please empty your brain below
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So pleased I’ve got a Freedom Pass. Perversely the higher the fares go up the more I save - but appreciate that not the case for those under 60 or the Over 60s who live outside London Boroughs but travel in London.
Brian | 28.01.23 - 7:15 a.m. | #
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I recently discovered you can dangle for free if you travel before 0930 on a weekday (not bank holidays) and have a bike with you. It's not clear from the website when this offer will run until.
martin | 28.01.23 - 7:16 a.m. | #
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RANT
They say that all bad decisions have consequences. The fares freeze was one as Londoners will eventually realise. It did immense harm to TfL before Covid completed the job. But the fares freeze wasn't the only thing. One only has to read the Commissioner's report each month to realise how relatively inimportant bus and train travel is in TfL's priorities. Little or nothing is ever said about the harm to the bus service by prioritising cycling for the few, the absence of resignalling on the Piccadilly line hobbles the new trains, and the Bakerloo line has become a heritage line with no new stock in sight. Frankly Covid has been a life saver for the Mayor as, when he blames that and the government, most folk forget the harm the fares freeze caused.
RANT OVER
100andthirty | 28.01.23 - 7:59 a.m. | #
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A bigger 'bad decision' was Boris Johnson and George Osborne's agreement to cut TfL's government grant to zero.
(n.b. ranting is just a distraction from the finer detail)
diamond geezer | Homepage | 28.01.23 - 8:12 a.m. | #
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In response to the "RANT", the fare freeze did not "harm" TfL financially, in fact prior to Covid, TfL's operational deficit was almost halved under Sadiq Khan compared to what was left by Boris Johnson.
As DG says, the bad decision was Johnson agreeing to slash the funding grant to zero.
Charlie | 28.01.23 - 8:32 a.m. | #
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I presume that the Hatton Cross wheeze will still provide a cheaper journey to Heathrow, so long as you are prepared to take a walk out though the barriers
Petras409 | 28.01.23 - 8:57 a.m. | #
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Most people outside of London would be very happy if their public transport was so reasonably priced.
For those in areas without public transport, who have to rely on cars, their cost of travel has at least doubled in the last year.
People in areas of England other than London also have to wait until their state pension age to get free transport.
Just saying...
(and yes, that's probably today's sealed envelope ;) )
Blue Witch | 28.01.23 - 9:03 a.m. | #
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The inconvenient truth is that with the population aging almost all around the civilized world, such kind of hikes are only going to be higher and higher.
Patrickov | 28.01.23 - 9:19 a.m. | #
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To be fair, those increases this year reflect the current rampant inflation rate, it's not as prices have shot up when everything else is going up by 2%.
Mikey C | 28.01.23 - 9:41 a.m. | #
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Perhaps major news providers have staff that only travel into the office occasionally nowadays - so they don't really care anymore.
Still Anon | 28.01.23 - 9:43 a.m. | #
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I wonder what these rises would be if the Rail unions pay demands were met. Staff costs are a significant part of the operational cost and it would be good to see what difference the union demands make. If it was 6% instead of 5.9% then stop messing about and pay. On the other hand, if it was a 10% increase instead of 5.9% then that would put a different view on the action.
Jimbo | 28.01.23 - 9:55 a.m. | #
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Off-peak outer London price hikes are an ongoing result of the unsustainably low fares in the early days of Oyster, used to tempt people away from paper tickets. At the time many people couldn't see the point of switching if fares were the same, and even the marketing folks didn't realise quite how popular Oyster would become, so left those fares very low rather too long.
Andrew S | 28.01.23 - 10:16 a.m. | #
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Splitting your journey at Hatton Cross when travelling from Z1 to Heathrow now saves £2.20 off-peak
Sophie | 28.01.23 - 10:20 a.m. | #
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For those of us outside London, if it is possible to find a bus anywhere nearby, it will cost a fiver to step aboard for the shortest journey unless you happen to survive older than 67.
