On Wed, Jan 01, 2014 at 10:02:14PM +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:

I recognise that the queues might be at ticket machines instead but
it's not the same thing.

Thornton Heath, this morning, had a looooong queue almost out of the
door of people trying to do Oystery things. I just walked straight to
the ticket office and bought my monthly travelcard, no queue at all.
So, for today only, I welcome the Oyster PTB not giving a **** about
those of us in south London and not bothering to properly supply all the
facilities necessary for Oyster to be worth using :-)

--
David Cantrell | even more awesome than a panda-fur coat

There are two kinds of security, the one that keeps your sister
out, the one that keeps the government out and the one that
keeps Bruce Schneier out.

On Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 12:21:20PM +0000, Roland Perry wrote:

That's a great shame as it reduces the plastic-card-bloat in my wallet.
Also a slap in the face for early adopters.

Not really. You, like loads of other early adopters, just guessed the
technological direction incorrectly. Early adopters of any technology
really have to expect this to happen occasionally, and stop whining
about it.

--
David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice

PLEASE NOTE: This message was meant to offend everyone equally,
regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, politics, choice
of beer, operating system, mode of transport, or their editor.

On Sun, Jan 05, 2014 at 09:45:59AM +0100, tim...... wrote:
wrote in message ...
I wonder if TfL would eventually do away with and accept either thumb
prints or have ceiling mounted readers that can read your face or irises.
Fares would be directly deducted from people's accounts.
I can just see the DM headlines now

How dare those blind hook-handed cripples dodge their fares?

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

In Victorian times, when every man wore a beard the size of a yew,
Britain ruled the world. In the early 20th century, when the beard
was trimmed to a moustache, we scraped through two world wars but
lost an empire. Today, when Mach3 Turbo multi-blades are the norm,
our national pride derives largely from beating the Swedes at
Olympic cycling.

Grow a beard. Your country needs you.

On Thu, Jan 02, 2014 at 08:46:47PM +0000, Clive Page wrote:

It could be that some of them are conditioned by the near impossibility
of using ticket machines at stations in France (and for that matter in
the Netherlands) if you are a non-native.

The only problem I've had with ticket machines in Paris is that they use
funny foreign coins that I don't recognise very quickly, which makes it
hard to figure out what to put in. If only Europe would adopt a single
currency, such as the pound.

--
David Cantrell | Godless Liberal Elitist

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(tim......) wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article ,

(tim......) wrote:

wrote in message
...
In article ,
(tim......) wrote:

If TfL are expecting your average foreign tourist to start paying
for tickets using "pay wave" credit cards I think that they are
tilting at windmills

You only have to look at the number of suitably "qualified"
individuals who don't go through the self service passport check
(at
no risk and sometimes considerable time cost) to see how
"frightened" the average person is of such technology

Now maybe but the use of such cards will grow over time.

but not withing the timetable that Boris wants to close the ticket
offices IMHO

It's still some time till his 2015 deadline in terms of electronic
payment development timescales.

but nowhere near enought time for everybody to get used to using them

especially foreigners

I wouldn't be so sure.

so I asked the guys at work today:

It seems that the local banks are offering EMV cards (is the at right
technology?) to those that ask for them, but they aren't pushing them to all
customers.

I said "do you think that many people will be taking them up on this offer"
and the reply was "no, we're a conservative lot when it come to such things"

a sample of only one country, of course!

tim

`

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"David Cantrell" wrote in message
...
On Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 12:21:20PM +0000, Roland Perry wrote:

That's a great shame as it reduces the plastic-card-bloat in my wallet.
Also a slap in the face for early adopters.

Not really. You, like loads of other early adopters, just guessed the
technological direction incorrectly. Early adopters of any technology
really have to expect this to happen occasionally, and stop whining
about it.

though for most early adopters, it happens more than occasionally!

tim

"David Cantrell" wrote in message
...
On Thu, Jan 02, 2014 at 08:46:47PM +0000, Clive Page wrote:

It could be that some of them are conditioned by the near impossibility
of using ticket machines at stations in France (and for that matter in
the Netherlands) if you are a non-native.

