eastender wrote:

Still frothing I see. Now let's see... it takes the same time to buy an
Oyster at the ticket window as anything else, and of course you can also buy
a travelcard, which most other transit systems provide.

Actually no. It take longer, because my local NR station doesn't sell
Oysters at all. The nearest newsagent which does is a quarter of a
mile walk away!

solar penguin wrote:

Actually no. It take longer, because my local NR station doesn't sell
Oysters at all. The nearest newsagent which does is a quarter of a
mile walk away!

And how many tourists are beamed down to enter the UK at your NR station? In any
case, this is another issue.

E.

In message .com,
Boltar writes

Sure , you can use it in prepay mode but you'll pay through the nose if
you make more than a few journeys whereas a travelcard is a one off
cost.

PAYG is capped at or below the rate of the equivalent one-day travel
card and is therefore generally the cheaper alternative.
--
Paul Terry

I had an Oyster once. I bought it because everyone said "Oh they're so
great!" But I ever only needed to use it two or three times in the two
years I had it. Then next time I tried to use it, it just plain didn't
work at all. The card had just died, and wouldn't respond to the
readers. And I still had nearly five quid on it!

I suppose I should have tried to register it, and sent off to get a
replacement. But why bother for something I never use and probably
won't work anyway...? Far simpler just to write my five pounds off as
lost to the system.

And in the the year since it's broken down, I've only _once_ been in a
situation where I could have saved any money by using Oyster. I'd
probably lose more money on faulty cards in the long run...

So I _will_ be telling my friends and family to do the same, and stay
well clear of Oyster. It's the most useless and over-rated piece of
technology ever inflicted on the travelling public. And the sooner
we're rid of it the better.

Since I moved from the South East, I only go to London about once a
month now, and since I got my Oyster in Feburary, every trip, bar 1 I
have had a problem on.

First time, the gates weren't working at Tott Ct Rd and I got an
unresolved jrny (charged 50p too much), another time I had an odd
journey: -
"Canary Wharf - Unfinished
Unstarted - Cockfosters" - ended up being overcharged by 50p
One time, I was interchanging between NR and LU at Elephant & Castle,
and didn't realise they were 2 separate stations, so didn't touch out
when leaving NR station - paid another 50p.
My last trip. Due to Overcrowding at Bond St (IIRC), they were exiting
everyone by the Fire exit - couldn't touch out, and ended up with a 70p
charge. Later on the same day, I did a journey Westminster - Canary
Wharf, Heron Quays - Cockfosters. It got put down as Westminster -
Heron Quays, and Unstarted - Cockfosters, paid another 50p.

And the ripoff about it - trying to call their phoneline would almost
certaintly end up costing more than the 50p you've lost, so most people
(Including me) don't bother.

On the last occasion, I went to the Ticketoffice to see if he could fix
it, he seemed bemused about all of my problems, and said "That's Oyster
for you" - which sums it up nicely for me.

Boltar wrote:

but people who are here just for a day or 2 and want to tour the city will
want 1 day travelcards which Osyer doesn't support.

Wrong - pre-pay Oyster caps at a cheaper rate than travelcards.

E.

eastender wrote:

solar penguin wrote:

Actually no. It take longer, because my local NR station doesn't sell
Oysters at all. The nearest newsagent which does is a quarter of a
mile walk away!

And how many tourists are beamed down to enter the UK at your NR station? In any
case, this is another issue.

Tourists? What the **** have tourists got to do with anything? It's
bad enough that TfL want Londoners like me to switch to to this almost
useless, _completely unrealiable_ technology, and that those of us with
the common sense to prefer reliable, tried-and-tested, old-fashioned
technology _that actually works_ are expected to pay extra to subsidise
those idiots who were stupid enough to rush in and embrace this dodgy,
faulty, new option before its time.

And now you're saying the reason that we've got to put up with it is
because it might be better for tourist scum who shouldn't even be
polluting our country with their presence in the first place!

Call me a stagnant old stick-in-the-mud if you like, but I really do
believe TfL and friends should be looking after the interests of people
who actually _vote_ for them!

eastender wrote:
solar penguin wrote:

Actually no. It take longer, because my local NR station doesn't sell
Oysters at all. The nearest newsagent which does is a quarter of a
mile walk away!

And how many tourists are beamed down to enter the UK at your NR station? In any
case, this is another issue.

If the tourist lands at Gatwick? I assume you can't buy Oyster Cards at
Gatwick.

"eastender" wrote in message
...
Boltar wrote:

but people who are here just for a day or 2 and want to tour the city
will
want 1 day travelcards which Osyer doesn't support.

Wrong - pre-pay Oyster caps at a cheaper rate than travelcards.


Only if one doesn't want to use NR

tim

wrote:

On the last occasion, I went to the Ticketoffice to see if he could fix
it, he seemed bemused about all of my problems, and said "That's Oyster
for you" - which sums it up nicely for me.

Exactly. I'm starting to get a theory that some people are just
magically lucky when it comes to new hi-tech gadgets. The equipment
just always works _perfectly_ for them, while the rest of us have to
struggle with all sorts of errors and failures and crashes and bugs and
breakdowns.

Of course, the magically lucky elite have an unfair advantage over the
rest of us -- and they don't even know it. That's why they see no
problems in forcing us to use the advanced technology that works for
them, even though we would be _much_ better off sticking with older,
more reliable technology that we're comfortable with.

Oysters are just one example of this. But the problem's everywhere!

In article .com, solar
(solar penguin) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Get an Oyster, use an Oyster, tell your friends and family to do
the same, or be a mug and pay the higher fares.

I had an Oyster once. I bought it because everyone said "Oh
they're so great!" But I ever only needed to use it two or three
times in the two years I had it. Then next time I tried to use it, it
just plain didn't work at all. The card had just died, and wouldn't
respond to the readers. And I still had nearly five quid on it!

I suppose I should have tried to register it, and sent off to get a
replacement. But why bother for something I never use and probably
won't work anyway...? Far simpler just to write my five pounds off
as lost to the system.

And in the the year since it's broken down, I've only _once_ been
in a situation where I could have saved any money by using Oyster. I'd
probably lose more money on faulty cards in the long run...

So I _will_ be telling my friends and family to do the same, and
stay well clear of Oyster. It's the most useless and over-rated piece
of technology ever inflicted on the travelling public. And the sooner
we're rid of it the better.

If you want to throw your money away, it is of course your inalienable
right to do so. However, why didn't you go to a ticket office?

I use my Oyster pretty infrequently (about 10 journeys in 2006) and it
works fine technically.

--
Colin Rosenstiel.