Kev | 28.01.23 - 10:46 a.m. | #
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In the days of the GLC, when under Ken Livingstone they attempted to reduce fates ("Fares Fair"), the Thatcher regime simply removed buses from GLC control, handing it over de facto to the Tory Secretary of State for Transport. This is whats happened here, but a lot more slyly: by taking away the TfL grant, the Tory government again de facto control transport in London - they offer financial assistance- but set the terms and conditions for how TfL can use that - in a way, effectively removing GLA control over transport. Yes, the Mayor of London can "manage" the services, but only according to how the Tory government say the money can be spent.
Le Ver | 28.01.23 - 11:19 a.m. | #
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I think the "resetting" of the Santander bike prices late in 2022 (single PAYG journey, non-electric was set to be similar to then prevailing bus fare, whereas before bikes were significantly cheaper on a round trip basis) was foreshadowing the bus fare price rise.
The bikes are now priced to cheaper again as buses are now more expensive.
MilesT | 28.01.23 - 12:50 p.m. | #
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Kev - for those of us outside London, a lot of bus fares are £2 till the end of March thanks to the government's fare cap scheme.
Even without this there are some decent value journeys around - and some horribly expensive ones. But London prices do seem to be unsustainably low and out of whack with everywhere else.
As for Fares Fair, the situation is a bit more complex than the comment above suggests. The nationalisation of London Transport by the Thatcher government happened several years after Fares Fair had been cancelled having been ruled unlawful.
I suspect any government is going to have a problem with dishing out huge amounts of money to Tfl without having some say in how it's spent, particularly if the mayor is from the opposition party. It would be a lot more sustainable if both management and funding cound be devolved properly.
BCW | 28.01.23 - 12:51 p.m. | #
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I’m not going to take the bait this time 🥚
MS | 28.01.23 - 1:25 p.m. | #
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I am incredibly grateful that I recently qualified for the 60+ card, as the way things were going I was convinced it would be scrapped before I got there.
Now I no longer have to restrict or mentally justify every journey I make - and I get a 10% discount in Iceland to boot!
It has taken away some of the sting from entering a new decade!
Cornish Cockney | 28.01.23 - 3:51 p.m. | #
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Last year this post got seven comments saying "You Londoners don't know how easy you have it", so this year is a definite improvement.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 29.01.23 - 8:41 a.m. | #
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Jimbo - Generally, LU staff pay rises are the February RPI rate of inflation, sometimes slightly more, depending on what the unions manage to wrangle. Expect action if they don't get this offered!
Traditionally, not many staff will strike just for a a pay increase, and so the unions usually add a few other reasons as well just to get their members support.
For some reason, the TfL pension increase is based on the previous September's RPI, which usually ends up less that in February.
Perhaps a lower inflation rate in September is why the government also uses this month as the basis for increasing pensions and benefits the following year (albeit at the lesser value CPI).
rogmi | 29.01.23 - 11:57 a.m. | #
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Ah, but that's because most people are scared of being ridiculed, having their comment reduced in font size or changed in colour, or being deleted totally.
In short, they have learnt not to disagree or try to provide an alternative viewpoint, or some balance to an issue.
See the comment by MS above.
It's not until you move to a different part of the country, rather than just visit it, that you see/understand what 'levelling up' (how I hate that phrase) really means - and that it is unlikely to ever happen.
Blue Witch | 29.01.23 - 12:00 p.m. | #
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Paying "cash" for the tube is a misnomer, as you can buy "cash" fares with a card and you can top up Oysters with cash.
John | 29.01.23 - 8:07 p.m. | #
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100andthirty is talking out of his hoop. As you can see by looking at every street in London, motorists are the ones with priority yet only 46% of households have access to a car. Study after study shows that more people want to cycle but don't feel safe doing so.
brush | 30.01.23 - 2:05 p.m. | #
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Also from 5th March, on the river...
• Single and Return fares will increase by an average of 9.3%.
• River Roamer tickets will increase by an average of 12%.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 06.02.23 - 6:47 p.m. | #
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