A similar thing went into effect in Chicago at the beginning of this year. Cash fares used to be $1.75 for one ride, and for 20 cents more, you could get a transfer good for two more rides within a two-hour period. But at the beginning of the year, they did away with the transfer for people who pay cash and upped the fare to $2 if you pay cash, though rides are still only $1.75 for Chicago Card users (similar to the Oyster Card). You can also buy transit cards from machines in rail stations. The fare to get on the train is higher using those transit cards than it is for Chicago Card users. It's so crappy. And the only way to add value to your Chicago Card is at rail stations (or online if you're willing to give the CTA a credit card number, which I'm not). Thing is, I almost always take the bus, so I end up paying higher cash fares much of the time. And if I want to transfer, I have to pay double the amount. I could go on about this, but I won't because it makes me angry.

essexjan,

1. you start with the £5 congestion charges
2. raise the ticket price on public transport
3. £££££ Big Smoke Profit £££££

From TFL today: it seems tourists will be able to pre-order an Oyster card.

And if you have an Oyster card the rises are pretty small.

Not that the prices have gone up any huge amount, so not quite the same thing, but it frustrates me that I pay $58.50 a week to catch the train to work, when I could drive and pay not much more (parking is the killer cost). The government says they want to encourage people to keep cars out of the city, but slugs us for doing the right thing. For the thousands of couples who both work in the city, it is much cheaper to drive than use public transport, which is just nuts. This makes me angry, because it seems so wrong to waste the resources of a whole car just to bring one person in when, simply by accepting a larger loss on the railway system, the government could dramatically reduce the cars and the pollution in the city.

Umm, this city, not yours.

Thank God I walk to work.
My "commute" to work is a leisurely half hour stroll past a school, a park, a catholic church, a mosque, PC World and B&Q.

Back in the day when I commuted a travel card would cost £60.00 a month. That was for about 1000 miles a month. Which I thought was a good price.

Of course, that's West Yorkshire Travel prices which seem significantly cheaper than anywhere else in the country.

Seanboy, your comment deserves a bit a of caveat: Traversing West Yorkshire 32 miles round trip per day in a month isn't worth £60. Probably half the price would seem reasonable.

I get everywhere on boda-boda. Maybe TFL should consider them as a cheaper alternative to the bus.

If that wasn't such a funny comment funmonkey1, I'd be offended.

My "commute" to work is a leisurely half hour stroll past a school, a park, a catholic church, a mosque, PC World and B&Q.

Man I sure wish I could walk to work but residences in my work area start at $400K and go up from there. The only thing I could afford would be a 400sq ft basement suite.