In message , Kat
writes
In message , Bob Adams
writes
In message , Ben and Michiyo
writes
You should only swipe once for going in and once going out. If you can not
make sure you are only charged for one journey and if not ring the
oystercard helpline to be refunded.

Will somebody please explain to me how an Oyster card is an improvement
over a travel card _from a regular commuter passengers point of view_ ?

A travel card just works. No phoning

What phoning? You'll only need to phone if you have more than one
unresolved journey on your Oyster.

That sounds a lot like phoning to me.

, no unnecessary swiping,

You still have to put a magnetic ticket through the gate at start and finish or
see someone to let you in/out if you have an extension ticket.

Actually, there dozens of journeys involving the underground where you
never go through a single barrier. Take a NR train that arrives at
Moorgate. From there you can go to Canary Wharf (DLR) and your ticket
will stay in your pocket the whole way.

Swiping however will probably need in the future, a swipe to leave
Moorgate NR, another to enter Moorgate (Northern Line), again to leave
Bank (NL), again to enter Bank (DLR) and again to exit Canary Wharf.
Five swipes to currently replace no barriers. And then the same number
when going home again. That is not exactly going to speed up the daily
crush, is it?

no
overcharging,

Oysters don't overcharge if used correctly (apart from a few anomalies which
are currently being sorted out.)

An unusual definition of none.

no stress.

Not true; the failure rate of magnetic tickets causes stress for everyone.

I have been using a monthly travel card for the past five years. I have
had zero stress with it.

Is an Oyster truly an improvement for anybody
else other than LUL? If not, why is everybody playing along with this
charade?

Oyster cards are much less susceptible to damage than magnetic tickets
which makes queues while someone tries over and over again to get their
ticket to open the gate less likely.

Never happened to me.

They are certainly much easier to use and it's impossible for the gates to
swallow them up, which again causes delays.

Never happened to me.

With added Pre Pay, you no longer have to queue at the ticket office to buy
an extension ticket for more than one zone; it's all done automatically by the
card and the reader.

Never happened to me. I have a zones 1 to 6 card anyway.

The most important thing to remember is that the system will only work
efficiently and the way it was designed to if everyone validates their card at
both start and finish of the journey and keeps enough Pre Pay on their Oyster
to cover any out of zone journeys they might make.

Which does not answer my original question which was :
Will somebody please explain to me how an Oyster card is an improvement
over a travel card _from a regular commuter passengers point of view_ ?

Bob.

--
Bob Adams (email to )