On 08/10/2014 20:32, Theo Markettos wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Oyster Ticket Stops are all over the place - I'd be surprised to find a
parade of shops in Greater London that didn't have one. Most shops that
do Oyster normally advertise it on their exterior - for example, like this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertoherrett/12678056684

I think the issue is you need a 'parade of shops', ie small shops with a
newsagent or similar. So I'm standing on The Mall facing Buckingham Palace.
Without looking it up, which direction should I go for a Ticket Stop?

Likewise it can sometimes be a bit 'water, water everywhere and not a drop
to drink'. I'm on Oxford Street, midway between Oxford Circus and Tottenham
Court Road stations, and I want to take a bus (of which there are many).
Again, without looking it up, where do I find a Ticket Stop? There are lots
of /shops/ but I'm not sure Next or American Apparel will help me.

The obvious solution in both cases (to me as a non-local) are 'walk 10 mins
to the nearest tube station', which works but means I'm now potentially 20
mins late.

There are quite a few which exist just off Oxford Street, though there's
a bit of a scarcity near the Mall and Buck House. But yes I quite accept
with your point - in central London, they're somewhat less obvious,
especially to a visitor.

Something that can help one out of a 'not enough money on my Oyster' fix
is the new 'one more journey' feature of Oyster (introduced shortly
before buses went cashless) - basically you can make one more journey
even if you don't have enough money on your Oyster (so currently £1.45),
you just need a positive balance or a zero balance:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses#on-this-page-1

When one does this, the bus ticket machine spurts out a ticket with some
explanatory text.

Coming back to the earlier point of this thread, I agree with you that
auto-topup means one can neatly sidestep all such top-up worries. The
only point to make is that it's not for everyone - for instance, some
people's finances are incredibly finely balanced, and £20 being taken
from their bank account at an inopportune moment can lead to all sorts
of problems.

On 08/10/2014 21:32, Neil Williams wrote:

On 2014-10-08 18:55:31 +0000, Mizter T said:

Also, as Colin has pointed out many times in the past, the premium
Great Northern charge for an outboundary Day Travelcard over an
Off-peak day return is significant - without a Railcard discount, it's
£30.90 to 23.70 (i.e. differential of £7.20).

And there are the disgraceful ones which should never be sold (except
when Railcard discounted), as they are more expensive than a CDR plus
separate Travelcard.

Yes, SWT, I'm looking at you. Bournemouth, if I recall.

Yep, Bournemouth is a shocker - Off-peak Day Return £54.60, Off-Peak Day
Travelcard £64.40.

At least with the Super Off-peak varieties, there's only a £5 premium
for the Travelcard.

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

CR7 8JH

Thornton Heath station ticket machine? And in the other case
Victoria station?

I thought the point was to provide them where the railway/Tube
doesn't.

Not exactly. The Ticket Stop I've used most often recently is on the East
Putney station forecourt. Not in a parade at all.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article , (Someone
Somewhere) wrote:

On 08/10/2014 01:17, wrote:
In article ,
(David Cantrell) wrote:

On Mon, Oct 06, 2014 at 01:55:00AM -0500,
wrote:

Why on earth would anyone who visits London 2 or 3 times a year
have any use for auto-top up?


For most people the cost of auto-topup is pennies, so is far less than
the cost of queueing. Therefore auto-topup is better.

You are forgetting the non-trivial chance of losing or mislaying the
card so the whole value is lost to you, at least temporarily. TfL make
a lot of money from that. I have no intention of contributing.

But you're happy to cost TfL more money by doing small top ups in
person at ticket stops? (I presume ticket stops get paid for
providing the service)

Given how many months between such events, then yes.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(David Cantrell) wrote:

On Tue, Oct 07, 2014 at 07:17:53PM -0500,
wrote:
(David Cantrell) wrote:
For most people the cost of auto-topup is pennies, so is far less
than the cost of queueing. Therefore auto-topup is better.
You are forgetting the non-trivial chance of losing or mislaying
the card so the whole value is lost to you, at least temporarily.

You are forgetting the non-trivial chance of losing or mislaying a
tenner so the whole value is lost to you. At least if you lose your
Oyster card it is possible to get a (partial?) refund.

