Tube fares of doom!

[fluffymark]

Tube fares next year

£3 minimum cash for a single tube ticket? *boggle*

Oyster card fares are going down. Cash fares are going into outer space. If you travel at all in London, *especially* if you’re just visiting for daytrips - get an Oyster card NOW.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Ken isn't elected by nonresidents of London.

[huggyrei.livejournal.com]

However, lots of non-residents need this service nontheless. Public transport should be usable wherever you wish to go, especially since he wants to discourage people from driving (which is currently working out cheaper).

I think it's excessive; I would think the same if any city I lived in tried to make it expensive to usepublic transport for non-residents. Again; I think public transport is a public service, not a club for local people, and should be treated as such.

This is, of course, my opinion. You are not obliged to agree with me. I am endevouring to explain why your reply does not move me.

He also isn't elected by under 18s; should their needs therefore be ignored?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I actually agree with you, but I still repeat: Ken is not elected by nonresidents of London. The main thing Ken has any control of in London is TfL, since almost everything else in London is done either by Central Government or the Boroughs. So when it comes to pleasing the people voting for him, he'll use what he's got (TfL) to please the people voting for him because (love him or loathe him) Ken is a very good politico.
London's public transport should actually serve all users well. When the majority of users are still commuters and residents, who will buy (or already have bought) into Oyster except for the people with paper rail/tube season tickets, and that's also all the people who vote for Ken, occasional visitors and tourists to London will get ignored or shafted.

[fluffymark]

Ken also has control of that lovely congestion charge thing, which recently went up from £5 to £8 and is about to cover a swathe more of West London. I'm actually perversely happy about this, but then I don't have a car and never intend to ever drive in London.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Isn't the congestion charge operated by C(r)apita for TfL under the general aegis of "improving transport in London". ergo is a TfL activity as much as Oyster is?

[fluffymark]

Yes, yes it is. When will they start using Oyster Cards for the CC zone then, do you think? ;)

[ixwin.livejournal.com]

Tourism, of course, provides a lot of the jobs of the people who live in London, so it's not in Ken's interests to ignore their wants entirely.

Personally, I almost always buy some form of travelcard or carnet when I travel to foreign cities, and from the look of the above, they're not rising anything like as much as single ticket fares.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

A surprising number of people don't, though... especially if they are unfamiliar with the idea of travelcards or similar.