My friend, and regular visitor Debra, has asked several questions regards the Freedom Pass and my journeys using it. I decided that to answer those questions and give a full understanding, a post was needed. This is going to get a little complicated in places so please bear with me!
The first question – “Are these short distances you travel between stations?” – is probably the most difficult to answer without context. So to give an overview of the potential distances I think we need to envisage the area covered by the pass. Broadly speaking, this is London and its Suburbs within the M25 Ring Road…
…That yellow line forming a rough circle through the green areas around London. Ignore the smaller circle that you can see inside the built up areas – That is the North and South Circular roads and our pass takes us a lot further out than that!
Now we need to talk about ticketing because that plays a key role in where our pass can take us. There has been a strong desire to get away from paper tickets on public transport for many years. There are many reasons for this ranging from convenience for the travelling public to political machinations. In 2003 Transport for London introduced the Oyster Card for travel within London on Buses, Underground, Tramlink and the Docklands Light Railway. It was subsequently expanded to include travel on national rail services too. Pricing for journeys is based on a system of concentric zones. The area initially covered has expanded over the years – this is the current zone map…
In general the Oyster Zones form the basis of where the Freedom Pass can be used with a few anomalies. This is the simplified map showing the route validity for the Freedom Pass…
Now to answer that question – short distances? In comparison with getting on a train to go to Scotland these are short distances. But to give a sense of scale using some London Overground routes as an example… Watford Junction to London Euston = 17 miles; Stratford to Clapham Junction or Richmond = 17 miles; Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside = 14 miles give or take. A trip from Watford Junction down to East Croydon using London Overground and Southern services would be just over 25 miles.
On any day out I will usually be travelling sections of different routes to get to my destination, so none of the individual distances will be long. Lets do the trip from East Finchley to Harrow & Wealdstone as I did it last Tuesday… Northern Line to Archway = 2 miles. Then London Overground from Upper Holloway to Gospel Oak = 1 mile; Gospel Oak to Willesden Junction = 4.5 miles. Finally, Bakerloo Line from Willesden Junction to Harrow & Wealdstone = 5.75 miles – 13.25 miles total not including walking.
“Are they commuter trains, primarily?” – Yes. Although the term local trains is probably more appropriate to the national rail services I use as they run throughout the day rather than at peak times only. They usually call at all stops along the route.
“Light Rail” – No and Yes 🤣 The Docklands Light Railway speaks for itself…
…The Tramlink is Light Rail too…
…especially when it gets away from the roads😅 I guess you could view the London Underground as a form of Light Rail…
…but in reality it’s the worlds oldest ‘Rapid Transit’ and incorporates companies with mainline pretentions (The Metropolitan Railway for example) 😎👍
Additionally, the pass is valid on all London buses and on local bus routes throughout the UK!
Finally – the anomalies! I can travel to Watford outside of the Oyster Zones because it is served by London Overground (whose trains I must use). The same is true of Cheshunt, Amersham and Epping – all outside the M25 but served by London Overground, the Metropolitan Line and the Central Line respectively. When it opened, The Elizabeth Line introduced the biggest anomaly of all – I can now travel from Shenfield in Essex all the way across central London and out to Reading in Berkshire. That’s over 60 miles!
And in future, who knows? The possibility of Transport for London taking over the Thameslink routes has been mooted before – Cambridge, Bedford and Peterborough through to Brighton would become a possibility were that to happen😅 Never say never🤣