I bought a platform ticket yesterday. The ticket man was rather
surprised that this was what I wanted. (I'd arranged to meet a friend
mid-commute to hand him some books.)

I thought it would be easiest to ask a Real Human™ for one but wonder:

Could I have bought it from the touch screen machine?
(I wasn't going to faff about to find that the machine didn't do them)

Would I have upset my Oyster if I'd tried to use it to open the barriers?
It's a Bus Pass with PrePay.
(I didn't try because I didn't want the Seek Assistance business.)

Does anyone here know the answers?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:49:19 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
I bought a platform ticket yesterday. The ticket man was rather
surprised that this was what I wanted. (I'd arranged to meet a friend
mid-commute to hand him some books.)

I thought it would be easiest to ask a Real Human™ for one but wonder:

Could I have bought it from the touch screen machine?
(I wasn't going to faff about to find that the machine didn't do them)

Don't think you can.

Would I have upset my Oyster if I'd tried to use it to open the barriers?
It's a Bus Pass with PrePay.
(I didn't try because I didn't want the Seek Assistance business.)

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.

David

"David Walters" wrote in message
...

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK

"Edward Cowling" wrote the following
in:


"David Walters" wrote in message
...

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same
station wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even
cancel the soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you
touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

You have misunderstood, because an oyster card will allow you to enter
and exit at the same station without charging you or creating any
problems, provided the station was within the zones covered by the
travelcard on it.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

I've never seen anything like that! I have occasionally seen confused
people trying to use paper tickets on the oyster readers, which
obviously doesn't work.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Yes, I find it extremely convenient. It's easier to get through with
one hand holding something (just put your ticket holder on the yellow
circle, no need to fiddle about taking a ticket out and putting it back
in) and prepay has been very good for times when I've needed to travel
outside the zones on my ticket.

--
message by Robin May-Silk and his close friend, Robert Kilroy-Kotton
"GIVE IN! IT'S TIME TO GO!" - The NHS offers a high standard of care.

Would you take the office of relief?:
http://robinmay.fotopic.net/p4600200.html

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK




I think they're great (as the tiger says). As someone who only very
occasionally finds myself using buses or The Tube, not having to worry about
carrying cash (or the right change) or multiple tickets is really useful.
I'm also very pleased to be able to bypass the Underground's ticket offices
which are usually packed.

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 at 12:56:13, Edward Cowling
wrote:


"David Walters" wrote in message
.. .

The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

This is true whether it is paper-based or Oyster-based. If you put any
sort of Travelcard on your Oyster, it treats it exactly as an ordinary
Travelcard. The difficulty arises with Pre-Pay, which is useful, but
not yet as useful as it might be.
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 6 June 2004

"Edward Cowling" typed


Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Actually I'm quite happy, sort of...

Armed with my encyclopaedic knowledge of fares for 2004, I can get 2003
fares on the Tube during the week and even cheaper Tube fares at
weekends.

I still end up buying paper tickets, especially weekday ODTCs (and
yesterday's platform ticket) but I like not fumbling with change and
like entering King's Cross Underground from the rail station, which only
ticket holders can do.


I like not having change available for those who beg for it (I keep a £1
for a supermarket trolley and 20p for a loo, with my Oyster) and having
my purse out of reach.

It's a shame I need to have a mind fit for an anorak to get the best
fares though. I also have to advise my partner how to work the system...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

JB wrote:

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK





I think they're great (as the tiger says). As someone who only very
occasionally finds myself using buses or The Tube, not having to worry about
carrying cash (or the right change) or multiple tickets is really useful.
I'm also very pleased to be able to bypass the Underground's ticket offices
which are usually packed.

And so say all of us.

With the added advantage that, it seems, many bus readers seem
temporarily broken so if you wave your pre-pay at it, the driver is just
as likely to just wave you straight on.

On 14 Jul 2004 13:00:44 GMT, Robin May
wrote:

You have misunderstood, because an oyster card will allow you to enter
and exit at the same station without charging you or creating any
problems, provided the station was within the zones covered by the
travelcard on it.

I heart my oyster but I think that's not exactly true. One Fri
lunchtime I breezed in at Chancery Lane only to encounter a "westbound
not running" sign at the escalator; no info before that point and I
was one of many who entered, read and did a u-turn. We all had to
queue up at the manual gate for release since the O reader shone red
lights at us and urged us to Seek Assistance.

Similar sad tale at Hol Pk where the station staff explicitly told O
holders to tread their weary way to the tix counter for cancellation.
All of this on monthly tix.

Shirley (SCMS) the big O could allow immediate exit after entering?


--
New ant-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:56:13 GMT, "Edward Cowling"
wrote:


"David Walters" wrote in message
.. .

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

If you have a travelcard it does not matter provided the zones are
correct. And 3 times in 5 years? - not a lot of reason for wishing to
retain paper tickets.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

Do you? - you must live in a very angry part of London as I cannot
recall people doing this at all. In fact I see more people using Oyster
with apparent ease than people with paper tickets having ticket rejects
or other problems with using the equipment.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Well I am biased but I am pleasantly surprised at how well people seem
to have adapted to the technology - even our older citizens with their
permits. Yes there are still issues over equipment reliability which I
think are unacceptable but I can guess what my old friends at the
manufacturer would say about that.

I know there have been a lot of "learning curve" issues with web site
access, on line renewals, "illogical" use by passengers and
disappointment over the delays with Pre-Pay and Capping but for now it
seems to have calmed down somewhat. I expect there will be a surge in
short term problems when capping starts because that is an enormously
complex issue where passenger expectations may not match reality in some
cases. This may be due to system problems, passengers not understanding
the commercial rules applied to the concept or the rules not allowing
certain things that people can "get away with" today. However once
people build familiarity and more importantly confidence then I think
the system will prove to be enormously successful.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!