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-   -   Oyster on NR (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/3419-oyster-nr.html)

[email protected] August 24th 05 10:55 AM

Oyster on NR
 
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?

Also how do National Rail station and train staff indentify the
validity of an Oyster card and how do passengers with such tickets get
out of gated NR stations without readers?


TKD August 24th 05 11:23 AM

Oyster on NR
 

wrote in message ups.com...
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?

Also how do National Rail station and train staff indentify the
validity of an Oyster card and how do passengers with such tickets get
out of gated NR stations without readers?


They give NR staff hand held readers but they don't always seem to have them
so usually they stare blankly for a moment at your card and say "thankyou".

All NR stations in Zones 1-6 had oyster pads fitted with the exception of Romford
which had "the wrong type of gate". Although this may have been dealt with by now.
In this case you had to wait for your ticket to be checked by a man with a hand held
scanner unless it was very busy or there were several people with oyster cards who
wanted to travel in which case you were all waved through on sight of the card.

A very elegant solution.



Londoncityslicker August 24th 05 12:12 PM

Oyster on NR
 

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


Londoncityslicker August 24th 05 12:15 PM

Oyster on NR
 

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


Londoncityslicker August 24th 05 12:15 PM

Oyster on NR
 

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


Londoncityslicker August 24th 05 12:21 PM

Oyster on NR
 
Sorry for the duplicate posts. Crap newsreader.


TKD August 24th 05 01:50 PM

Oyster on NR
 

"Londoncityslicker" wrote in message
oups.com...

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


To be absolutely clear that should have read:

"All NR stations in Zones 1-6 that already had gates had oyster pads fitted"



Paul August 24th 05 02:48 PM

Oyster on NR
 
TKD wrote:
"Londoncityslicker" wrote in message
oups.com...

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


To be absolutely clear that should have read:

"All NR stations in Zones 1-6 that already had gates had oyster pads fitted"


I would say that the majority of NR stations outside zone 2 don't have
readers!

Also, if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.

--
Paul


Mizter T August 24th 05 04:12 PM

Oyster on NR
 
Paul wrote:
TKD wrote:
"Londoncityslicker" wrote in message
oups.com...

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


To be absolutely clear that should have read:

"All NR stations in Zones 1-6 that already had gates had oyster pads fitted"


I would say that the majority of NR stations outside zone 2 don't have
readers!

Also, if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.

--
Paul



There's a little confusion here. All NR stations with automatic gates
have had Oyster readers fitted to them so people with season
Travelcards on Oyster can get through them.

The only *non-gated* stations that have had Oyster readers installed
are those which accept Pre Pay, of which there are few. A list of these
routes is he http://tinyurl.com/78fu8

NR ticket inspectors in London all carry a calculator sized Oyster
reader so they can see what ticket is held on the Oyster card.

It is correct to say that the 'Passengers Charter' discounts (for poor
performance) are only available when buying printed tickets from NR
train companies.

One could weigh this saving up against the potential convenience and
cost-savings that can be made should one regularly travel by Tube out
of the zones covered by your Travelcard, when the Oyster system
automatically deducts the extra as opposed to queuing and buying a
ticket extension.

For many people, the above scenario may well be rare, so they might as
well buy from their NR train company.


James Farrar August 24th 05 11:00 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On 24 Aug 2005 07:48:42 -0700, "Paul"
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.


What discount?

--
James Farrar

September's coming soon

asdf August 24th 05 11:07 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 00:00:03 +0100, James Farrar
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.


What discount?


On NR you can get discounts on season ticket renewals if the train
company you buy the ticket from performs badly. (You don't have to
actually use it on their trains to receive the discount.)

Mizter T August 24th 05 11:18 PM

Oyster on NR
 
James Farrar wrote:
On 24 Aug 2005 07:48:42 -0700, "Paul"
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.


What discount?


I'm no expert, but this is my understanding of the Passengers Charter
discount. It's offered on monthly or longer season ticket *renewals* if
punctuality or reliability over the past 12 months has been below
targets.

This can be worth a 5% or 10% discount.

Whilst I'm sure most passengers would prefer the railway to run on or
above the targets, the discount provides some recompense when things
aren't running well, plus an incentive to the train company to stop
losing money and get their act in order.

