On 21 May, 15:35, Boltar wrote:
On 21 May, 03:13, James Farrar wrote:

It figures that the other great utl anti-Oyster whiner would reply
with a meaningless attempted comeback.

I don't think many people have an objection per-se. Its more the
forcing it on everyone and charging people who don't/can't use it
through the nose for no good reason other than because they can. I've
still yet to hear a good reason from Comrade Livingstone as to why
he's shafting occasional public transport users or tourists who end up
paying 4 quid to go one stop since having to buy an oyster card before
you visit the capital is neither obvious nor convenient and frankly I
think its just a stealth tax on tourists.

I think it's more an attempt at deterrence - i.e. making it so
expensive for people who live in London to not switch over that they
all overcome their inertia and move over to the new system. The
squeezing-the-tourists bit is merely an accident...

....but in any case, we pay c£250 a year each on our council tax
(assuming average househould is 2 people) to fund the Mayor's office,
with transport being its most important role. London's economy
subsidises the country as a whole.

So it seems positively *good* to make people who haven't contributed
to any of this, and who also can't be bothered to find out the most
cost-effective and simplest ways of getting around the city they're
visiting (it's not like Oyster cards are only on sale if you can prove
you were born within the Bow Bells), pay a little bit more than the
rest of us.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org