On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 04:17:49PM +0000, d wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:11:14 +0100
Mizter T wrote:
I doubt you've used it - works very well, it is ever-so-slightly-slower
to read the card but I don't know where you get the less reliable bit from.
I've seen on a number of occasions cards not work and the person has to try a
second or 3rd time. And it wasn't a card clash issue either.

This happens on Oyster cards too.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club"

The voices told me to [THIS SIG CENSORED BY GCHQ FOR REASONS OF
NATIONAL SECURITY AND DECENCY AND OH MY GOD IS THAT A LOBSTER]

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:20:26 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 04:25:47PM +0100, Theo Markettos wrote:

TfL ticketing is just complicated, that's the fact of the matter. Whether
it's 'too' complicated, I don't know. However it isn't designed to be
friendly to visitors, at least visitors who want to understand what's going
on rather than just throwing money at TfL and hoping for the best.

If you've already spent umpty hundred pounds on getting to London and
accomodation in London, I suggest that worrying about the odd penny here

If only it were an odd penny.

and there on your tube tickets is just not something that a rational
tourist will do. They'll care that they have a valid ticket, not that
they have the most efficient possible ticket.

If its an entire family over for a week that "odd penny" could amount to
a serious amount of money.

--
Spud

In message , at 12:22:50
on Wed, 1 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:

Might as well just give up then, shut down the transport system, forget
about this modern living lark and go back to hunting on the savannah.
Though I imagine there'd still be one or two persistent voices around
the camp fire complaining long into the night about how things don't
work...
It would be interesting to know what it is about the cards which stops
them working.

Lack of a chain of agreement between TfL, some intermediary, the card
issuer, and the user. It's not a hardware or protocol issue and I think
it unlikely to be a software bug.

That's the sort of agreement I'd expect TfL to have multilaterally with
(eg) Visa on behalf of all the banks that already have agreements with
Visa.

I'd don't know why, years from the start of the project, a patchwork
quilt of bilateral agreements hasn't yet been completed.
--
Roland Perry

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On 2015-04-01 10:34:15 +0000, said:

Uh-oh. A complete no-no and a quid-pro-quo for Oyster acceptance on NR
in London.

In what manner is tying a Railcard to a credit card a complete no-no?

That's not what I thought you said which is why I was saying that railcard
discounts would have to remain. I agree they could be tied to contactless
card accounts in future but they can't be now and even on Oyster they don't
show in online accounts, inexplicably.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

David Cantrell wrote:
If you've already spent umpty hundred pounds on getting to London and
accomodation in London, I suggest that worrying about the odd penny here
and there on your tube tickets is just not something that a rational
tourist will do. They'll care that they have a valid ticket, not that
they have the most efficient possible ticket.

Let them eat cake?

Not everyone is visiting on business from the USA and staying in a Zone 1
hotel. Some people are coming on the coach from the continent and staying
in a hostel. Some people are flying to Europe and spending months
travelling with a tight daily budget. Some people are sleeping in a tent or
a camper van. A family may be sharing a small hotel room in zone 6.

Just because you've come to London doesn't mean you have money to spare, in
the same way that living in London doesn't automatically mean you are rich.

Theo

The problem with railcards is that there is no database for railcards purchased at stations. (There is necessarily one for those purchased online.)

In article ,
(Matthew Dickinson) wrote:

The problem with railcards is that there is no database for railcards
purchased at stations. (There is necessarily one for those purchased
online.)

The railcard holders have to register them with TfL. I understand that will
be by the roving staff logging on to ticket machines.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 2015-04-01 15:20:10 +0000, said:

That's not what I thought you said which is why I was saying that railcard
discounts would have to remain. I agree they could be tied to contactless
card accounts in future but they can't be now and even on Oyster they don't
show in online accounts, inexplicably.

I mentioned both options - removing acceptance, and tying to the
contactless account (which under the new Oyster system will be
basically the same as tying to an Oyster card).

If Railcards ever become ITSO cards with all discounted tickets held on
them as I suspect they will, you could even tie it to that - either
associate a PAYG account or a debit/credit card to the Railcard itself,
and tap away.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 2015-04-01 17:14:51 +0000, Matthew Dickinson said:

The problem with railcards is that there is no database for railcards
purchased at stations. (There is necessarily one for those purchased
online.)

Most other European railways don't issue Railcards at stations in the
way we do - you might get a provisional card of some kind printed on a
ticket blank, but the main card is sent to you in the post. It would
be an option to follow that.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

On 2015-04-01 17:14:51 +0000, Matthew Dickinson said:

The problem with railcards is that there is no database for
railcards purchased at stations. (There is necessarily one for
those purchased online.)

Most other European railways don't issue Railcards at stations in the
way we do - you might get a provisional card of some kind printed on
a ticket blank, but the main card is sent to you in the post. It
would be an option to follow that.

My 3 year Senior Railcard was ordered online and sent by post.

--
Colin Rosenstiel