A few webpages I've found about the Passengers Charter on different TOC
websites:

http://www.thameslink.co.uk/main.php?page_id=33
http://www.thameslink.co.uk/main.php?page_id=101

http://www.setrains.co.uk/SETrains/C...engersCharter/

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...rs+Charter.htm

http://www.southernrailway.com/about...ormation.shtml


Alan OBrien August 25th 05 03:19 AM

Oyster on NR
 
wrote in message
ups.com...
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?


I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do; i know that many people have
switched back to paper tickets because Oyster charged them an extra £3.20 a
day.

When weeklies change to Oyster I think these people will simply buy their
weeklies from NR stations.



Mike Bristow August 25th 05 06:59 AM

Oyster on NR
 
In article ,
Alan OBrien wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?


I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.

(Unless they - say - use the NLL to avoid zone 1 properly, but then
the oyster card won't charge them)

--
Mike Bristow - really a very good driver

TKD August 25th 05 08:57 AM

Oyster on NR
 

I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.

(Unless they - say - use the NLL to avoid zone 1 properly, but then
the oyster card won't charge them)


On the day prepay launched enough people with season tickets accrued
negative balances for the media to report it as a bug.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3422051.stm

There was of course no bug. All of those people did not have zone 1 on their
travelcards and for the first time the system was able to catch them out.



Paul August 25th 05 10:24 AM

Oyster on NR
 
asdf wrote:
On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 00:00:03 +0100, James Farrar
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.


What discount?


On NR you can get discounts on season ticket renewals if the train
company you buy the ticket from performs badly. (You don't have to
actually use it on their trains to receive the discount.)


Exactly. Which is why there is no incentive for me to get an Oyster
travelcard!

--
Paul


asdf August 25th 05 11:12 AM

Oyster on NR
 
On 25 Aug 2005 03:24:34 -0700, "Paul"
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.

What discount?


On NR you can get discounts on season ticket renewals if the train
company you buy the ticket from performs badly. (You don't have to
actually use it on their trains to receive the discount.)


Exactly. Which is why there is no incentive for me to get an Oyster
travelcard!


South West Trains (don't know about other TOCs) now give the discount
on Oyster travelcards, provided you buy it from them.

Incidentally, which are the best (i.e. worst performing!) train
companies to buy Travelcard seasons from?

Mizter T August 25th 05 03:15 PM

Oyster on NR
 
Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
Alan OBrien wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?


I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.


They shouldn't do it, as it is fare evasion, but just because you
shouldn't do it doesn't mean you can't do it! I know someone who has
done this, I don't approve of it but I know it can be done. I've
overheard someone else being caught doing it by RP staff when changing
Tube lines at Zone 1 interchange stations ("I though my ticket included
Zone 1" - "No sir it doesn't" etc etc).

As RP staff rarely/never board trains, then there are perhaps some
whose regular journey on the same Tube train (e.g. from Shepherds Bush
to Mile End on the Cental Line) are not likely to be caught either.

The concentric zones in London are broadly a very good idea, but it has
an inherent assumption that many people will travel on radial routes to
the main attraction - Zone 1.

Because of this and other notions about 'Big Brother watching over us'
some people may wish to avoid Oyster. I supsect that some NR stations
that are near Tube stations may see a slight rise in the number of
7DTC's sold, but no subsequent increase in passenger traffic.


Mizter T August 25th 05 03:23 PM

Oyster on NR
 
TKD wrote:
I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.

(Unless they - say - use the NLL to avoid zone 1 properly, but then
the oyster card won't charge them)


On the day prepay launched enough people with season tickets accrued
negative balances for the media to report it as a bug.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3422051.stm

There was of course no bug. All of those people did not have zone 1 on their
travelcards and for the first time the system was able to catch them out.


How interesting. I'd heard those reports and kind of dismissed them as
rubbish journalism stirred up by the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor, Simon
Hughes, who never missed a chance for a dig at the Mayor Ken and didn't
let such trivial things as facts get in the way!

That's fascinating to hear the real reason behind the 'Oyster bugs' was
the system working properly (and catching people out) rather than a
system problem. It's not called a smartcard for no reason at all! Is
your information from an authoritative source?


