On Nov 24, 7:49*am, Paul wrote:
On Nov 23, 5:54*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:



On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:16:48 -0800 (PST), Paul
wrote:

It might not be a bad idea though. There are regular problems on the
buses where I live (Walthamstow) where people with Oyster PAYG touch
in with insufficient credit. When the bus driver explains that they
don't have enough credit and will either have to pay cash or get off,
some of them pretend not to understand and ask the driver whether they
can travel for nothing, as it is 6am and they have to get to work.
This causes delays which tends to p**s everyone off.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this issue though.

The easy solution is that people stop taking the **** and make sure
there is enough value on their cards. This is a standard "dodge" that
some people play in order to get their bus rides for free. I have seen
it so many times and the weary response from drivers suggests it is a
regular routine from the same old faces.

You would also be amazed at the number of people who go to a machine and
load just enough for the journey they are about to make. I recognise
some people are on tight budgets and cashflow is everything but I was
still surprised when I saw this recently.

--
Paul C

Exactly, I can imagine the response from a New York bus driver if I
said that I had failed to top up my pay per ride Metrocard. * Also, it
is amazing how many of these people suddenly lose the ability to speak
English when the bus driver tells them they have to pay, or proffer a
£20 note, and then start arguing when the bus driver says they don't
have any change. *If you use a Oyster card to make a PAYG journey on a
bus, does it show you the remaining balance just as it does on the
tube?

Yes, but it's sometimes difficult to see due to reflections from the
perspex screen on some buses. On other buses the screen is cut away
around the ticket machine, so you can see the display clearly.

I've noticed something very odd in New York. There seems to be much
discussion among the locals as to how much they should put on a
Metrocard to get an exact number of rides from the resulting value on
the card, including any bonus they may get. They end up with all
sorts of odd values to do this. It's a fairly frequent subject in
places like nyc.transit. I've never been able to get a reasonable-
sounding answer as to what the problem is with having an amount less
than the cost of one ride left on the card; you don't lose it, it's
added to whatever value you next put on the card, but this seems to be
a major issue for some New Yorkers.