Train passengers traveling between London and the Homes Counties have been warned that the new fare system could leave them out of pocket.
It can also be revealed that the Government’s plan to introduce contactless ticketing at more than 50 stations in the South East outside the capital has been postponed until next spring.
A new fare structure is being introduced by the five companies serving London stations (C2C, South Western Railway, Southeastern, London Northwestern Railway and Chiltern) on Sunday 3 December.
This will introduce peak fares between 4pm and 7pm; This means that passengers traveling after the morning rush hour will not be able to use the off-peak return fare for the second leg of their trip.
However, for passengers who take a trip during the morning rush hour and return home during off-peak hours, the total cost of tickets may be cheaper.
Full details of the fare changes have been published on the National Rail website.
Details of the impact on South Western Rail passengers can be found here.
Contactless travel, already standard on the Transport for London network, was to be expanded to 53 stations beyond Greater London by the end of the year under a commitment made by rail minister Huw Merriman in July.
But the Evening Standard has learned this will not happen until Spring 2024 at the earliest.
The Department for Transport refused to answer questions about what caused the delay and told the Standard to contact TfL.
TfL won the contract to install yellow card readers and ticketing software at stations and added them to its London-wide system. In total, approximately 200 stations were required to receive pay-as-you-go ticketing for the duration of the project.
But technological issues are thought to have caused the delay, including the complexity of calculating the correct fare for passengers traveling within London before or after completing their mainline train journey.
On C2C, the “always one” journey from West Ham to Southend will drop from £12.70 to £10.20; A single off-peak journey will cost £8.70. “Anytime refund” will remain unchanged at £20.40.
The off-peak return fare will drop from £19.20 to £17.40, but will not be available for journeys between 4pm and 7pm; The off-peak return fare of £14.90 will no longer apply.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of travel watchdog London TravelWatch, said he was concerned about low public awareness of the new fare system.
“We are fully behind the idea of simplifying the pay system, but we haven’t seen much publicity about these changes,” he said.
“We don’t want people to be caught out, so we’re encouraging passengers to check whether their journeys will be affected. Some tickets, including the Super Off-Peak option, have had to be phased out completely. This will mean that some journeys may actually cost more.
“With the introduction of evening peak fares, there is also a risk that some passengers will be trapped as they will no longer be able to travel on off-peak tickets.
“We hope that a generous transition period will be implemented to ensure passengers are not penalized for something they are not aware of.
“It is a shame that the launch of contactless pay-as-you-go payments has been delayed and will not come into effect at the same time as these charges change. “We know Londoners have been using contactless technology for many years and that it is a convenient way to travel.”
Within the scope of the changes, a “single-legged pricing” structure will be introduced; So single tickets will be half the cost of a round-trip ticket.
There will be two peak periods, broadly reflecting TfL’s pricing system on the London Underground, Overground and Elizabeth line. These run from 4.30am to 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm (TfL’s morning peak runs from 6.30am to 9.30am). The highest fares will apply for services departing from or departing from London station.
The affected stations are:
Apsley
Ashford (Surrey)
basildon
Bat and Ball
beaconsfield
benfleet
Berkhamsted
Bletchley
Brick Wood
Chalkwell
Cheddington
Datçet
denham
Denham Golf Club
Dunton Green
East Tilbury
Egham
Eynsford
garston
Gerrard’s Cross
Hemel Hempstead
High Wycombe
How Wood
Kempton Park
King Langley
laindon
Leigh-on-Sea
Leighton’s Falcon
otford
Park Street
pitsea
Seer Green and Jordans
Seven Oaks
shepperton
Shoemaking
Shoreham (Kent)
Southend Central
Southwest East
St. Albans Monastery
stains
Stanford-le-Hope
Sunbury
sunnymeads
Thorpe Bay
Tilbury Town
Ting
Upper Halliford
Virginia Water
North Watford
West Horndon
Westcliff
Windsor and Eton Riverside
wraysbury
c2c Managing Director Rob Mullen said: “The introduction of simple and easy-to-understand fares and peak travel times will make searching and purchasing tickets easier and more convenient for our customers.
“Going forward, all of our ticketing products (Smart cards, traditional paper, e-tickets and contactless pay-as-you-go (at launch)) will offer fares of the same price if purchased on the day of travel.”
TfL has been approached for comment.