In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:17:16 +0000, David Cantrell
wrote:

The only slight wrinkle might be being asked whether you want to use
the Express or a normal train.

Airwick Gatport still has the unusual and stupid situation of there
not being an Any Permitted ticket, though. That said, people won't
necessarily expect there to be one - UK railway ticketing is
beautifully integrated compared with many countries.

I was told that an FCC ticket was valid for an outward journey from
Clapham Junction (i.e. using Southern) and travelled that way last month
without problems.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"Mr Thant" wrote in message
...
On 26 Nov, 12:21, "Stephen Osborn"
wrote:
1. Journey history is only available to customers if they have purchased
pay as you go credit (including Auto top-up) from Oyster online. Why? The
data is in TfL's computers. They have software to publish that via a web
intertface. So why is only some data available.

Because it's not TfL's computers. The system is outsourced and for
some obscure data protection reason they can only share the data
between suppliers if you're a customer of the supplier, which requires
purchasing credit through said supplier (I think).

Okay I can understand that. However that is only relevant because TfL have
set it up that way.

2. Oyster retailers can sell seven day (and longer) Travelcards on Oyster
but not one day Travelcards.

This appears to be a deliberate omission. The point of Oyster is
discourage people visiting the ticket machines/office every day.

Oyster PAYG may take the place of one day Travelcards in areas where all of
the journey is likely to be by Tube & bus but that does not apply to SE
London where longer journeys start with trains.

4. I read in another thread that if you start your journey, using Oyster
PAYG, in the peak period and make further journeys in the off-peak period
then those later journeys count towards the peak cap and not the off-peak
cap. Hence it can be cheaper to buy a single ticket [1] for the peak
journey and use Oyster PAYG for the off-peak journeys

That's not quite the issue. The problem occurs only when the further
journeys are considered part of the original journey (ie you go
through an out-of-station interchange) because then the whole journey
gets charged as peak, which can be more expensive then the peak fare
for the first leg plus the off-peak fare for the second.

See my previous post.

5. TfL staff don't seem to understand how Oyster works. One example;
when I wanted to change my Z1-3 Travelcard to a Z1-4 Travelcard I was
told
at one station that this is not possible and that I had to apply for a
new
Oyster by filling out a form - but that I could not do that there as they
had run out of forms. So I went to the next station and there they
changed
my Travelcard on the same Oyster card with problem and no paperwork.

I'm sure people have run into exactly this getting paper Travelcards
changed/refunded. Doesn't seem to be anything Oyster specific about
it.

Sorry, I did not make it clear that the first station made it sound that the
issue was related to Oyster. Also that was just an example. When trying to
get an straight answer about using the Tram to Wimbledon I asked a number of
TfL staff and got different answers each time, none of which made any sense
to me.

--
regards

Stephen

"Richard" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:21:12 -0000, "Stephen Osborn"
wrote:

1. Journey history is only available to customers if they have
purchased
pay as you go credit (including Auto top-up) from Oyster online. Why?
The
data is in TfL's computers. They have software to publish that via a web
intertface. So why is only some data available.

As said elsewhere, probably for data protection reasons, given the
nature of the project (which didn't *need* to be like that).

Indeed, it is only like that because TfL set it up like that.

2. Oyster retailers can sell seven day (and longer) Travelcards on
Oyster
but not one day Travelcards.

Not necessary once all trains are included, and I can see an argument
that we are simply in a transitional or rollout phase, though I think
after 4 years the argument is getting a bit thin.

I think that argument was thin on day one, at which stage there was no
prospect of the trains being included.

3. The Tram terminus at Wimbledon is a mess.

snip

It's not quite like that, but ...

snip

I agree - it's a mess, simply mitigated, if the situation must
persist, by VERY obvious signage at Wimbledon.

Well there are posters on all Tram stops but they seem to have confused
rather than helped me!

The warning posters about this say that the same is true if you have a
Travelcard on Oyster but I know for a fact that that is not the case. So
either TfL don't know how their systems work or they are lying.

I think they're deliberately simplifying the message. They do the
same wherever the "need" to touch in and out is explained.

