In message , at 06:13:44 on Wed, 25 Oct
2017, Clank remarked:
On 24.10.2017 11:03 PM, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:07:00 on Tue, 24 Oct
2017, Clank remarked:

If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now
as it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far
keener to get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back
of Oyster acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely
appeal to a large proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

If anything the UK is backward compared to the rest of the world on
contactless acceptance,

I was more concerned about contactless issuing, and the risks of
accepting foreign cards whose creditworthiness status can't be
determined in real time.

No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you
that the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses
claim is a huge disadvantage.

Other systems solve this problem easily, as you've been told before. NS's
system for Chipkaart produces a very nice online expenses claim receipt
(which is specifically valid for Dutch tax purposes in the case of
nominal/registered cards,) which is far more convenient than toting around
bits of paper - the same can be done for contractless cards.

No doubt I'd have to set up accounts [remember to, and have time to]
for every balkanised transport operator I used on a trip.

I see no reason why a printout from the TfL website would be
unacceptable for exes purposes

That's one of the Balkanised systems one would need to register with.

You really use that word far too often, and completely inappropriately*.

To the best of my knowledge there has never been a UN World Transit Operator
that was once responsible for all the planet's metro systems but has sadly
fragmented into warring factions.

It's the payment methods which are Balkanised - currently in London (if
you ignore outboundary Travelcards bought with C&P) a war between cash,
Contactless Bank Cards, Oyster, and ITSO[1].

Even without the latter two, I have several Contactless Bank Cards, and
even TfL is minded to remind us to use the same one when touching out as
touching in. And then, when I'm trying to tot up the expenditure, I've
have to remember which card statements to rummage through for the data.

[1] Where I would need two different ones depending of whether I
travelled Via Liverpool St or Kings Cross.

(Personally I find it not remotely frustrating - possibly partly because I'm
not so tight I try to put every 50 euro cent bus journey on expenses

Nor do I. Once I had a policy of ignoring all travel costs to clients in
London, but that was when I lived inside the M25, and my daily rate in
that industry was far higher than my current one in a different
industry.

Nowadays, the fare from where I live near Cambridge to a client in
London can easily be £50 in the peak.

- and indeed collecting transit cards from around the world is
something of a guilty pleasure of mine.

I just collect UK ones at the moment. Currently have 12 in my wallet, if
you include the Senior Railcard.
--
Roland Perry