On Monday, 9 October 2017 13:51:37 UTC+1, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
04:18:53 on Mon, 9 Oct 2017, Paul Corfield remarked:

Oyster and Contactless ticketing to Heathrow via HEX and Crossrail
should be introduced next May according to the paper.

And SEFT-style ITSO?

Not that I am aware of. If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a large proportion of their regular users. No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers. Only those making use of discounted HEX advance tickets will be disadvantaged.

--
Paul C
via Google

In message , at
04:33:09 on Tue, 24 Oct 2017, Paul Corfield
remarked:
If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as
it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to
get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a large
proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you that
the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim is a
huge disadvantage.
--
Roland Perry

On 24.10.2017 4:59 PM, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
04:33:09 on Tue, 24 Oct 2017, Paul Corfield
remarked:
If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as
it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to
get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a large
proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

If anything the UK is backward compared to the rest of the world on
contactless acceptance, and since the technology is standardised by EMV
(https://www.emvco.com/emv-technologies/contactless/) worldwide, the answer
is going to be "as close to 100% as makes no odds." Much as large parts of
the world jumped straight into mobile internet without a fixed line step in
the middle, much of the world doesn't need to support ancient ICL tills and
went straight to always-connected card terminals which easily support
things like contactless. Here in the East we use contactless with no
transaction limit even on debit cards with zero floor limit (easy and safe
because all authentication is online all the time.) And my Eastern
European zero-floor Romanian Lei denominated card has been accepted
anywhere I tried it, from Thailand to Taiwan and everywhere in between, and
from Ukraine to UK and everywhere in between (and quite a few not) as well
- including, yes, on the tube. (And indeed, relevantly, on the Gatwick
Express.)


No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you that
the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim is a
huge disadvantage.

Other systems solve this problem easily, as you've been told before. NS's
system for Chipkaart produces a very nice online expenses claim receipt
(which is specifically valid for Dutch tax purposes in the case of
nominal/registered cards,) which is far more convenient than toting around
bits of paper - the same can be done for contractless cards. I see no
reason why a printout from the TfL website would be unacceptable for exes
purposes (or indeed for companies not in the dark ages, a screenshot or web
clip or PDF - I can't remember the last time I actually needed to submit a
physical piece of paper...)

On 24.10.2017 7:07 PM, Clank wrote:
On 24.10.2017 4:59 PM, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
04:33:09 on Tue, 24 Oct 2017, Paul Corfield
remarked:
If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as
it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to
get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a large
proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

If anything the UK is backward compared to the rest of the world on
contactless acceptance, and since the technology is standardised by EMV
(https://www.emvco.com/emv-technologies/contactless/) worldwide, the answer
is going to be "as close to 100% as makes no odds." Much as large parts of
the world jumped straight into mobile internet without a fixed line step in
the middle, much of the world doesn't need to support ancient ICL tills and
went straight to always-connected card terminals which easily support
things like contactless. Here in the East we use contactless with no
transaction limit even on debit cards with zero floor limit (easy and safe
because all authentication is online all the time.) And my Eastern
European zero-floor Romanian Lei denominated card has been accepted
anywhere I tried it, from Thailand to Taiwan and everywhere in between, and
from Ukraine to UK and everywhere in between (and quite a few not) as well
- including, yes, on the tube. (And indeed, relevantly, on the Gatwick
Express.)


No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you that
the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim is a
huge disadvantage.

Other systems solve this problem easily, as you've been told before. NS's
system for Chipkaart produces a very nice online expenses claim receipt
(which is specifically valid for Dutch tax purposes in the case of
nominal/registered cards,) which is far more convenient than toting around
bits of paper - the same can be done for contractless

Contactless even. Goddamn, doesn't matter how many times I proofread
there's always something I only spot *after* pressing Send...

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a large
proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

FWIW, my US issued cards work fine as Oyster cards.

R's,
John

PS: Well, give or take that when I have a senior railcard I
can only apply it to an actual Oyster card.

On 2017-10-24 13:59:35 +0000, Roland Perry said:

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you
that the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim
is a huge disadvantage.

Mine are done via Concur/ExpenseIt. I haven't done anything with
physical receipts (other than to chuck in a box just in case) for
years. Your clients are right Luddites.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On Tue, 24 Oct 2017 00:13:44 +0100, "Clive D.W. Feather"
wrote:

In article , Roland Perry
writes
There's anecdata about guards making announcements pretending to be on a
plane "Welcome aboard, today we'll be cruising at zero feet above the
rails..."

I've certainly experienced something similar on an HST out of
Paddington. From memory (it was 30 years ago), it was "our cruising
altitude will be five feet".

My experience was on an Amsterdam tram. It seems that anyone with a
microphone has to do it at least once in their career!

Richard.

On Tue, 24 Oct 2017 14:59:35 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

We're told most - remember that there is no trouble with PINs and
perhaps no floor limit is applicable as there is no charge at the time
- certainly the cards I have seen used had no problems. My
contactless experience is varied, always worked in Belgium, seemed not
to work in Spain, but that was perhaps over the limit... and other
countries are only just coming round to the idea.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you that
the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim is a
huge disadvantage.

Like Neil, mine are on-line. I would have thought that was normal
these days for employees - you may have other experiences. Very easy
(at least compared to any other HR package, but that's not saying
much).

Richard.

In message , at 16:07:00 on Tue, 24 Oct
2017, Clank remarked:

If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as
it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to
get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a
large proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

If anything the UK is backward compared to the rest of the world on
contactless acceptance,

I was more concerned about contactless issuing, and the risks of
accepting foreign cards whose creditworthiness status can't be
determined in real time.

No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you
that the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim
is a huge disadvantage.

Other systems solve this problem easily, as you've been told before. NS's
system for Chipkaart produces a very nice online expenses claim receipt
(which is specifically valid for Dutch tax purposes in the case of
nominal/registered cards,) which is far more convenient than toting around
bits of paper - the same can be done for contractless cards.

No doubt I'd have to set up accounts [remember to, and have time to] for
every balkanised transport operator I used on a trip.

I see no reason why a printout from the TfL website would be
unacceptable for exes purposes

That's one of the Balkanised systems one would need to register with.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:46:19 on Tue, 24
Oct 2017, Neil Williams remarked:

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you
that the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim
is a huge disadvantage.

Mine are done via Concur/ExpenseIt. I haven't done anything with
physical receipts (other than to chuck in a box just in case) for
years. Your clients are right Luddites.

Looking at their website it's a huge faff for the user. I'd much rather
chuck the receipts for a multi-country, multi-transport trip into a box,
and sort it out when I get home.
--
Roland Perry