Ian Tindale wrote:

Why can't the system let me use one day travelcards? These are pretty much
the only form of ticket I ever use. It could be quite easy. It could simply
modify the pre-pay paradigm to assess whether your day's worth of pre-pay
fits within or exceeds the cost of a one-day travelcard (off peak or peak,
depending on time of first use) and convert the day's usage to a travelcard
and thus plateau out at the point of charging for the maximum of the
relevant travelcard used for journeys actually taken.

That sounds like capping, which is on the way.

Personally I fail to see why we cannot just walk up to a ticket machine
to customize the properties of the card - so that the first time each
day we use the ticket, the amount for our chosen travelcard is taken off
and the ticket converted there and then for the rest of the day. A lot
of people do not want to pay for singles, and based on the past few(?)
decades people already seem keen enough to pay up front for a
travelcard. (if it was not for the insane queues, for instance at kings
cross)

Capping is probably going to be full of bugs when it first rolls out,
and is bound to have quirks for years on end. Personally I'd like to be
able to specify the ticket before I travel, without having to worry if
it is going to overcharge me - but still have the convenience of not
having to rip the oyster out of the wallet, or standing in an endless
queue at the station.

--
TC