MarlowDonkey
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- Joined
- 4 Apr 2013
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- 1,102
Removal of off-peak paper tickets happened in London.
Except it didn't really. What about those making a day excursion to London from outside the Oyster area and using a Travelcard?
Removal of off-peak paper tickets happened in London.
Except it didn't really. What about those making a day excursion to London from outside the Oyster area and using a Travelcard?
Except it didn't really. What about those making a day excursion to London from outside the Oyster area and using a Travelcard?
I completely disagree that you have to price PAYG cheaper than paper tickets for it to be successful. PAYG is much more convenient than paper tickets for most journeys where it's a sensible option - that will ensure that most people use it. Most people don't enjoy wasting time queuing up for a paper ticket (and allowing extra time for their journey just in case they have to do so).
Maybe you could respond to the consultation with your concerns?
Generally I'm in favour of PAYG however I have a concern that this will result in significant price increases, especially at weekends. Consider Hertford North.
At weekends a Super Off Peak Travelcard is £14.50. A regular leisure traveller is likely to use a Network Railcard making the cost £9.50
We don't know what the PAYG charges will be yet but it's probably fair to assume they will be the same as Hertford East where an Off Peak Single journey to Liverpool Street is £5.90. A Network Railcard cannot be used with PAYG.
The daily off peak cap from Hertford East to Zones 1-8 is £18.80. Even someone making a return trip to London plus a couple of Zone 1 underground journeys will pay £16.60
That's a hell of an increase for the convenience of PAYG. The solution - carry on using paper tickets. But most people understandably assume PAYG is cheaper, after all that was a big part of the marketing campaign when PAYG was bought in years ago. The very real danger is that people will switch to PAYG, pay more than they need to meanwhile paper tickets will be withdrawn as they will say there's a lack of demand for them.
This seems to be extrapolating quite a lot... But identifying edge cases is also one reason to do a consultation. I suggest you respond to the consultation with your concerns.