Contactless Between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport
I recently travelled to Gatwick Airport and went via East Croydon station, which is a Zone 6 station and thus Freedom Pass territory for lucky Londoners like me!
I used my Freedom Pass to get to East Croydon, by changing at New Cross Gate from the East London Line.
At East Croydon, I found myself on the well-appointed Platform 5, with its coffee stall, waiting room, information booth and toilets.
The only thing that the platform lacks is an Oyster reader, so that those like me, who need to touch-out and touch-in again, as they are changing from a Zone 6 ticket to contactless for Gatwick Airport, don’t have to walk up and through the barrier.
Incidentally, for those like me who have a Freedom Pass, there is an interesting anomaly. After going through the barrier, I then re-entered the station using my AMEX card, before catching a Bognor Regis/Southampton Central service to Gatwick Airport.
At Gatwick I entered the Airport using my AMEX card and when I checked the statement I found that I’d been charged three pounds for the journey.
Coming back, I bought a ticket in a machine from Gatwick Airport to East Croydon and I was charged three pounds and forty-five pence.
So contactless cards may be cheaper! And the return ticket used my Senior Railcard!
I shall have to travel between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport on a Gatwick Express and see how much I’m charged.
It would seem to me that for Freedom Pass holders, the cheapest way to get to Gatwick, is to use the pass to get to East Croydon, exit the station and then re-enter the station using an Oyster or contactless bank card.
It’s just a pity, there isn’t an Oyster reader on the platform at East Croydon, so that those changing for Gatwick at the station can touch out and touch in again.
But this simple exercise showed that for those wanting to go to Gatwick, using contactless ticketing is the way to go.
Glasgow Bin Lorry Driver Should Have Been Charged
According to this article on the BBC web site, a former prosecutor has said that the driver of the Glasgow bin lorry, that killed six people should have been charged. The report starts like this.
A former senior prosecutor has strongly criticised the decision not to charge the driver at the centre of the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy.
Brian McConachie QC said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Harry Clarke.
He said the Crown Office had “jumped the gun” in not pressing charges.
I feel very strongly about this. After I had my stroke, my eyesight was terrible and I decided that to start driving again would not be a responsible thing to do.
My current GP, who has seen me for three years, feels that if I wanted to, I could get my licence back.
But quite frankly I couldn’t be bothered. And I have a lot of backing from my healthy bank account.
What worries me, is how many other Harry Clarkes are there driving around?
In the last four years, I had lifts from other drivers a few times and quite frankly with two of them my eyesight seemed better.
My eyesight problem incidentally, is that I can’t see moving objects low down on the left. So one nightmare on the street, is meeting a crocodile of young children, say being led by their teachers. Luckily I haven’t done anything I shouldn’t! A few times though, people wheeling cases have pulled in front of me from the left and I’ve bumped into the case. Only once have I ended up on the ground, as usually my balancing skills which are still tip-top have got me out of trouble.
Harry Clarke was extremely irresponsible, in not reporting his failing health problems!
Incidentally, if say I was fifty and had got my eyesight problem, as I live in London, I would get a Freedom Pass, entitling me to free public transport in Greater London. I get one anyway as I’m over the qualifying age.
The Easiest Way To Get To Ipswich For Tuesday Night Football
Tuesday night football at Ipswich, and probably Colchester, is a difficult and overly expensive journey, when you have to trouble out for a kick-off at 19:45 using the crowded trains of the rush hour, which charge you more for your pleasure.
Normally if I want to go to Ipswich on a Saturday, it costs me £26.25 for an Off Peak Return from Liverpool Street with a Senior Railcard. But last night, on a Tuesday it would have cost me £50.65.
But Crossrail has come into play with the takeover of the Shenfield Metro by TfL Rail, which means I can use my Freedom Pass to Shenfield for nothing. Younger people, using Oyster or contactless cards have seen a reduction in cost, which some publicity claims is 40%.
So last night, as I had to stop off at Forest Gate on the way, I took TfL Rail to Shenfield in the rush hour.
I then exited the station, had a coffee in one of several nice independent cafes around the station and then re-entered after buying a return ticket from Shenfield to Ipswich, which got me to the ground at a convenient time for the match.
It was all very civilised and for most of the way, I had a seat and was able to sit comfortably and read the paper, as most of the other passengers had departed by Witham.
And for this I paid the princely sum of £16.75, which is approximately a third of the regular price. Here’s the proof.
London To Ipswich For £16.75
I shall be going this way again, especially as I have friends in Shenfield, with whom I could share a drink.
This is a substantial benefit to anybody living in London with a Freedom Pass, who needs to go to anywhere in the South Eastern portion of East Anglia.
