So the news last night reports that TfL/The Mayor have been bailed out, but with conditions. The main one has been spun as The Mayor having to break his fares freeze promise, but actually that's a bit of a distortion of the truth. The fares freeze was only promised until Jan 2020. I don't think Khan had committed to what would happen if he was re-elected as Mayor this month before the contest was postponed for a year. So I don't think it's fair to say he's breaking his promise.
However, with the government controlling all the TOCs at the moment, and able to pull the strings with TfL too, is this an opportunity to rationalise the fare structure within zones 1-6? Could we have one simple fare scale for all rail travel, whether by Tube, National Rail or a mixture of both?
Scrapping the mixed mode premium when journeys use some NR with Tube and include zone 1 would take one of the major inequalities away from the system. There would probably be some revenue loss, but would the simplicity actually save some money? If there was no difference in fares between NR/Tube would the Heathrow Piccadilly line lose some ridership to the adjacent SWR Hounslow line, thus easing overcrowding (once things settle down again)?
What do people think?
However, with the government controlling all the TOCs at the moment, and able to pull the strings with TfL too, is this an opportunity to rationalise the fare structure within zones 1-6? Could we have one simple fare scale for all rail travel, whether by Tube, National Rail or a mixture of both?
Scrapping the mixed mode premium when journeys use some NR with Tube and include zone 1 would take one of the major inequalities away from the system. There would probably be some revenue loss, but would the simplicity actually save some money? If there was no difference in fares between NR/Tube would the Heathrow Piccadilly line lose some ridership to the adjacent SWR Hounslow line, thus easing overcrowding (once things settle down again)?
What do people think?