sweek wrote:

In the end I think it will all just take a bit of time.

Yep. Until that time has been taken, it is not reasonable to impose
penalties (and that's what a 4 quid zone 1 single is) for not using
Oyster.

I'm fine with it being cheaper with Oyster, but this is clearly a
punitive penalty fare. For some shorter journeys, it will now be
cheaper to travel by taxi if paying by cash up-front. That's not
right.

You can't say
TfL aren't promoting the Oyster card everywhere.

They're promoting it in a way that makes sense to people that
understand London transport. If it is to be the only (reasonable) way
of paying for travel, that's not good enough.

They could maybe do a
bit campaign aimed at tourists, though. I have seen tourists who were
completely confused by the card they got when they asked for a weekly
pass, trying to somehow insert the oyster card in the travel card slot.

Which is entirely reasonable; the "swipe" pictogram only means
something to those familiar with it. A picture of the respective
tickets on the barrier might help more. Remember that barriers are, in
the first place, foreign to much of Europe, let alone further afield.

Neil