You’ve always been able to buy tickets from the Zone 6 Boundary, but the trouble with that is Harold Wood, which isn’t as well connected as Shenfield. You also have difficulty buying these tickets on-line and usually have to go to a booking office.
If you don’t have a Freedom Pass, using contactless cards to Shenfield on TfL Rail and then using an onward ticket from Shenfield may well be cheaper for the whole journey.
Of course, if you bought your onward ticket from Shenfield before you travelled, all you would do is get off one train at Shenfield and get on another to your ultimate destination.
The only drawback is that the journey via Shenfield is slower.
Currently, Ipswich is about 70 minutes from Liverpool Street, but when the Norwich in Ninety improvements are completed, I think we could see this time reduced to 60 minutes or even less. New trains with sliding doors would help too!
Shenfield is 43 minutes from Liverpool Street at the moment, but Crossrail will reduce this by a couple of minutes. Ipswich is probably an hour past Shenfield, but Norwich in Ninety must reduce this.
The biggest change could come when Crossrail opens and there is a new East Anglian rail franchise. If I was bidding for the new franchise, I would stop a proportion of the fast London-Colchester-Ipswich-Norwich trains at Stratford, Romford or Shenfield to interface with Crossrail, so that the journeys for passengers were optimised to get as many on board as possible., to maximise my company’s profits and hopefully my bonus.
Norwich in Ninety plus Crossrail can only mean that house prices in East Anglia will continue to rise.
The New Freedom Pass Map
This document on the Transport for London web site, is the latest definitive map of where I can roam with my Freedom Pass.
The big addition for me is Shenfield, as although I don’t go there often, I could use it as the station to get my train for football at Ipswich.
I would have to change trains twice, but I could still arrive on the same 13:43 train into Ipswich.
But by using TfL Rail to Shenfield and then Abellio Greater Anglia from there, my Saturday Off-Peak Return, drops from £26.25 to £16.75, which is a saving of £9.50.
Similar savings even occur for a Tuesday evening match, as the cheapest fare drops from £28.70 to £19.35. It would also appear that you just buy an Off Peak Return, which is a saving in aggravation.
I’m only working on the current timetable, but I suspect that a new Anglia franchisee in a couple of years time, might stop all of the Ipswich and Norwich trains at Shenfield for Crossrail. It will probably be quicker to go from Liverpool Street, but there will be a lot of possibilities for saving money.
I also suspect that, when Crossrail opens, then Reading, like Heathrow and Shenfield, will appear on the Freedom Pass map, so instead of going to Paddington, will I join trains to Wales and the West Country at Reading.
The biggest effect on the economy of the spreading of the Freedom Pass, will be that more and more retirees will move into the capital, thus fuelling the rise in house prices.
So perhaps the best way to spend that pension pot is to buy a place in London.
Should London’s Freedom Pass Be Extended?
As someone who qualifies for a Freedom Pass, which gives me free travel all over London, I take it very seriously and I also realise how much the 1.5 million holders of the cards cost London and its taxpayers.
Since it was created in 1973, London has grown and with Crossrail further extending the tentacles of London’s trains, it must be part of planners’ thinking to extend the areas where residents qualify and the area where the card could be used.
It has been said that you will be able to use Freedom Passes to get to Heathrow on Crossrail, so what about the other termini at Reading and Shenfield?
There are a lot of questions, if the pass is to be extended.
I think cost will determine what will happen. Especially, as I suspect there are two main groups of Freedom Pass holders.
1. Those like me, who use the pass with gusto and enthusiasm to explore this wonderful city.
2. Those who use it locally on the buses and perhaps occasionally on the Underground.
Transport for London know the pattern and how much it would cost to extend the system.
But if I was the Mayor of London, I’d possibly look for some radical idea.
Let’s take the case of someone living in Birmingham say, who is over 60 and has the UK-wide bus pass and a Senior Railcard. At present they can associate their Senior Railcard with an Oyster card, so they get one-third discounts on all Underground and rail travel in the London area. But as London now embraces using bank cards as tickets on the whole transport system, surely the time will come when those with railcards can associate them with their bank card.
You could argue that allowing this link-up between bank cards and railcards will inevitably happen! Especially, if the banks promote it, as they have with Fare Free Fridays.
Surely, there is scope for link ups with other conurbations, so that visitors can get appropriate discounts on their travels. After all, how much does a visitor from London spend on a day-trip to Manchester or Leeds?
Would they also be more likely to go, if they knew that the ticketing was just using an appropriate bank card, that got them a discount on the local trams and trains?
I am going to Bolton on Saturday to see Ipswich. As I want to see how Posh is doing, I’ll have to buy a couple of extra tickets! Why can’t I just touch in with a contactless bank card?
Action By The River
There was a lot going on in London by the river.
