On Jul 4, 9:08*am, MIG wrote:
No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

Hampton Court Palace is in London, Hampton Court Station is in Surrey,
but it was brought into the travelcard zones years ago.

The flippant stuff about south London being worthless (along with
everyone who lives there) is obviously hilarious, but doesn't really
get us any further (in the argument or in travel).

Agreed. It's masking a more serious point though: if you don't live in
South-London-outside-z2, then you'll probably never go there, because
- while lots of fabulous people live excellent lives, contribute to
the community, pay their taxes, etc - there is nothing of much
interest to outsiders there. Except possibly Greenwich, which is on
the DLR.

Living in z2 North London, I hardly ever have to make journeys where
PAYG isn't valid (the exception is for work trips to my company's
satellite office in Kentish Borisland, for which buying an extension
ticket is indeed a moderate pain in the arse). Nor do pretty much any
of the inner-London dwellers I know.

However, if I lived in z4-6 non-Tube South London, I'd probably have a
point-to-point rail season ticket. And if I didn't go out in town much
(or at least, didn't venture far from Victoria, Charing Cross and
Cannon Street when I did), then that's quite possibly all I'd have,
especially if I'd lived there since pre-Oyster days and wasn't used to
the whole Oyster concept.

This presumably explains why Solar Penguin and Martin have such
difficulty relating to each other's point of view, despite sharing the
same city...

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