Only a little bit of this was TfL's fault...

Broken ticket machines made me miss both the 07:19 and the 07:30 - and of course it was too much to hope that the ticket office be manned at this time.  The 07:49 was cancelled (overrunning engineering works somewhere near Woking). 08:00 was six late within TfL's network.  This made me 43 minutes late into Waterloo overall, but because all problems bar the last six minutes were because of issues out of TfL's network, I can only recognise the six minutes.

I tried to get the 08:37 connecting tube, but it was too crowded to physically enter, so I got the 08:39, which was a minute delayed by the time it arrived at Edgware Road.  Had the 08:00 from Hersham arrived on time, I would have been at work nine minutes earlier than was the case.  So that's just £22.50.

But because I'm feeling even more spiteful than usual after this morning's journey, I'll draw your attention to a little news item, which tells us that 223 TfL staff members are on salaries of over £100K, which presumably explains why we the passengers continue to pay for above-inflation fare rises.

The journey so nice, I paid for it twice

UPDATE: Tube to Waterloo running two minutes late, but didn't affect my connecting train to Norbiton, so no charge.  However, that train was two minutes late arriving at Norbiton, so that'll be another fiver.


Sorry about the lack of update yesterday: I had a traffic nightmare, compounded by managing to leave my laptop bag at the child minder's and having to return for it.  Long story short, the way the trains would have then worked out for me meant it was likely I wouldn't have got to work before 11:00, so I elected to work from home instead, having mostly a series of conference calls to attend anyway...

The train from Hersham to Waterloo was seven minutes' delayed this morning, causing me to be late for a breakfast meeting at Soho House.  Thanks for that.  Incidentally, the connecting Northern Line train I had to take to Leicester Square was also a minute delayed.  Finally, the Bakerloo Line from Oxford Circus to Paddington after the meeting added another two-minute delay for a grand total of 10 minutes and £25.  Plus £6.80 for my second ticket: £31.80.

On top of this, the ticket machine at Hersham took my payment for a single to Waterloo and then proceeded to print on air - I received no ticket or receipt.  So when I got to Waterloo, I had to pay a second time for my delayed journey.

One bus-fare zone: £2m

Ever wondered what happens to the change you don't get given when buying a bus ticket at one of the bus stop ticket machines in London?  TfL pockets it all.  The call it 'legitimate fares income' and put it back into the bus network, which must mean 'make dodgy investments'.


The lesser-known 'no-armed bandit' (Image credit: BBC)

 TfL says it's OK to steal money from travellers, though, because it's only about 1% of them.  Happily, though, they plan to start removing these ticket machines from next January, instead accepting cash on all buses.  Expect delays.