travel with us, and understand which ticket you need to buy, it will be a pleasure to see you on our services!