"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...


I didn't see the news report but

a) I am amazed that Transys or any part of the consortium who make a
statement like that. They must be very ****ed off to have to resort to
that tactic or else they've made an error.
b) I am not remotely surprised that TfL would refuse to enter into a
possible argument on the airwaves
c) I expect there will be an argument going on behind close doors given
(a).

I think you'd also find that the manufacturer's view of what capping
would be and what TfL would want on day 1 are at opposite ends of the
spectrum. I've heard it all before - "oh yes we can do "x" on such and
such a date". When you then ask basic questions about how it would work
you find that the proposal being offered would not work in a way that
was remotely satisfactory from a customer, technical or financial
viewpoint.



According to the mayor there are 'no technical obstacles' to introduce fair
capping, and the only issue is of timing and waiting for people to
understand the new fares. But as the whole capping process is automated I
find such reasoning odd. Their phased approach may also explain why takeup
of pre-pay is below what they expected.

Taken from the GLA website (
http://mqt.london.gov.uk//public/question.do?id=8900 ) :

Why is it taking so long to establish a capping system on Oyster cards so
that people pay the best fare for the journey, such as a one day travel card
rather than the cost of several individual journeys? What is the current
timetable for smart pre-pay?

Answer by Ken Livingstone (2nd Term)
There are no technical obstacles to introducing the capping features of
Oyster.The introduction of Oyster has been successful because features have
been introduced in a phased way. This ensures that features work as expected
and are well understood by customers.Pre Pay on the bus network was only
introduced in May 2004. The next significant feature to be introduced will
be weekday, peak/off peak pricing in January 2005. Once TfL are confident
that peak/off peak pricing and the new 2005 fares are well understood, they
plan to introduce capping.