The pictures show the preparations for the Tour of Britain and a barge race on the Thames.
I met a lady from Stoke Newington, who was on her way to see Harmondsworth Barn near Heathrow.
I think there are millions of us, who use their Freedom Passes to explore London.
I Lost My Freedom Pass
Two weeks ago my small ticket wallet with my Senior Railcard, John Lewis credit card and Freedom Pass.
I went down Liverpool Street station immediately and for a tenner, I got a replacement railcard and I just phoned my credit card company to replace that.
But for the Freedom Pass was much slower to get a replacement. I phoned 0300 330 1433 and they gave me a reference and an address to which I should send the tenner.
My cheque has now cleared, but I haven’t received the new pass.
I have been travelling around London recently tracing the Goblin Extension, so every day I have had to buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard at £8.90 or because I have a Senior Railcard at £5.90. I do have an Oyster for emergencies and I’ve used that at times.
The money isn’t the problem for me, although it could be for some.
But to get a discounted Travelcard, I can’t just go to the ticket machine at Dalston Junction, I have to go to the Ticket Office. It’s not a real pain, but yesterday, I had been to my doctor’s to pick up a prescription and so used Haggerston station to buy my ticket, which was very slow, as they were having all sorts of problems with the gates and lifts, so the staff were otherwise engaged.
One problem I have with cashless buses, where you must use a card, is that I have no contactless credit card, as my providers don’t issue them. So I have to travel with a spare loaded Oyster card to get me home on the bus.
These last few days have been quite an inconvenience.
It would be a lot worse, if I lived some distance away from a station with a Ticket Office.
There should be somewhere, where you can go to get a replacement Freedom Pass and the replacement system should be able to respond faster.
Restrictive Rules On Heathrow Connect And Express
I might go to look at Stockley Junction today and the best way would be to get Heathrow Connect to the airport and back.
So I checked up whether I can use my Senior Railcard on the train services. This section on the Heathrow Express gives the details about how you can. There is also this statement.
Yes, you can use a number of railcards on Heathrow Express to obtain discounted travel. To qualify you must purchase at the ticket office, not online or on board.
Obviously, they don’t agree with TfL’s policy of closing ticket offices.
They also don’t agree with the policy of the Gatwick Express as stated here.
Gatwick Express now accepts railcards online allowing you to make great savings on the already discounted online price if you have one of the following cards:
So Heathrow and Gatwick are out of step. Or you can always use the Piccadilly line, where the main problem is overcrowding.
It does appear though that according to Boris, as reported here, Crossrail will have a similar ticketing regime to the Underground.
So perhaps time will be up for the rip-off Heathrow rail services?
A Misunderstanding With Heathrow Connect
I was talking to an e-friend last night in California, who shares my interests of trains and large projects. He is getting on a bit and asked me to find an easy route from Heathrow to Barking, from where he can get a mini-cab to his sister’s. He’s coming in to Heathrow and asked me, if I knew of a step-free route.
Last time he took the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross from where he took the lifts up to the Metropolitan line for Barking. He managed it with ease, but wondered if Heathrow Express or Connect would be easier.
As I wanted to go to see the new Crossrail flyover at Stockley and I thought that Heathrow Connect would be a good camera platform to get a photo, as the train turned towards Heathrow, I told my e-friend, that I’d find out.
I checked last night and a web site told me, that my Freedom Pass could be used after 09:30 this morning.
Before I boarded the train, I asked the First Great Western man on the gate and said I’d be alright after 09:30. As it was 11:00, I boarded the train.
But I had to get off at Hayes and Harlington, as the rules seem to have changed.
I was not pleased, to say the least.
There’ll be an unholy row, if when Crossrail opens in a few years time, Freedom Passes can’t be used to the airport.
Update – I spoke to my friend late last night and he’ll be using the Piccadilly line with the Oyster card, he uses when he’s in London. He was also pleased to know, that probably from the end of this year, he’ll be able to use a contactless card as a ticket.
Richard Rogers At The Royal Academy
I went to see the Richard Rogers exhibition at the Royal Academy yesterday.
It was really worth visiting, with lots of drawings, models and quotes from the architect, of the Pompidou Centre, the Lloyds Building, the Millennium Dome and many others.
They also had a wall for ideas, about what you would like to see done to improve London. I couldn’t resist adding my four pennyworth about my plan to reduce chaos in Oxford Street, by building a first floor level walkway above the buses and traffic.
I also followed someone else in moaning about the lack of public clocks in London. Especially when you compare it with Liverpool.
But one particular idea occurred to me. Why not give all those who live in London, who don’t drive or who have returned their driving licence, a Freedom Pass?
It is definitely, a must-see exhibition.
The Anonymous Widower 