The only problem I've had with ticket machines in Paris is that they use
funny foreign coins that I don't recognise very quickly, which makes it
hard to figure out what to put in. If only Europe would adopt a single
currency, such as the pound.

I've been using the Euro, day in day out, for 50% of the time since the day
they were minted, and I still can't tell what value a random small coin is,
without reading the value on it.

And for those that don't know, they have different patterns on the edge so
that you can tell then apart but I'm ******* if I can remember which value
has which edging.

(and before anyone mentions it, yes I can tell the copper from the bronze,
it differentiating within those sets that I can't do)

tim


--
David Cantrell | Godless Liberal Elitist

" writes:

On 02/01/2014 21:11, Mizter T wrote:

On 02/01/2014 20:46, Clive Page wrote:

On 02/01/2014 16:24, tim...... wrote:

If TfL are expecting your average foreign tourist to start paying for
tickets using "pay wave" credit cards I think that they are tilting at
windmills

I walk from St.Pancras to King's Cross tube station quite frequently and
continue to be surprised at the number of arrivals from Eurostar who
head straight to the enormously long queue for the ticket office, when
there are plenty of ticket machines with no queue or only a small one.

It could be that some of them are conditioned by the near impossibility
of using ticket machines at stations in France (and for that matter in
the Netherlands) if you are a non-native.

I find that surprising as I would assume that TVMs in both countries
would be multi-lingual.

Indeed, I always prefer using TVMs, as compared to standing in queue --
it's quicker, you don't have to deal with surly staff and you don't
have to put up with the next person in front of you in queue with a
large or confusing transaction or some other issue.

Annoying that (all?) the RER and Metro ticket machines don't take notes,
but they should accept UK cards these days (there used to be problems
when the French had their own chip-and-PIN system, before the adoption
of the EMV standard.)

Problem with using a UK debit card abroad is that the bank takes a
percentage on each transaction. At least that is the way it is with my
bank.

It depends on your account, more than the bank.

My HSBC Advance account gives me free foreign currency transactions. Admittedly
there is a fee, but as it gives me worldwide travel insurance and UK
breakdown cover I consider it value for money.

Phil

"Michael R N Dolbear" writes:

"Neil Williams" wrote

I don't see the few seconds saved as of any significance. It might
be of some benefit when a whole host of people were buying the same thing
and nothing else.

It is about volume - shop in ALDI and see how fast their checkout
operators are and you will see why it is significant.


They waste a few seconds by being slow to press the "customer does not
require cashback" key so I think they are much the same as other
supermarkets though fewer coupons and car park tickets, and no loyalty
cards do help.
Contactless does save time at other checkouts by elliminating the do you
want cashback question, the transaction has gone through in about the
time it normally takes to plug the card into the machine.

Then normally the machine decides if the card is a debit or credit card,
then the cashier asks if you want cashback and then they press a button
to allow you to enter your pin.

Contactless is also much easier on the M6 toll, much less chance of
dropping the card.

Phil

Clive Page writes:

On 04/01/2014 01:01, Michael R N Dolbear wrote:
"Phil" wrote

But you see the same everywhere, how few use pay-at-pump, although
self-service checkouts do seem to have gained acceptance.

Today's news gave a new reason for this

http://www.theguardian.com/business/...-petrol-glitch

But that's probably not the only reason. I like to get a paper record
for every credit card transaction, so I can check my bill every
month. I used to use the "pay at pump" machines routinely but stopped
after twice finding at the end that the machine could not produce a
receipt. If the machine had been programmed properly to tell me this
at the outset that it was out of paper I could have avoided the pump
payment option. It often doesn't take much longer to pay at the
kiosk, and for me it's worth the extra few seconds to be sure that I
get a paper record of every transaction.

At Tesco/Shell/Morrisons, just go to another pump and press 'Reprint my
reciept', insert your card and you will get the receipt.

Phil