A meeting with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has been arranged for 23rd January, see http://www.bowesandbounds.org/events/meet-enfield-mps-and-gtrailway... for details.

Enfield Advertiser provides the following story:

and 3 letters were published in the London Evening Standard on 8th January with a criticism of the new fares......

I would comment as follows

•  increases on regulated fares were limited to 2.2%

        (see National Rail Enquiries) 

Nationally, not all fares increased.

Around half of fares - Season tickets on most commuter journeys, some Off-Peak return tickets on long distance journeys and Anytime walk-up tickets around our major cities - are regulated by government. The average increase in the price of these fares is set by government using July's Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation.

Special arrangements were taken by Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) in respect of PAPER ticketing for one day travel which increased these PAPER tickets by more than 2.2% (sad) BUT the paper free "contactless ticketing" payable using a credit card when swiped at Oyster card readers allows TFL to operate maximum "daily and weekly capping" to all passengers across the London rail Network.

The benefit of this arrangement is to offer discounts to part time or irregular travellers so that NO ONE pays more than the weekly cap however many days they travel. So for the guaranteed cheapest fare consistently use contactless travel from THE SAME CREDIT CARD

• Please DO NOT compare a point to point fare in 2014  with the cost of a Zone_1-6 travelcard in 2015 as the travel card is a permit to travel across the whole London Network

• If you buy an Annual Season ticket or Annual Travelcard in London and the South East of England, using Oystercard you may qualify for an Annual Gold Card which offer discounts on leisure rail travel.

Your Annual Gold Card gets you the following discounts:

• 1/3 off Standard and First Class Anytime and Off-Peak fares for yourself and up to 3 adults travelling with you

• 60% off child fares for up to 4 children (£1 minimum fare)

• Discounted tickets valid from 0930 Monday to Friday and any time at the weekend or on public holidays

• Buy a one-year Railcard for £10 for yourself or someone else

• 1/3 off Off-Peak Day Travelcard Zones 1-6 

• 1/3 off Oyster Off-Peak pay as you go daily price cap and Off-Peak pay as you go single fares for journeys on National Rail, London Underground and Docklands Light Railway for you as the cardholder when you get your Annual Gold Card discount set on your Oyster Card

• 1/3 off Anytime Day Travelcards when bought as part of your ticket to London from outside London Zones 1-9 (subject to time restrictions and a minimum fare)

Joan Ryan wants ticketing for residents to be reformed and simple to use....within the Greater London Travel Area it is ----use paperfree contactless ticketing for guaranteed cheapest daily and weekly fare