Is it cheaper to use Oyster pay as you go than a travelcard?

Well, yes!

Let’s assume first of all that you commute to and from work twice 5 days a week, from Zone 2 to Zone 1.

From 2008, a monthly 1-2 travelcard will cost you £93 [1]. A single pay as you go ticket (on Oyster) will cost you £2 [1] (assuming you’re travelling peak hours).

So:

£2 x twice per day x 5 days per week x 4 weeks = £80

 

Ah-ha I hear you cry, but surely if you account for the fact that people travel at the weekend too, the monthly travelcard will pay for itself? I guess it does, but for some people it’s a lot cheaper not to buy a travelcard but I don’t remember it ever used to be quite this cut and dry. It’s even more obvious now that travelcard rates have gone up, buy PAYG hasn’t.

Do the sums kids (or ride a bike!)…

 

[1] http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/guide-to-fares-and-tickets-08-01-02.pdf

EDGE & UC

How nice, my smartphone is now picking up O2’s EDGE network at home… I’d seen it in a few places around London (like Canary Wharf) but I’m surprised to see it out here in the sticks ;)

Should come in handy to run my mobile Communicator client on, having just seen how cool it was at the launch event today. I’m really enthusiastic about Office Comms Server and I just hope our little pilot goes well at work and we get to deploy it on a grand scale :) I really want a Roundtable to play with though!