In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

Auto Top Up. Set it up once, and you never need to look online or
check your balance. I haven't had to go online for at least a year. My
only maintenance involves re-upping my Zone 1-3 once a month. And if
you must, stick your record card in your Oystercard wallet - then
you've the best of both worlds.

Yes, Auto Top-up is fantastic - but it's not for everyone. There's a
great many people who's finances are fairly chaotic, or even just very
tight - and money being taken just like that wouldn't really work out
too well.

Not so useful for infrequent users not living near a regular tube station.
I just spent £7 on Oyster due to being in London overnight without my bike
for the first time for some months. That is nearly as much as the total in
the first 6 months of the year of £9.60.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jul 4, 7:40*am, wrote:

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

Auto Top Up. Set it up once, and you never need to look online or
check your balance. I haven't had to go online for at least a year. My
only maintenance involves re-upping my Zone 1-3 once a month. And if
you must, stick your record card in your Oystercard wallet - then
you've the best of both worlds.

Yes, Auto Top-up is fantastic - but it's not for everyone. There's a
great many people who's finances are fairly chaotic, or even just very
tight - and money being taken just like that wouldn't really work out
too well.

Not so useful for infrequent users not living near a regular tube station..
I just spent £7 on Oyster due to being in London overnight without my bike
for the first time for some months. That is nearly as much as the total in
the first 6 months of the year of £9.60.

You only need to pass through the nominated Underground station *once*
in order to set it up. If you set it up online on one day (before
11pm), it will be available to be 'picked up' at that station from the
day afterwards, for the next eight days. From then onwards for as long
as you retain that particular Oyster card you don't ever need to
return to that station again, nor indeed use the Tube again - you can
just use buses.

You do need to start or finish making a journey in order to activate
the auto top-up facility (it can't just be picked up from a ticket
machine). However, you can get round this slightly be simply entering
a station through the gates and then exiting it again - for which
you'll be charged for a journey (the minimum fare from that station -
so £1.60 in zone 1), even though you didn't go anywhere. Some might
however consider this worth it in order to get it set up.

In your case however, given the very low usage, it perhaps wouldn't
really be of any significant benefit. (Just another company with whom
you have to update your credit/debit card details when you get a
replacement card!)

On Jul 3, 6:00*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

"Oyster is still completely useless on most journeys" - total
balderdash, it's completely useful for an untold number of journeys
around London. However Oyster PAYG might be useless for most of the
journeys that you want to do - but don't use yourself as the basis for
everyone else!

Agreed that it doesn't appear that Mr Petrov has ventured outside
PAYG- land *and also* outside his Travelcard's zones - i.e. to some
of the further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail
(though they're pretty much all accessible by bus of course). But I
dare say the same applies for a great many number of Londoners.

"The further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail"? *And
what about the great many number of Londoners who happen to live in
these mysterious, far-off, unexplored no-go areas? *Don't we count?

No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

"John B" wrote

No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

The parts that aren't accessible by PAYG-enabled rail are still accessible
by PAYG bus.

Peter

On 4 July, 08:47, John B wrote:
On Jul 3, 6:00*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:





Mizter T wrote:

"Oyster is still completely useless on most journeys" - total
balderdash, it's completely useful for an untold number of journeys
around London. However Oyster PAYG might be useless for most of the
journeys that you want to do - but don't use yourself as the basis for
everyone else!

Agreed that it doesn't appear that Mr Petrov has ventured outside
PAYG- land *and also* outside his Travelcard's zones - i.e. to some
of the further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail
(though they're pretty much all accessible by bus of course). But I
dare say the same applies for a great many number of Londoners.

"The further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail"? *And
what about the great many number of Londoners who happen to live in
these mysterious, far-off, unexplored no-go areas? *Don't we count?

No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

Hampton Court Palace is in London, Hampton Court Station is in Surrey,
but it was brought into the travelcard zones years ago.

The flippant stuff about south London being worthless (along with
everyone who lives there) is obviously hilarious, but doesn't really
get us any further (in the argument or in travel).

On Jul 3, 9:27*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:
Still I suppose there must be people who find Travelcard seasons useful
for their journeys. *But if my experience is anything like typical,
there can't be that many of them.

Similarly, if my auntie had a cock, she'd be my uncle.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On Jul 4, 8:47*am, John B wrote:

On Jul 3, 6:00*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

"Oyster is still completely useless on most journeys" - total
balderdash, it's completely useful for an untold number of journeys
around London. However Oyster PAYG might be useless for most of the
journeys that you want to do - but don't use yourself as the basis for
everyone else!

