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Is anything known about delivery of Phase 1 which I take to be PAYG, Phase 2 is presumably provision of concessions.
Can I share another absurd feature of the Project Oval scheme as it is currently operating.
I travelled with the family from Sevenoaks to Windsor & Eton Riverside (WNR) travelling out around lunchtime and back on the 18.53 from WNR and then on the 20.11 from Waterloo East to Sevenoaks. Both of these trains are “off peak”, WNR-WAT (inbound to Zone 1 in PM peak) and 20.11 (WAE to SEV) after PM peak. However, booked as a through ticket on a TVM or TOC website it is currently charged as a peak journey – presumably because one leg starts before 19.00 despite it being an offpeak journey.
It seems to me absurd that two offpeak journeys are charged as a peak fare on a through ticket.
When PAYG arrives, will TfL’s back office system recognise that it is impossible to catch a peak train from Zone 1 if a passenger catches the 1853 at Windsor?
I travel regularly from Sevenoaks, Kent to Bletchley, Bucks through central London. I travelled off-peak Wednesday November 29th and paid £25.85 with a Senior Railcard. With little more than a few posters around the station, when I did the same journey again in early January the published fare has increased to £37.55 that is a massive 45% increase almost literally overnight and without any consultation.
The increase is the “Project Oval” scheme smuggled out just before Christmas by the DfT which applies the TfL Contactless charging scheme to 53 stations previously outside the PAYG zone but without any capping or concessions. When contacted both SER and WMT stated that the rules were agreed by TfL and DfT and they were required to implement them.
Subsequently I got a suggestion from a TOC to use an off peak daily Travelcard and a return from the boundary of Zone 6 to Bletchley. This does indeed magically bring the fare very close to the previous off peak fare. However, any luckless traveller who lacks any interest in the details of rail fares will buy a ticket from a TVM or website at the massively inflated new price. It is a rip-off of the innocents!
The penultimate insult is that if I catch the same trains but travel from Tonbridge to Bletchley and back (an extra 14 miles) then I can save myself £7.20 as the Tonbridge-Bletchley fare is only £30.35.
The final insult is that contactless is supposed to make things easier. They clearly haven’t.
We need TfL capping and concessions NOW.
