Southeastern have launched a page on their website called “Our ticket types explained“. It promises:

“Are you confused about what ticket is the best value for your journey? We’ve created this quick guide so you can compare and find the right ticket for you”.

Unfortunately it seems that Southeastern have created a system that has left them as confused as their passengers!  

Among the issues that we have spotted:

• The webpage lists a choice of eight – eight!! – different ways to pay your fare. But it misses out Travelcards. At the moment Travelcards can work out cheaper than Contactless with Daily Capping for those going into London once a day and then making multiple journeys within Zones 1-6 once there. (This may change with the fare increases from 5 March).
• It says that the morning peak period for Contactless is 0700-0930. But TfL say that their morning peak period is 0630-0930 – and that’s what the National Rail journey planner says too.
• It doesn’t point out that Contactless can be dramatically cheaper than a paper ticket if you touch in before 0630 – because paper ticket morning peak fares start with the first train of the day, rather than at 0630. A journey from Sevenoaks to Charing Cross on the 0552 is £8.00 by contactless but £14.60 for a paper ticket.
• It says that Railcard card discounts are not available with Oyster. But TfL says that you can “Add your National Railcard to your Oyster card to get discounted travel on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and National Rail services.” (Railcards cannot currently be added to Contactless – so the failure to extend Oyster as well as Contactless to Sevenoaks, Dunton Green, Otford, Shoreham and Eynsford further disadvantages customers in our area.)
• It says that Contactless and Oyster journeys are charged at peak fare 1600-1900 (actually only on Monday to Friday) – but fails to mention that most Contactless/Oyster journeys starting outside Zone 1 and finishing in Zone 1 are charged at the offpeak rate in the evening peak period (that’s true of Orpington and Swanley – although Sevenoaks and the other Kent stations recently added to the Contactless system seem to be “an exception to the exception” and journeys from these stations to Zone 1 are currently charged at peak rates, possibly by mistake (!)).
• It says that on Oyster/Contactless Daily and Weekly Capping “is available”. That’s an odd way of saying that Daily and Weekly Capping is automatically applied for all journeys on a single card.
• Southeastern cannot agree with themselves when a Season ticket would be cheaper! The table of ticket types says that a Season Ticket is “best for … travelling 4 or more times at peak time per week”; that’s right even for a Weekly Season from Sevenoaks to London Terminals (£109.90 is cheaper than 4 peak return journeys at £29.20 each). But further down the page it says “If you make the same peak time journey three times a week or more you could save money by buying a season ticket”; that’s a challenge even with an Annual Season Ticket (£4396.00, which is over 150 peak time return journeys, and so 50 weeks at 3 return peak journeys a week) after Christmas Day and Boxing Day (no trains) and 6 other Bank Holidays (off-peak fares) are taken into account, with no allowance for holidays or illness.

If Southeastern cannot describe their own fare system accurately, what hope is there for the rest of us?