"Mizter T" wrote in message
...
On 30 Apr, 17:47, "Paul Scott" wrote:
"Matthew Dickinson" wrote in message

...



The Southeastern website has an interesting new answer to the PAYG
acceptance question.

http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk...&q=90#answered

"10. Do you accept Oyster cards on your network?
We do already accept season tickets on Oyster on our network ( within
the valid zones) and while we do not yet accept Oyster Pre-Pay,
Southeastern announced its commitment to work with Transport for
London (TfL) to introduce Oyster Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) on Southeastern
within two years. The implementation of PAYG will require significant
investment and Southeastern is working with TfL on issues such as the
need for additional validators at stations; the ability to sell and
top-up Oyster; and the possibility of installing automatic ticket
gates at some stations. There are still a number of issues to resolve
but we hope to implement Oyster PAYG on Southeastern by January 2009.

Oyster PAYG will not be cheaper than our usual rail fares."

I wonder if the last [line] hints at some of the issues surrounding
PAYG on Southeastern?

I'm not so sure it is that new - although it may only have just made it
to
the website. Jan 09 has been the PAYG target date for quite a while now.
Maybe it hints at following up from last year's changes to make all the
NR
fares 'zonal' within the London fare zones. At the moment there is a
transitional stage where certain fares are still calculated differently
on a
'rail +tube' basis - I think it might be these that have to be sorted out
for next year?


I haven't read anything from Southeastern that's quite as positive as
this is though. Also, given the interlinked nature of their
operations, when Southeastern gets Oyster PAYG surely so will Southern
(helps that they're both Govia companies I suppose).

That'll be the south of the river TOCs complete then. SWT are supposed to be
ready by then too. (Based on searches of their web Q&As and magazine
articles etc, and Roger Ford's MR article about the 'ITSO' woes back in
March, in which he refers to SWT's 'Oyster by Jan 2009' commitment.

Paul S