Every Autumn, London's Mayor announces next January's fare rises for tubes and buses. Every Autumn, certain sections of the media complain very loudly. Check out the 2007 column of the following tables and you might see why...
Cost of a single central London tube journey
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
£1.40
£1.50
£1.50
£1.60
£1.60
Oyster
£1.60
£1.70
£1.50
£1.50
Visitor
£2.00
£2.00
£3.00
£4.00
Cost of a single central London bus journey
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
70p
£1
£1
£1
£1
Oyster
70p
80p
80p
£1
Visitor
£1
£1.20
£1.50
£2
The good news: If you have an Oyster card (and millions of Londoners do), tube and bus fares are still at 2000 prices. The bad news: If you don't have an Oyster card (and the vast majority of visitors and tourists don't), tube and bus prices have doubled in just three years.
The Evening Standard says: "£4 TO GO ONE STOP ON THE TUBE" A rational human being says: Well yes, but you'd have to be pretty stupid to travel one stop on the tube in central London. Or very lazy. Or the sort of Evening Standard reader who doesn't usually travel with the plebs but is sometimes forced against their will to use the tube when there are no taxis. A taxi driver says: Come January, a group of three tourists will be able to take a taxi across town more cheaply than take the tube. Lovely jubbly.
The better news: You can buy an Oyster card online and have it posted to your home address anywhere in the country (offer coming soon to India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Portugal and the USA) The bottom line: You can't get hold of an Oyster card without paying at least £13 (that's £10 of pre-pay and £3 refundable deposit)
Some background: Cash is now used to pay for only 5% of bus and tube journeys in London. The potentially scary bit: If you have an Oyster card, somebody at Transport for London knows precisely whereabouts in London you were last Saturday morning (and every single day since you bought one). The small print: If you're on pay-as you-go and forget to touch in or out, the amount you'll be charged rises to £4 in November.
The good news: If you have an Oyster card (and millions of Londoners do), tube and bus fares are still at 2000 prices. Which is bloody impressive really.
