On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:59:50 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:

So it's not entirely unreasonable for the train companies to be
unwilling to spend a not unsubstantial sum of money installing gates
and/or Oyster validators at all the stations in the zonal area if
there's no guarantee that the same hardware will be capable of accepting
a potential future *national* smartcard system, as at the end of the
day, that money will have to come from their passengers, either directly
through the farebox, or via increased subsidy from the taxpayer.

Okay, but (IIUC) it's not their money that would be spent, it's the
GLA's.

And they don't seem to have a problem with having the validators
installed at every *gated* station within the zones - why the
difference? It must be something to do with pre-pay, surely?