Mizter T August 25th 05 05:57 PM

Oyster on NR
 
asdf wrote:
On 25 Aug 2005 03:24:34 -0700, "Paul"
wrote:

if you are using an Oyster travelcard it's better to get a paper
travelcard, otherwise you don't get the discount.

What discount?

On NR you can get discounts on season ticket renewals if the train
company you buy the ticket from performs badly. (You don't have to
actually use it on their trains to receive the discount.)


Exactly. Which is why there is no incentive for me to get an Oyster
travelcard!


South West Trains (don't know about other TOCs) now give the discount
on Oyster travelcards, provided you buy it from them.


I think it's only SWT and Silverlink that issue Oyster cards (and sell
tickets to be loaded to Oyster cards), though only at some stations.

I understand Silverlink issues Oyster at it's stations served by the
Bakerloo line, which makes a lot of sense.

I've heard SWT issues Oyster at Surbiton but I'd like to know where
else this happens. (AIUI all the Oyster issuing SWT stations are in the
zones as you can't get any out-of-London Travelcard seasons on Oyster,
only on printed tickets.)

I reckon SWT was possibly losong some of it's sales to TfL outlets as
it's passengers wanted to take advantage of the benefits of Oyster/
wanted to have the flashy new Oyster card.

Can anyone name any other NR TOCs that issue Oyster?

Incidentally, which are the best (i.e. worst performing!) train
companies to buy Travelcard seasons from?


Also a question I'd like answered! One could save oneself some money
here, and I'm sure a few people do already.


Mike Bristow August 25th 05 07:22 PM

Oyster on NR
 
In article . com,
Mizter T wrote:
Can anyone name any other NR TOCs that issue Oyster?


At a guess, c2c at Barking & WAGN (or whoever it is) at Walthamstow Central.

I'll take a sidestep and find out.

--
Mike Bristow - really a very good driver

Dave Newt August 25th 05 10:04 PM

Oyster on NR
 


Mike Bristow wrote:
In article . com,
Mizter T wrote:

Can anyone name any other NR TOCs that issue Oyster?



At a guess, c2c at Barking & WAGN (or whoever it is) at Walthamstow Central.

I'll take a sidestep and find out.


Half the windows are usually shut and half of them say "no oyster here",
the LUL office is always closed, half the NR ticket machines are out of
order quite often, and there is no LUL fast ticket machine.

It's really not much fun getting tickets at Walthamstow.

If only they would just put one of those little Fast Ticket machines
downstairs...

Mizter T August 25th 05 11:05 PM

Oyster on NR
 
Dave Newt wrote:
Mike Bristow wrote:
In article . com,
Mizter T wrote:

Can anyone name any other NR TOCs that issue Oyster?



At a guess, c2c at Barking & WAGN (or whoever it is) at Walthamstow Central.

I'll take a sidestep and find out.


Half the windows are usually shut and half of them say "no oyster here",
the LUL office is always closed, half the NR ticket machines are out of
order quite often, and there is no LUL fast ticket machine.

It's really not much fun getting tickets at Walthamstow.

If only they would just put one of those little Fast Ticket machines
downstairs...


That sounds like a poor situation. I can only suggest you use Oyster
Pre Pay if you wish to use the Tube, and add credit to your card at a
local newsagent. Again, if you need a season Travelcard then a
newsagent will do the job, ditto for Day Travelcards.

Plus it's worth noting you can also use Oyster Pre Pay on NR between
Liverpool Street and Walthamstow Central/ Tottenham Hale/ Seven
Sisters, but not at intermediate stations.

Price wise Pre Pay is cheaper for a single journey - £2.50 (or £2.00
after 7pm and at weekends) as opposed to £2.80 for a printed single
ticket. However printed CDR's and standard returns (for travel before
9.30am) cost £3.30 and £4.70 respectively (whilst an Oyster return
would cost £5.00 or £4.00), thus a printed ticket will always work
out cheaper for a straightforward return journey. However if you're
using the Tube for onward journeys from Liverpool Street then Oyster
Pre Pay capping will kick in, so it's could be quite useful after all.


Anyway there's a few ideas for avoiding the ticket offices/ machines at
Walthamstow, but I'm not making excuses for anyone - a busy station
such as Walthamstow really should be well equipped and competent enough
to sell tickets!

