"Paul Speller" wrote in message
...
I'm at the end of my tether with my local train operating company,
Southeastern Railway (SER hereafter).

They only took over the franchise 9 months ago but they signed up to it
just before the government decided that all future franchises would
mandate acceptance of Oyster PAYG, which basically means that if SER
won't adopt Oyster voluntarily, they won't be legally compelled to for
something like ten years! (As if we didn't suffer enough through the
Connex years...)

...

Is there anything I can do to get some action out of this lazy,
unhelpful, irritating company? My wife (she's the commuter, I'm the
leisure traveller) is going to SER's Meet the Managers session on
Thursday to have a rant but that's the day after the deadline has
passed. Why isn't there more publicity for how selfish/greedy/obstinate
the NR operators who aren't taking up this deal are being? How can we
get some? It's so frustrating. Is there anything I can do, either to
help get them to accept the offer, or to get them reprimanded for their
misinformation and unhelpfulness?

Don't believe all that one-sided Mayoral propaganda though. There's a lot
more to implementing PAYG for our TOC than a one-off £20m bribe to adopt the
system.

As a Southeastern commuter from Bexley, I have to say I couldn't care less
whether they implement Oyster PAYG or not. What I do care about, though,
are the outrageous hikes in point-to-point rail fares for Greater London
services in Southeastern's domain to make way for Oyster (60%+ increase in
the rail fare to Sidcup from Bexley, and in Bromley some fares have gone up
by over 70%!). But because these increases are in Bexley and Bromley,
nobody in TfL or central London really gives a damn of course.

Give me non-zonal fares and paper tickets any day! And while we're at it,
give me freedom from TfL and the Mayor of London's interference ;-)

Nick