Agreed that it doesn't appear that Mr Petrov has ventured outside
PAYG- land *and also* outside his Travelcard's zones - i.e. to some
of the further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail
(though they're pretty much all accessible by bus of course). But I
dare say the same applies for a great many number of Londoners.

"The further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail"? *And
what about the great many number of Londoners who happen to live in
these mysterious, far-off, unexplored no-go areas? *Don't we count?

No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

In which case I'd say you're ****ing blinkered, John. Or more to the
point, engaging in some trolling - but that does appear to be the
recurrent theme of this thread.

And no, I'm not going to play this game of listing off places. I'll
let you live on in ignorance.

On Jul 4, 9:08*am, MIG wrote:

On 4 July, 08:47, John B wrote:

On Jul 3, 6:00*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:

[snip]

"The further reaches of London accessible only by suburban rail"? *And
what about the great many number of Londoners who happen to live in
these mysterious, far-off, unexplored no-go areas? *Don't we count?

No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

Hampton Court Palace is in London, Hampton Court Station is in Surrey,
but it was brought into the travelcard zones years ago.

The flippant stuff about south London being worthless (along with
everyone who lives there) is obviously hilarious, but doesn't really
get us any further (in the argument or in travel).

No, it just gives us an insight into the 'superior mindset' of one
John Band. You stay in Islington, John.

On Jul 4, 9:08*am, MIG wrote:
No. If all the parts of London inaccessible by Oyster PAYG were wiped
off the map tomorrow, it'd be no great loss.

(trying, and struggling, to think of anything in London worth visiting
that isn't PAYG-able. Is Hampton Court technically in London or
Surrey? I suppose Blackheath is quite nice.)

Hampton Court Palace is in London, Hampton Court Station is in Surrey,
but it was brought into the travelcard zones years ago.

The flippant stuff about south London being worthless (along with
everyone who lives there) is obviously hilarious, but doesn't really
get us any further (in the argument or in travel).

Agreed. It's masking a more serious point though: if you don't live in
South-London-outside-z2, then you'll probably never go there, because
- while lots of fabulous people live excellent lives, contribute to
the community, pay their taxes, etc - there is nothing of much
interest to outsiders there. Except possibly Greenwich, which is on
the DLR.

Living in z2 North London, I hardly ever have to make journeys where
PAYG isn't valid (the exception is for work trips to my company's
satellite office in Kentish Borisland, for which buying an extension
ticket is indeed a moderate pain in the arse). Nor do pretty much any
of the inner-London dwellers I know.

However, if I lived in z4-6 non-Tube South London, I'd probably have a
point-to-point rail season ticket. And if I didn't go out in town much
(or at least, didn't venture far from Victoria, Charing Cross and
Cannon Street when I did), then that's quite possibly all I'd have,
especially if I'd lived there since pre-Oyster days and wasn't used to
the whole Oyster concept.

This presumably explains why Solar Penguin and Martin have such
difficulty relating to each other's point of view, despite sharing the
same city...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On Jul 4, 10:02*am, John B wrote:
Agreed. It's masking a more serious point though: if you don't live in
South-London-outside-z2, then you'll probably never go there, because
- while lots of fabulous people live excellent lives, contribute to
the community, pay their taxes, etc - there is nothing of much
interest to outsiders there. Except possibly Greenwich, which is on
the DLR.

I had a footnote here which said "the same is pretty much true for
North London outside z3", but it got lost in editing. The point is not
that South London is crap, it's that while there are plenty of
perfectly likeable towns in outer suburbia with pretty parks, decent
bars, nice restaurants, interesting shops, etc, in all of outer
London, there is nothing that compares to the draw of z1-2 when it
comes to history, culture or nightlife.

However, if I lived in z4-6 non-Tube South London, I'd probably have a
point-to-point rail season ticket. And if I didn't go out in town much
(or at least, didn't venture far from Victoria, Charing Cross and
Cannon Street when I did), then that's quite possibly all I'd have,
especially if I'd lived there since pre-Oyster days and wasn't used to
the whole Oyster concept.

Just following up on this one - as someone who grew up in suburban GE
land and then suburban SW land, I don't think I've ever fully
appreciated the difference that living on the south-central and south-
eastern routes has from all other commuter routes until thinking about
it just now: for most of central London's workplaces, cultural centres
and historical attractions, you don't actually need anything more than
one point-to-point season ticket. And you don't actually ever need to
use the Tube, which is something that I've tended to view as a
unifying force between suburban commuters and inner-London dwellers...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org