A question - do *any* of the NR ticket windows at Walthamstow deal with
Oyster?


Alan OBrien August 26th 05 04:09 AM

Oyster on NR
 

"TKD" wrote in message
...

I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say
Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for
zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.

(Unless they - say - use the NLL to avoid zone 1 properly, but then
the oyster card won't charge them)


On the day prepay launched enough people with season tickets accrued
negative balances for the media to report it as a bug.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3422051.stm

There was of course no bug. All of those people did not have zone 1 on
their
travelcards and for the first time the system was able to catch them out.


That is why many people went back to paper tickets.



TKD August 26th 05 06:53 AM

Oyster on NR
 
On the day prepay launched enough people with season tickets accrued
negative balances for the media to report it as a bug.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3422051.stm

There was of course no bug. All of those people did not have zone 1 on their
travelcards and for the first time the system was able to catch them out.


How interesting. I'd heard those reports and kind of dismissed them as
rubbish journalism stirred up by the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor, Simon
Hughes, who never missed a chance for a dig at the Mayor Ken and didn't
let such trivial things as facts get in the way!

That's fascinating to hear the real reason behind the 'Oyster bugs' was
the system working properly (and catching people out) rather than a
system problem. It's not called a smartcard for no reason at all! Is
your information from an authoritative source?


I think it was on the TfL/GLAwebsite but I can't be sure and can't find from
a quick Google. Prepay was launched Jan '04 so it was around that time.

It seems Simon Hughes can only get his name about by claiming that anything
he doesn't understand is "scandal".



Dave Newt August 26th 05 07:09 AM

Oyster on NR
 
Mizter T wrote:
Dave Newt wrote:



Half the windows are usually shut and half of them say "no oyster here",
the LUL office is always closed, half the NR ticket machines are out of
order quite often, and there is no LUL fast ticket machine.

It's really not much fun getting tickets at Walthamstow.

If only they would just put one of those little Fast Ticket machines
downstairs...



That sounds like a poor situation. I can only suggest you use Oyster
Pre Pay if you wish to use the Tube, and add credit to your card at a
local newsagent. Again, if you need a season Travelcard then a
newsagent will do the job, ditto for Day Travelcards.


I have Oyster season anyway, and I just refill it at the work end of my
journey rather than the home end.


Anyway there's a few ideas for avoiding the ticket offices/ machines at
Walthamstow, but I'm not making excuses for anyone - a busy station
such as Walthamstow really should be well equipped and competent enough
to sell tickets!

A question - do *any* of the NR ticket windows at Walthamstow deal with
Oyster?


I was deliberately vague above - I know that the two windows on the
Liverpool Street platform there DON'T. The windows on the Chingford
side, I don't remember (I'm thinking they must do for the original claim
to be true!), but I'll have a look and see (or someone here will know,
I'm sure).

Christian Hansen August 26th 05 07:21 AM

Oyster on NR
 
TKD wrote:
"Londoncityslicker" wrote in message
oups.com...

There are a number of NR stations with no gates at all, so no oyster
readers there.


To be absolutely clear that should have read:

"All NR stations in Zones 1-6 that already had gates had oyster pads fitted"


I would say that the majority of NR stations outside zone 2 don't have
readers!


I am presuming this means those stations that are not double LUL/NR stations.
The stations at the end of the Bakerloo Line that I've visited recently have
readers mounted on the walls (not always in a convenient or noticeable place)
because as there are no gates there are no Oyster pads on the nonexistent
gates.

I see no reason why all the NR stations can't just have an Oyster pad on the
wall or a supporting column. NR is just afraid of innovation.
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
|http://www.hansenhome.demon.co.uk or
|http://www.livejournal.com/users/chrishansenhome/

Paul August 26th 05 10:01 AM

Oyster on NR
 
asdf wrote:
On 25 Aug 2005 03:24:34 -0700, "Paul" wrote:

On NR you can get discounts on season ticket renewals if the train
company you buy the ticket from performs badly. (You don't have to
actually use it on their trains to receive the discount.)


Exactly. Which is why there is no incentive for me to get an Oyster
travelcard!