You assume I pay with cash. Why?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 08/10/2014 11:43, David Cantrell wrote:
[...]
A few years back, when people here were incorrectly claiming that Oyster
was great despite it not really being available south of the river (and
note that it's *still* not fully available), [...]

By this I'm guessing you might be referring to two things - (a) that
nearly all (non-LO) rail ticket offices can't handle Oyster
transactions, and (b) rail TVMs don't show Oyster journey histories?

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 08/10/2014 21:32, Neil Williams wrote:

On 2014-10-08 18:55:31 +0000, Mizter T said:

Also, as Colin has pointed out many times in the past, the premium
Great Northern charge for an outboundary Day Travelcard over an
Off-peak day return is significant - without a Railcard discount, it's
£30.90 to 23.70 (i.e. differential of £7.20).

And there are the disgraceful ones which should never be sold (except
when Railcard discounted), as they are more expensive than a CDR plus
separate Travelcard.

Yes, SWT, I'm looking at you. Bournemouth, if I recall.

Yep, Bournemouth is a shocker - Off-peak Day Return £54.60, Off-Peak
Day Travelcard £64.40.

At least with the Super Off-peak varieties, there's only a £5 premium
for the Travelcard.

Super Off Peak from Cambridge is better value too, though the best deal is
the closely guarded secret of the £2 child day return. You can't even buy it
in ticket machines at Cambridge.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 08/10/2014 22:43, wrote:
[...]
Super Off Peak from Cambridge is better value too, though the best deal is
the closely guarded secret of the £2 child day return. You can't even buy it
in ticket machines at Cambridge.

Ah yes - the fantastic "kids for two quid" option (for accompanied
children) - but does that still exist on GTR? I can't find it mentioned
on the website.

It's still going strong on Southern and Southeastern - for a long time
it was "kids for a quid", but it doubled in price fairly recently. If it
has vanished from GTR, it might vanish from Southern too when it's
subsumed into GTR. That said, hopefully it won't, and the lack of a
mention on the new GTR website is just an oversight...

http://www.southernrailway.com/offers/kids-for-1/
(the above URL rather giving away the shocking price rise!)

Actually it's barely mentioned on Southeastern's site these days...
http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/special-offers/special-fares-terms

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 08/10/2014 22:43, wrote:
[...]
Super Off Peak from Cambridge is better value too, though the best deal
is the closely guarded secret of the £2 child day return. You can't
even buy it in ticket machines at Cambridge.

Ah yes - the fantastic "kids for two quid" option (for accompanied
children) - but does that still exist on GTR? I can't find it
mentioned on the website.

I don't remember it being on the web site for a long time. You couldn't buy
it online. I'm not sure if it's still going. I've not been with a child on a
weekend since the switchover. However they are sold by Abellio Greater
Anglia, not FCC/GTR.

It's still going strong on Southern and Southeastern - for a long
time it was "kids for a quid", but it doubled in price fairly
recently. If it has vanished from GTR, it might vanish from Southern
too when it's subsumed into GTR. That said, hopefully it won't, and
the lack of a mention on the new GTR website is just an oversight...

http://www.southernrailway.com/offers/kids-for-1/
(the above URL rather giving away the shocking price rise!)

I don't think it was ever a quid at Cambridge.

Actually it's barely mentioned on Southeastern's site these days...
http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/special-offers/special-fares-terms

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Mizter T wrote:
Something that can help one out of a 'not enough money on my Oyster' fix
is the new 'one more journey' feature of Oyster (introduced shortly
before buses went cashless) - basically you can make one more journey
even if you don't have enough money on your Oyster (so currently £1.45),
you just need a positive balance or a zero balance:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses#on-this-page-1

That is useful. Do Bad Things happen if I don't clear my negative balance
for 6 months (my next trip to London, for instance)?

Coming back to the earlier point of this thread, I agree with you that
auto-topup means one can neatly sidestep all such top-up worries. The
only point to make is that it's not for everyone - for instance, some
people's finances are incredibly finely balanced, and £20 being taken
from their bank account at an inopportune moment can lead to all sorts
of problems.

I agree, and I don't actually do autotopup because it's too much hassle for
an occasional visitor, and I find it more useful to say to people 'oh,
you're visiting London? Borrow my Oystercard' without risking anything more
than the balance on my card.

Theo