tim wrote:
"Stephen Osborn" wrote in message
...

tim wrote:



It's complicated in the sense that all journeys are individually
priced. It is thus impossible for someone to sell you a ticket

Every can of beans / newspaper / magazine / item of clothing / etc you buy
is individually priced and you cope with that don't you.

It's not a question of coping, it's a question of costs of
distribution/sale. When buying a tangible item there is inherently
a cost of distribution in getting the goods on the shelf. adding to this
cost by having to this stick a little price sticker does not make much
difference. A travel ticket has no cost of distribution other than
that of calculating the price, making the price calcualtion more
difficult makes a bigger difference.

What are you talking about? You said that it is complicated, implying
that is a problem, I merely pointed out it is no more complicated than
any shopping trip.

As for your costs of distribution 'argument', this is total hogwash.
The price of many goods bears no relationship to their cost of
distribution, compare a designer dress with a cheap one. Or are you
saying that all sale prices should be related to the cost of
distribution - in which case all travel tickets would cost the same.

1. Assumption that there will be a queue at the station and not at the
newsagents.

so go to another news agents.

No, I was merely pointing out an unfounded assumption, namely that there
will always be a queue at a station and never at a newsagents.

Whenever I buy a ticket (an extension as I have a Z1-3 annual) I do so
off-peak and almost invariably there is no queue.

aren't you lucky.

No, smart. If you go to any shop (which is what a station booking
office is) when it is quiet then there is less chance of a queue.

"Stephen Osborn" wrote in message
...
tim wrote:
"Stephen Osborn" wrote in message
...

tim wrote:



It's complicated in the sense that all journeys are individually
priced. It is thus impossible for someone to sell you a ticket

Every can of beans / newspaper / magazine / item of clothing / etc you
buy is individually priced and you cope with that don't you.

It's not a question of coping, it's a question of costs of
distribution/sale. When buying a tangible item there is inherently
a cost of distribution in getting the goods on the shelf. adding to this
cost by having to this stick a little price sticker does not make much
difference. A travel ticket has no cost of distribution other than
that of calculating the price, making the price calcualtion more
difficult makes a bigger difference.

What are you talking about? You said that it is complicated, implying
that is a problem, I merely pointed out it is no more complicated than any
shopping trip.

It is complicated for the provider, therefore it adds to the cost of
sale.

As for your costs of distribution 'argument', this is total hogwash. The
price of many goods bears no relationship to their cost of distribution,

Of course there isn't a relationship, but there is an element of
cost that is 'distribution. Make the distribution more complicated
and this cost goes up.

compare a designer dress with a cheap one. Or are you saying that all
sale prices should be related to the cost of distribution - in which case
all travel tickets would cost the same.

1. Assumption that there will be a queue at the station and not at the
newsagents.

so go to another news agents.

No, I was merely pointing out an unfounded assumption, namely that there
will always be a queue at a station and never at a newsagents.

I never made this assertion. I simply suggest that it is often easier
to buy your travel tickets at the newsagents rather than the station.
This is definately the case with an unmanned station where the machine
might be vandalised, not have the correct change etc and you have the
aggro of explaining all this to the guard to avoid a penalty fare, noting
that some of the reason you can think of do not avoid the penalty.

If you don't like the idea of buying them at the newsagents then
that's fine, but why does this give you the right to deny this option
to somebody else?

Whenever I buy a ticket (an extension as I have a Z1-3 annual) I do so
off-peak and almost invariably there is no queue.

aren't you lucky.

No, smart. If you go to any shop (which is what a station booking office
is) when it is quiet then there is less chance of a queue.

Um, so I'll change my meeting time to one when I know that the
booking office is not going to have a queue, that'll go down well
won't it?

tim

tim wrote:
"Stephen Osborn" wrote in message
...


What are you talking about? You said that it is complicated, implying
that is a problem, I merely pointed out it is no more complicated than any
shopping trip.


It is complicated for the provider, therefore it adds to the cost of
sale.

A. So is that your only concern? If so you are ditching your earlier
assertion that a complicated point-to-point ticketing system is bad for
the passenger buying a ticket.

B. If it is implemented (as I suggested in a single computerised
database) then any extra cost of a more complex system is spread out
over millions of tickets and effectively amounts to nothing.

As for your costs of distribution 'argument', this is total hogwash. The
price of many goods bears no relationship to their cost of distribution,


Of course there isn't a relationship, but there is an element of
cost that is 'distribution. Make the distribution more complicated
and this cost goes up.

As B above.

1. Assumption that there will be a queue at the station and not at the
newsagents.

so go to another news agents.

No, I was merely pointing out an unfounded assumption, namely that there
will always be a queue at a station and never at a newsagents.

I never made this assertion. I simply suggest that it is often easier
to buy your travel tickets at the newsagents rather than the station.
This is definately the case with an unmanned station where the machine
might be vandalised, not have the correct change etc and you have the
aggro of explaining all this to the guard to avoid a penalty fare, noting
that some of the reason you can think of do not avoid the penalty.

QUOTE
Effectively, this means that to buy a ticket for my journey I
have to queue up at the station. Were a complete zonal system
in operation accross all modes, I could just go and buy a ticket
from my local newsagents (as I could for LT journeys).
/QUOTE

Sounds like an assumption that there will be a queue at the station but
not at the newsagents to me.

If you don't like the idea of buying them at the newsagents then
that's fine, but why does this give you the right to deny this option
to somebody else?

Now who is trying to put words in other people's mouths?
I never came near suggesting that tickets should not be sold in
newsagents. In:
"I was merely pointing out an unfounded assumption, namely that there
will always be a queue at a station and never at a newsagents."
the word merely shows that refuting the assumption was the limit of my
comment.

Whenever I buy a ticket (an extension as I have a Z1-3 annual) I do so
off-peak and almost invariably there is no queue.

aren't you lucky.

No, smart. If you go to any shop (which is what a station booking office
is) when it is quiet then there is less chance of a queue.

Um, so I'll change my meeting time to one when I know that the
booking office is not going to have a queue, that'll go down well
won't it?

I never said that either. I assume that you would not go into a
newsagents at a busy time (on the way to the station in the morning,
say) and expect a guarantee there will be no queue. You might go to the
newsagents at a quite time, the previous evening perhaps.

Of course you could go to the station at a quite time as well.