I've just received a reminder about joining the trial (which I don't
qualify for as I'm too infrequent a user).

If they are still recruiting people for the trial, it seems to me that
rollout must be some way in the future.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 13:24:31 on
Sat, 17 May 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:
On Sat, 17 May 2014 09:24:27 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I've just received a reminder about joining the trial (which I don't
qualify for as I'm too infrequent a user).

If they are still recruiting people for the trial, it seems to me that
rollout must be some way in the future.

A complete guess on my part but I suspect it's just an automatic
request generated off the back of you having had the combined Oyster /
Barclays thing which has recently been stopped.

I'm sure it is. But then we get into cockup vs conspiracy territory.

Are they by mistake inviting people into the trial, despite it being
about to end and therefore that participation is irrelevant?

The trial is quite clearly happening now

I know, because others of my acquaintance are on it.

and there seems to have been a slight increase in the volume of "it's
coming soon" for the contactless system.

But when? A Cambridge Guided Bus "late Summer", or something else?

I still expect the rail mode rollout to happen in June or July -
barring the discovery of some system nasties in the trial. Hopefully
TfL and their contractors have debugged the system sufficiently to
avoid this happening.

Let's compare notes early August.
--
Roland Perry

On 17/05/2014 17:31, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 17 May 2014 14:19:24 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 13:24:31 on
Sat, 17 May 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:
On Sat, 17 May 2014 09:24:27 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I've just received a reminder about joining the trial (which I don't
qualify for as I'm too infrequent a user).

If they are still recruiting people for the trial, it seems to me that
rollout must be some way in the future.

A complete guess on my part but I suspect it's just an automatic
request generated off the back of you having had the combined Oyster /
Barclays thing which has recently been stopped.

I'm sure it is. But then we get into cockup vs conspiracy territory.

Are they by mistake inviting people into the trial, despite it being
about to end and therefore that participation is irrelevant?

The trial is quite clearly happening now

I know, because others of my acquaintance are on it.

and there seems to have been a slight increase in the volume of "it's
coming soon" for the contactless system.

But when? A Cambridge Guided Bus "late Summer", or something else?

I still expect the rail mode rollout to happen in June or July -
barring the discovery of some system nasties in the trial. Hopefully
TfL and their contractors have debugged the system sufficiently to
avoid this happening.

Let's compare notes early August.

Why? - so you can go "nerr, nerr told you I was right about the
timing?"

We're both guessing as neither of us know what issues, if any, have
turned up in the trial. All I know is that TfL stated that roll out
would be 6 weeks after the trial ends assuming no serious issues were
found in the trial.


I got a reminder asking me to register my card, but warning me not to
use it until I got an e-mail confirmation from TfL.

In message , at 17:31:03 on
Sat, 17 May 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:
But when? A Cambridge Guided Bus "late Summer", or something else?

I still expect the rail mode rollout to happen in June or July -
barring the discovery of some system nasties in the trial. Hopefully
TfL and their contractors have debugged the system sufficiently to
avoid this happening.

Let's compare notes early August.

Why? - so you can go "nerr, nerr told you I was right about the
timing?"

Not at all. One of the topics which fascinates me is "vapourware", and I
collect examples of it. When it comes to transport ticketing it's like
shooting fish in a barrel, unfortunately.

Last November the Standard reported (and they'd only have said it if
officially briefed):

Five thousand Londoners will become the first commuters on the
Tube to use the contactless system in a two-month pilot.

Already accepted on buses, it will then be fully introduced on
the Tube, DLR and London Overground in early summer 2014.

Meanwhile other industry media reported (this April):

[Tfl] had planned to be ready by this summer after delaying the
launch from the end of last year. But it now says it will be
ready only later this year.

Back in May 2011, people were even more optimistic:

In early 2012, ahead of the Games, passengers will be able to
use their bank-issued contactless debit and credit cards to pay
for their travel directly on all of London's 8,500 buses. This
alternative method of fare payment will be rolled out to the
rest of the transport network in London later that year.

[As we know, the rollout to just the buses was delayed until Dec 2012,
six months *after* the Olympics.]

We're both guessing as neither of us know what issues, if any, have
turned up in the trial. All I know is that TfL stated that roll out
would be 6 weeks after the trial ends assuming no serious issues were
found in the trial.

And I'm saying that the trial has perhaps not ended, and that we are way
past the two months mentioned above. Especially if they are still
recruiting new people.

Either that, or the attempt to recruit new people is a new layer of
cock-up, and if I replied I'd be told "sorry, we aren't accepting new
people".

