In message , Phil Richards
writes
I was thinking about the number of visitors coming to London to do some
research on-line before arriving.

Right, as someone who's a regular here and obviously has a lot of
experience (and a vested interest) in London as a tourist destination,
I'll wade in.

firstly, I reckon Oyster is brilliant. Its PAYG incarnation fits my
needs pretty much perfectly, apart from the National Rail anomaly which
it seems is on the way to being fixed.

Secondly, I applaud the current TfL policy of vigorously promoting
Oyster use by making big differences between on vehicle or at station
cash fares and those you can get from Oyster. A lot of other
organisations would pussy-foot around giving 10% savings or something.
TfL, or Ken if you like, has decided to go the whole hog with this and
make a BIG distinction. Again, I reckon its good in principle.

Now to the down side of all this. It is difficult, VERY difficult to
explain PAYG and Oyster to causal visitors. Paper Travelcards and the
savings from them are no problem and people usually have something
similar "at home". But the concept of stored value tickets and
specifically daily capping is so alien to people as to be not worthwhile
mentioning.

I said in a posting last year that people are remarkably ill-at-ease
using public transport in London sometimes. We a few weeks ago I had a
large group of people from the North of England who, during their time
with me had effectively a full day to explore London. They were
staying in Zone 1 and - almost as an experiment - I tried a simplified
explanation of Oyster PAYG on the way down. I really wished I hadn't.
Confusion reigned supreme and most of them simply couldn't get their
heads around it all. The more I tried to explain it, the worse it became
as they muddled up period Travelcards, paper Travelcards, the GBP3
deposit and daily capping. All this to save people 50p. I don't
think I'll do it again; I'll just send people off to buy a paper
Travelcard and save myself the ulcer! :-) (My coach driver thought I
was mad to have tried and maybe he was right.)

The deposit #/daily capping concepts are the hardest to explain. I've
tried an analogy with Phonecards but it didn't seem to work.

One more observation, some of my people often have cause to make just
one or possibly two short journeys in Zone 1 (maybe Aldwych to Oxford
Circus or Oxford Circus to Westminster or something like that. What
they therefore want is to go to a ticket machine or a bus driver and buy
a single ticket. Once its beyond that, then they simply head for a
taxi. Telling them that it will cost GBP4 each will simply stop such
journeys happening.

Part of me sees the logic of the new system and supports encouraging
Oyster use, it really does. But I know I'll be on the sharp end when I
give people the Bad News. (Was it the Greeks who used to execute the
bearers of bad tidings?)


PS The vending machine thing won't work with these people either. It
would be just as hard to explain.

PPS I know that I tend to have a slightly skewed view of London
visitors. As a general rule, if they're using a guide they'll be less
confident on their own than average.

PPPS Maybe I'm just bad at explaining things?! ;-)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk