Prompted by a site visitor (thanks Nick) I’ve analysed the changes to fares on the NR2 scale and discovered that they have all been aligned with the main NR1 scale. I queried this with TfL who said that they had checked with Southeastern and that the fares are correct. I also asked Southeastern for confirmation and a spokesperson said:
We can confirm that we have harmonised some Southeastern Pay-As-You-Go fares, set in line with Transport for London’s fares, to coincide with the opening of the Elizabeth Line. This has a benefit to passengers of avoiding the need to tap in and tap out mid-way through their journey to obtain the best fare.
This is good news, not only for residents of Dartford and Swanley, but also for simplification of the complex fare scales, rendering the NR2 and NR2-T columns on the fares grid redundant. I’m not quite sure why the news is being kept such a secret. Some examples of the reduced or frozen fares are below:
Dartford to Oxford Circus (was £9.40 peak/£6.40 off-peak) will be £8.90/£6.00.
Swanley to South Kensington (was £9.40/£6.40) will be £8.90/£6.00.
Dartford to Canary Wharf via Lewisham (was £6.50/£4.20) will be £5.60/£3.60.
Dartford to New Cross (was £5.90/£3.50) will be £5.60/£3.60.
Dartford to London City Airport via Woolwich Arsenal (was £5.00/£3.30) will be £5.00/£3.10.