--
Roland Perry

On 17/05/2014 17:31, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 17 May 2014 14:19:24 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:
[...]
I still expect the rail mode rollout to happen in June or July -
barring the discovery of some system nasties in the trial. Hopefully
TfL and their contractors have debugged the system sufficiently to
avoid this happening.

Let's compare notes early August.

Why? - so you can go "nerr, nerr told you I was right about the
timing?"

We're both guessing as neither of us know what issues, if any, have
turned up in the trial. All I know is that TfL stated that roll out
would be 6 weeks after the trial ends assuming no serious issues were
found in the trial.


Pilot seemingly started on 25 April, so Roland can get excited about the
6th June. And not just because of One Direction playing at Wembley Stadium.
https://twitter.com/TfLOfficial/status/459630011985969153

On 18/05/2014 12:57, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 17:31:03 on
Sat, 17 May 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:
But when? A Cambridge Guided Bus "late Summer", or something else?

I still expect the rail mode rollout to happen in June or July -
barring the discovery of some system nasties in the trial. Hopefully
TfL and their contractors have debugged the system sufficiently to
avoid this happening.

Let's compare notes early August.

Why? - so you can go "nerr, nerr told you I was right about the
timing?"

Not at all. One of the topics which fascinates me is "vapourware", and I
collect examples of it. When it comes to transport ticketing it's like
shooting fish in a barrel, unfortunately.


Vapourware is stuff that never ends up happening, right? So are you
suggesting this somehow isn't going to happen?

In message , at 21:52:33 on Sun, 18 May
2014, Mizter T remarked:
One of the topics which fascinates me is "vapourware", and I
collect examples of it. When it comes to transport ticketing it's like
shooting fish in a barrel, unfortunately.

Vapourware is stuff that never ends up happening, right? So are you
suggesting this somehow isn't going to happen?

No, vapourware is stuff that's announced way too soon, to give the
impression the product is "almost available", but gets delayed and
delayed and delayed (and only sometimes gets canned).

There's no requirement for it to *never* actually appear (which would
also require a crystal ball for it to get on the list in the first
place).

Even so, "Paywave on the buses for the Olympics" was one part of this
project which didn't in fact see the light of day.

ps: I wonder what the status is for this statement (it would require
ITSO-capable tube gates), still in the FAQs on the EMT website:

From late 2012/early 2013, East Midlands Trains Smartcards can
be used on the London Underground. Until then, underground
tickets need to be purchased separately.

This is what Cubic (the supplier) said about ITSO-on-Prestige in
November 2013 (so it sounded quite imminent...)

The next stage of the project will see Cubic deploy the
technology to provide ITSO capability on the remaining Oyster
overground gate estate, with the final stage enabling London
Underground and buses to accept ITSO cards in early 2014.

Although TfL were claiming the gates had been done by the end of 2013,
and were just waiting for TOCs to be capable of issuing ITSO tickets
(which of course at least Southern and EMT had been doing for two years,
but whatever...)

Lots of interesting stuff here, including Plusbus on ITSO for Crawley
and Brighton, which it seems really did happen (in Dec 2012):

http://www.journeysolutions.com/site...res/John%20Bac
kway%20presentation.pdf
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 21:48:11 on Sun, 18 May
2014, Mizter T remarked:

All I know is that TfL stated that roll out would be 6 weeks after
the trial ends assuming no serious issues were found in the trial.

Pilot seemingly started on 25 April, so Roland can get excited about
the 6th June.

That'd be six weeks after the trial *started* though.
--
Roland Perry

On 19/05/2014 09:26, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 21:48:11 on Sun, 18 May
2014, Mizter T remarked:

All I know is that TfL stated that roll out would be 6 weeks after
the trial ends assuming no serious issues were found in the trial.

Pilot seemingly started on 25 April, so Roland can get excited about
the 6th June.

That'd be six weeks after the trial *started* though.

Yes, of course.

So, 18 July (approx) is the magic date.

I'd imagine TfL are keen to have contactless on all modes up and running
by 6 July, which is when London buses 'go cashless'.

In message , at 10:17:19 on Mon, 19 May
2014, Mizter T remarked:
All I know is that TfL stated that roll out would be 6 weeks after
the trial ends assuming no serious issues were found in the trial.

Pilot seemingly started on 25 April, so Roland can get excited about
the 6th June.

That'd be six weeks after the trial *started* though.

Yes, of course.

So, 18 July (approx) is the magic date.

Which implies you know that the trial ends the first week of June. Is
that published somewhere?

I'd imagine TfL are keen to have contactless on all modes up and
running by 6 July, which is when London buses 'go cashless'.

So that would imply a trial ending now. Which brings me back to the
original question: why are they asking me if I want to join the trial,
if it's ending?
--
Roland Perry