For those within our community who are aware of us, and to those new arrivals to Spelthorne who may be unaware of our campaign, we are a group campaigning to bringing TFL zoning to our Spelthorne stations (Ashford, Staines, Sunbury and Shepperton) for Oyster card fare ticketing, which is already used as payment on our bus services. This would make rail travel into and out of London into our stations more convenient and less expensive benefitting not only our residents but also businesses, schools and hospitals particularly, which have problems attracting and retaining the high and low skilled staff they need due to the expensive fares we suffer from being located on the border of the GLA but not in a TFL zone. Our nearest stations with Oyster card ticketing are Feltham and Hampton and from there another rail ticket is required for onward travel into our stations.
Many rail users are unaware that, being so close to London and Heathrow Airport, Oyster card fares do not to extend into our stations and incur a fine for not having that extra ticket. It does not make sense that the zone has not been extended to end-of-line Shepperton station, and granted Oyster status, with only four stations between there and Hampton. Our research has found that many commuters in those towns drive outside of the borough to stations with Oyster ticketing for cheaper rail travel.
We are supported by Spelthorne Council and are currently in correspondence with the Department for Transport. Last year we met with South Western Railways to prove our case that there would be no loss of rev-enue as our research has indicated that footfall into our stations would increase with Oyster card fares. SWR have agreed to continue our meetings when the virus has ebbed and it is safe to do so.
You can support our campaign by adding your name to our petition. We have over 14,000 signatures to date and It’s an important tool we can use to indicate the strength of our cause. Please share with family and friends. Here’s the link:
https://www.change.org/p/spelthornezone6
We also have a Facebook website which we regularly update with information and where we publish our correspondence with the rail organisations, that you might wish to join to follow our progress and add a comment : Spelthorne in the Zone