On 14/01/2013 13:16, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:07:33 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Not at all. The London Transport system is a mystery to me with zones,
cards, shellfish, congestion charges, pollution control areas etc etc.

Zones are roughly concentric areas from the centre of London. If you're
a tourist and sticking to the centre, you'd not need a card that allows
you to go anywhere.

Not anywhere but I don't know the zone boundaries at all. Would a card
for the single central zone cover all the tourist sites?

The Oyster card is merely a pre-payment debit card which is 'swiped'
when used. It gives a considerable discount over paying cash.

You needn't concern yourself with the CC and pollution control areas if
using PT

How close can I drive to London before either becomes an possible
problem? IIRC the pollution zone is more or less anywhere inside the M25,
some vehicles don't pay to enter that others do. Do you get enough
warning about an impending charge to be able to avoid it. TBH if I was
driving in central london and came a cross a congestion charge point I'd
want to stop and turn round, is that possible? It's OK for the "locals"
to know the rules and think them obvious but for many a trafic jam is 4
cars in a queue for 2mins, all parking is free and all roads are free.

If you approach London from the M40 direction, there are big signs about
restricted commercial vehicles in plenty of time to choose to turn
around at next junction. And down the A40 you get lots of of CC warning
signs - saying how far away it is. Certainly at that point you can
easily ensure you miss the CC zone by turning round or going to one side
or t'other of it. If anything, the signs are too early, and too
worry-inducing.

--
Rod