On Dec 14, 5:48*pm, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 05:27:04AM -0800, John B wrote:
But it hasn't made life *any worse* for people living in the areas
where it isn't accepted.

It has in areas where it is only *partially* accepted. *Areas where
Oyster is hard to get hold of have had their cash bus fares approximately
doubled.

Luckily, there are no such areas also served by London buses (go to
newsagent - "can you put gbp10 on this please mate" - "yes").

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

John B wrote

On Dec 14, 5:48*pm, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 05:27:04AM -0800, John B wrote:
But it hasn't made life *any worse* for people living in the areas
where it isn't accepted.

It has in areas where it is only *partially* accepted. *Areas where
Oyster is hard to get hold of have had their cash bus fares
approximately
doubled.

Luckily, there are no such areas also served by London buses (go to
newsagent - "can you put gbp10 on this please mate" - "yes").

There have been in the past (K3, Claygate) and, to take an exteme
example, Dorking (465) probably hasn't got an Oyster Stop even now.
With a bit of luck and from January you will be able to top up at
outboundary railway stations.

--
Mike D

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 03:28:10PM -0800, John B wrote:
On Dec 14, 5:48=A0pm, David Cantrell wrote:
It has in areas where it is only *partially* accepted. =A0Areas where
Oyster is hard to get hold of have had their cash bus fares approximately
doubled.
Luckily, there are no such areas also served by London buses (go to
newsagent - "can you put gbp10 on this please mate" - "yes").

You assume that the newsagent is open. And that their machine works.
And that the punter already has a card. And that the shop-drone knows
how to work the machine. And that there's a convenient shop.

All of which have been covered here before. Several times.

--
David Cantrell | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

Eye have a spelling chequer / It came with my pea sea
It planely marques four my revue / Miss Steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a quay and type a word / And weight for it to say
Weather eye am wrong oar write / It shows me strait a weigh.

On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 01:06:44AM +0000, Michael R N Dolbear wrote:

With a bit of luck and from January you will be able to top up at
outboundary railway stations.

Talking of topping up at stations - at Thornton Heath, the ticket
machine with the Oystery thing on it which, I presume, will be for
topups, is in the booking hall, which is closed and locked from quite
early in the evening, while the station remains open (and ungated) for
a while afterwards.

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

Erudite is when you make a classical allusion to a
feather. Kinky is when you use the whole chicken.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 02:55:36PM +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:

I think I will start a campaign to have validators installed on trains
so I don't have to get off at the boundary point (one of your big
complaints!). Thought you might find that a little amusing.

Having validators on trains would be a good idea. They do it in plenty
of other places.

--
David Cantrell | Bourgeois reactionary pig

Nuke a disabled unborn gay baby whale for JESUS!

On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 02:33:33PM -0800, Chris wrote:
On 12 Dec, 15:09, MIG wrote:
I suspect that validators in trains now would be hugely expensive,
Too right - they would have to be permantently in touch with the
central database!

Would they? I don't think the ones on buses are.

--
David Cantrell | London Perl Mongers Deputy Chief Heretic

What profiteth a man, if he win a flame war, yet lose his cool?

On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 12:44:52PM +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:

[priv cards and Oyster]

That reminds me - my parents get staff rates on NR and the tube, because
my dad is a BR pensioner. Is there such a thing as a priv rate PAYG
card that they could use on the tube rather than have to go to a ticket
office? And how do they get hold of them if they exist?

--
David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice

Compromise: n: lowering my standards so you can meet them

On 15/12/2009 10:59, David Cantrell wrote:
On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 01:06:44AM +0000, Michael R N Dolbear wrote:

With a bit of luck and from January you will be able to top up at
outboundary railway stations.

Talking of topping up at stations - at Thornton Heath, the ticket
machine with the Oystery thing on it which, I presume, will be for
topups, is in the booking hall, which is closed and locked from quite
early in the evening, while the station remains open (and ungated) for
a while afterwards.

Thornton Heath is open until at least 7pm weekdays.

--
Paul

On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 11:28:10AM +0000, Paul Terry wrote:

But a permit to travel only covers the user from the starting station to
a point at which they can pay for a ticket.

In practice, they cover you until you change trains, or get to your
destination, or meet a ticket inspector.

Or at least, that was certainly the case the last time I used one which
was, admittedly, a very long time ago.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club"

Today's previously unreported paraphilia is tomorrow's Internet sensation

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 07:58:25PM +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:27:25 +0000, David Cantrell
wrote:
On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 08:13:23AM +0000, asdf wrote:
What about all the tourists? It's hard for many of them to understand
Oyster.
OEPs won't exactly help here.
Let's be honest though - how many tourists are going to hold a period
travelcard and then wish to travel beyond its zonal availability?

Uh, any of them who are visiting for a week, spend most of the time
doing the usual tourist things in zone 1, but on a couple of days go a
bit further out to visit, eg, Kew Gardens or Hampton Court.

If
there are more than 100 in a year I would be surprised. Some tourists
just won't bother to use public transport, some will buy day tickets and
some will be brave and use PAYG. It's been a heck of a long time since
we've had a query on here from an aspiring visitor who might find a
weekly travelcard best value.

For a tiresome and complicated penny-pinching transport-geek version of
value, perhaps. When people ask *me* what ticket they should get, I
recommend a travelcard, because it's simple and it Just Works. If it
happens to cost a coupla quid more than the more complicated but cheaper
combination of tickets which qould require an in-depth knowledge of the
minutiae of fares, then I very much doubt that any of the people who've
asked me would care.

I've advised five people *this month alone* that when they visit London
for a week, they should get a zone 1 and 2 travelcard, and buy an
extension ticket if travelling outside their zones.

I doubt many would bother getting it refunded, or know how to.
It takes little effort to find out and little effort to do if you want
to get your money back.

Three quid generally isn't worth the hassle. It's lost in the noise
after the cost of travelling to and from London and the cost of spending
a few days in London.

There are also collection boxes for unwanted
cards where any remaining balance is donated to charity.

I don't recall ever seeing one, not even at Victoria or London Bridge
(where you get a train from to go to Gatwick) or Paddington (where you
get a train from for Heathrow) or Liverpool St (where you get a train
from if you're silly enough to use Stanstead) or Kings Cross or Euston
(where you get a train from if you're Scottish) or St Pancras (where you
get a train from if you're French or Belgian). But then, I've not been
looking for them. I doubt many people look for them. I expect most
tourists' Oyster cards go in the bin.

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

There are many different types of sausages. The best are
from the north of England. The wurst are from Germany.
-- seen in alt.2eggs...