On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:56:13 GMT, "Edward Cowling"
wrote:


"David Walters" wrote in message
.. .

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

If you have a travelcard it does not matter provided the zones are
correct. And 3 times in 5 years? - not a lot of reason for wishing to
retain paper tickets.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

Do you? - you must live in a very angry part of London as I cannot
recall people doing this at all. In fact I see more people using Oyster
with apparent ease than people with paper tickets having ticket rejects
or other problems with using the equipment.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Well I am biased but I am pleasantly surprised at how well people seem
to have adapted to the technology - even our older citizens with their
permits. Yes there are still issues over equipment reliability which I
think are unacceptable but I can guess what my old friends at the
manufacturer would say about that.

I know there have been a lot of "learning curve" issues with web site
access, on line renewals, "illogical" use by passengers and
disappointment over the delays with Pre-Pay and Capping but for now it
seems to have calmed down somewhat. I expect there will be a surge in
short term problems when capping starts because that is an enormously
complex issue where passenger expectations may not match reality in some
cases. This may be due to system problems, passengers not understanding
the commercial rules applied to the concept or the rules not allowing
certain things that people can "get away with" today. However once
people build familiarity and more importantly confidence then I think
the system will prove to be enormously successful.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!