Some of the posters distinguish between Travelcard & PAYG.so I don't see why
these shouldn't

--
regards

Stephen

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...
On Wed, 26 Nov 2008, Stephen Osborn wrote:

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
.li...
On Tue, 25 Nov 2008, David Cantrell wrote:

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 08:08:28PM +0000, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sun, 23 Nov 2008, Stephen Osborn wrote:

But to get to a Tube station, as I live in SE London, I would have to
take an Overground train and so I would normally buy a one day
Travelcard at the train station. To use my Oyster at the Tube
station I would either need to buy a train return ticket instead or
use my Oyster PAYG when I had a valid Travelcard. Either of those
would mean I was paying extra for the privilege of switching on auto
top-up.
Yes. Paying one pound extra. Once.

Two pounds and ninety pence actually.

No, one pound.

You set up auto top-up, and nominate the most convenient station outside
Z1 for pickup.

And if one needs to get a train to get to a Tube station then nearest
Tube
station will be inside Z1. So to get the lower excess price involves
more
travel

Not necessarily. Lewisham (did we establish that you can pick up an
activation at a DLR station?),

MIG seems to think not.

Elephant, Balham, Brixton, Clapham High Street - all in south or southeast
London, equipped with railway stations, and all outside Z1. In fact,
thinking about it, there is *nowhere* in southeast London from where you
can't get a direct train to a tube station outside Z1.

None of those stations are close to me and if I have to make a special
journey to activate auto top-up that confirms my point above 'So to get the
lower excess price involves more travel'.

snip

There is the cost of my time in travelling to & from two Tube stations
outside Z1.

Because of course there's no reason ever to go outside Z1, is there?

How about a trip to the cinema or the Museum in Docklands (which is very
good!) at Canary Wharf? A curry, or bagel if you prefer, down Brick Lane
way? A visit to the big Decathlon store - and one of a handful of
surviving Spud-U-Likes - at Canada Water? Kew Gardens? Richmond park?
Epping Forest? The Cutty Sark? The National Maritime Museum? The fine
restaurants of Clapham? A spot of herb shopping in Brixton? An afternoon
at Camden market? A million other things to do in London? All of which
make picking up an activation on the way a trivial matter.

How would going to any of those involve me making a journey from a non-Z1
station to a non-Z1 station?

--
regards

Stephen

"David Cantrell" wrote:
Seeing that you've decided to take the debate down to the level of the
playground, I declare you to be the loser, because "it takes one to know
one".

;o)

David of Broadway wrote:

UK-based vending machines, by and large, do not recognize the existence
of non-chip-and-PIN cards. (There are some exceptions. My card was
accepted on the first try at the leftmost vending machine at Golders
Green two weeks ago. I think the smaller machines may accept
non-chip-and-PIN cards.)

I can now also report success at the Louvre ticket machines. Seems like
it's possible to program a vending machine to accept non-chip-and-PIN
cards if desired.
--
David of Broadway

"David of Broadway" :
UK-based vending machines, by and large, do not recognize the existence
of non-chip-and-PIN cards. (There are some exceptions. My card was
accepted on the first try at the leftmost vending machine at Golders
Green two weeks ago. I think the smaller machines may accept
non-chip-and-PIN cards.)

What's happening about chip and pin in the US?
I thought it was well underway?

In message , at 11:38:22
on Wed, 26 Nov 2008, remarked:
The only slight wrinkle might be being asked whether you want to use
the Express or a normal train.

It's more complex than that as there are other ticketing options
than "Gatex only" and "any Permitted". And is the "Any permitted"
even allowed on Gatex - and why should a tourist be expected to
understand?

Don't forget the FCC options.

That's just another of the complications.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:10:56 on Wed,
26 Nov 2008, Neil Williams remarked:

There is only (!) Gatwick Express Only, Thameslink Only and Southern
Only.

Which begs he question of how you can get to Waterloo East on an "FCC
only" ticket, which is what the tourist-confusing-special-assistant
hovering by the ticket machines advised me to buy when I asked a couple
of months ago.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 11:56:52
on Wed, 26 Nov 2008, remarked:
As the visits are for academic purposes does it not occur to you that
the hosts might provide accommodation?

At the airport?

No, such that only travel and not accommodation is an expense that needs
to be reclaimed. You're being very dense today, Roland.

You aren't explaining the rules very well. So far we have
stopovers-allowed, but travel-from-airport not allowed.
--
Roland Perry