RAIL fares expert Barry Doe reports that new Crossrail fares will largely match their Tube equivalents.

TFL Rail, which becomes the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) from later this year, takes over from Heathrow Connect between Paddington and Heathrow this May, and TfL has now announced fares.

As a general policy, when the various sections open, Crossrail fares will be the same as the equivalent Tube fares across London. This means there will be no supplement for using the new section between Liverpool Street and Paddington, and a single from Southall (Zone 4) to Tottenham Court Road (Zone 1) will cost the same as from Southall to Paddington - indeed, the same as from Greenford (also Zone 4) to Tottenham Court Road on the Central Line.

The exception will be Heathrow itself, which will remain outside the Zones for singles, although it will be considered Zone 6 for capping and Travelcards. Oyster and contactless will be valid throughout, and London ‘Freedom Pass’ holders may travel free throughout at all times.

For Heathrow itself, the fares from Paddington on Heathrow Connect are currently £10.30 single and £20.60 Anytime Return (valid a month). The Oyster/Contactless fares from May will be £10.20 peak single and £10.10 off-peak. Yes, only a trivial saving on a single, but the big difference is the daily Zone 1-6 cap of £12.50 applying.

The savings are even larger from other parts of London. For example, if you currently travel from Orpington to Heathrow for the day, the £12.50 cap would allow you to reach Hayes & Harlington, but you’d have to pay another £12.60 return from Hayes into Heathrow, making the day trip £25.10. From May, £12.50 will cover it all.

The big unknown is how Heathrow Express will suffer. Currently it charges around £22 single from Paddington, and from Orpington it’s £35.20! That will fall somewhat when it also accepts Oyster later this year, but it’s still going to be around treble the Crossrail option.

That’s a large excess for a 15-minute saving - and it won’t be in Travelcard or benefit from capping. Might it reduce its fares to maintain market share?

In RAIL 843’s The Fare Dealer, I wrote about TfL refusing to add Thameslink to the Tube map. I have been shown a draft of how the map will look after Crossrail 2, and it’s ludicrous.

In the west it shows Reading and Shepperton, and in the east Gravesend and Shenfield - a 60-mile spread.

This is double the west to east distance of the original Tube map, yet it is still crammed onto

the same 30cm by 15cm sheet of card.

Every station (and tram stop) has to be shown, which totally distorts it. Yes, it was always meant to be expanded in the centre and condensed in the extremities for clarity - that was the brilliance of the original Beck design - but stuffing the trams at the foot, taking up three-quarters the width, is totally ineffective.

However, what of the title? It’s still called the ‘Tube’ map. What right has TfL to have a map showing Tube, Crossrail, trams and Overground (the last still part of National Rail), and call them all the ‘Tube’?

The map’s correct title should be: ‘A map of the only routes in which the Mayor of London has an interest’. It’s appalling that visitors are given a small, but highly complex, map that they think shows everything, whereas around half of all routes are missing - every National Rail line.

I’m not suggesting any more detail is added, but that the only sensible step forward is total abolition of a map that has long-since ceased to be useful. Instead, it should be replaced by today’s ‘London’s Rail & Tube services’ map - the one TfL refuses to stock.

Currently it’s a large sheet, because one side shows all the London & South East network. However, the London Rail & Tube map itself is only 45cm x 45cm and is a model of clarity.

I guess it would need to be about 50cm x 45cm to show everything out to Reading and Gravesend. The current smaller Tube map card could then be issued covering just Zones 1 & 2 - all that most visitors need - but showing every line, of course.

What will it take to make TfL join the 21st century, and agree to showing what exists for Londoners and visitors, and not just what TfL owns itself?

LEO MARTIN. TfL Rail 345020 stands at Maidenhead on March 6, during testing of the new Class 345s on the Great Western Main Line. The first Elizabeth Line fares have been announced - and general policy is that they will be the same as the equivalent Tube fares across the capital.