"solar penguin" wrote:
Like I keep saying, Oyster is designed primarily for tube users, and is
inconvenient for the rest of us. That's why TfL are forced to bribe us
into using it with cheap bus fares.
I'd be much happier if they just reduced the cost of cash fares so we'd
have a free choice.

And you keep being wrong.
Buses (and bus users) benefit much more from Oyster; the time taken for
loading-unloading is much, much quicker, and TfL's aim was to extend the
'West End but ticket before boarding and touch in' to the whole of London.

The focus on bendies and 'free buses' (like upstairs on the Routemaster)
have probably put paid to that plan, but it was Oyster that convinced Ken
that conductors were an expense too far (Boris will 'get it' one day).

Oyster isn't all about you and your problems; there are approaching 10
million people in London; try to see the big picture.

Electronic payment is *obviously* a better way to go than cash fares, if
nothing else, it provides statistical info that helps route planning. With
he side beneft that it feeds the paranoia of the civil rights idiots, who
seriously believe that they are being watched 24/7 (like, who cares?).