If you are a fellow traveller commuting from outside London areas such as Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, and Greater London you are undoubtedly aware of the difficulties of having to purchase expensive tickets rather than using an oyster card in order to travel towards the London zones. This goes for both buses and trains and is important for all sorts of reasons. For example, as a student living in Walton on Thames, Surrey, I travel to university in New Cross Gate 5 days a week. I am denied the ability to use an oyster card until I reach Surbiton, leaving me with the option of a Travel Card (£20.80) or a Hersham to New Cross Gate peak return (£15.80). Another route entails a peak return from Hersham to Surbiton (£5.10) from which I may then use my oyster card via tube or overground through Clapham Junction to New Cross Gate, costing up to £15.00 if not more extra on my oyster card. Various opinions of those within these areas such as Surrey believe that we should not be penalised simply for living no more than 5 miles from London zones. Others believe that it would encourage more travel and tourism into London zones if these simpler and somewhat cheaper options were made available for trains and buses.