South West Trains (don't know about other TOCs) now give the discount
on Oyster travelcards, provided you buy it from them.


Didn't know that. I doubt my little local station handles Oyster
though.. and I doubt you can topup on SWTs website, but I will check.

Incidentally, which are the best (i.e. worst performing!) train
companies to buy Travelcard seasons from?


SWT gives me a 5% discount. SE trains (previously Connex) used to give
7% when I lived that way.

--
Paul


[email protected] August 26th 05 01:01 PM

Oyster on NR
 
[replied via google so apologies if it looks weird]

A question - do *any* of the NR ticket windows at Walthamstow deal with
Oyster?




I was deliberately vague above - I know that the two windows on the
Liverpool Street platform there DON'T. The windows on the Chingford
side, I don't remember (I'm thinking they must do for the original claim
to be true!), but I'll have a look and see (or someone here will know,
I'm sure).


OK - I went there this morning.

ALL of the NR ticket windows on BOTH sides of the station say "Oyster
not available at this window. Please go to LUL office downstairs."

Of course, none of the NR machines can do Oyster either and there are
no LUL machines.

There is ONE single LUL ticket window (badly-positioned next to the
luggage gate and in my 3 years of living there, I would say it's closed
A LOT (I can't quantify that - sorry!) of the time.

The newsagent next to the station (corner of Selbourne Road and Hoe
Street) is a Ticket Stop though.

Maybe when they finish the subway to the bus station (was meant to be
open a few months ago, but has now been put back another 18 months to 2
years - ha!), they will provide some better facilities.

I hope LUL do anyway - WAGN/"one" sure as hell won't.


Paul Corfield August 26th 05 05:22 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On 26 Aug 2005 06:01:28 -0700, wrote:

[replied via google so apologies if it looks weird]
OK - I went there this morning.

ALL of the NR ticket windows on BOTH sides of the station say "Oyster
not available at this window. Please go to LUL office downstairs."


This happened when One upgraded from APTIS (which had a plug in unit) to
new machines which are not compatible. A nonsense but then the attitude
of the TOCs and Rail Settlement Plan to Prestige always was nonsensical
when I was trying to negotiate with them and convince them that the
scheme was going to happen. Now it has I suspect the attitude has not
changed very much if a recent article in Modern Railways is anything to
go by.

Of course, none of the NR machines can do Oyster either and there are
no LUL machines.


I don't think there is any form of NR automatic ticket machine that is
compatible with Oyster. Space for machines, rooms to put them and for
passengers queuing to use them is the real problem at Walthamstow. The
station can get so busy that it would not be acceptable to eat up
circulation space with queues. It is bad enough when the queue for the
LU ticket office stretches up the staircase.

There is ONE single LUL ticket window (badly-positioned next to the
luggage gate and in my 3 years of living there, I would say it's closed
A LOT (I can't quantify that - sorry!) of the time.


You can blame me for the luggage gate issue as we had to compromise on
the design when we did the project to put the gates in. The line
management wanted a huge ticket office but there was no cash to buy it
and whoever represented the main line railway then (!) would object to
such a proposal as they would lose too much money.

The newsagent next to the station (corner of Selbourne Road and Hoe
Street) is a Ticket Stop though.


Yes and there is another ticket stop along Hoe Street near the top of
the High Street.

Maybe when they finish the subway to the bus station (was meant to be
open a few months ago, but has now been put back another 18 months to 2
years - ha!), they will provide some better facilities.


Out of curiosity where did you hear that timescale from? I have been
told recently that the alternative company to Metronet that will do the
fit out and knock through are all ready to go. I have to say I am
deeply unimpressed with the lack of progress but I don't know the
reasons for the appalling delay.

I hope LUL do anyway - WAGN/"one" sure as hell won't.


Unless there is more space than I can foresee in the subway link then I
doubt there will be any real expansion of the LU ticketing facility. I
won't mind being proved wrong though.

What is more bizarre is that One have posters up on the Chingford
platform indicating that the ticket office is to be rebuilt and new
roofs provided for the ramped walkways [1] and various other "facelift"
type things done. They have secured funds from all over the place to
do this work.

[1] to replace the "temporary" 1968 structures that were removed earlier
this year.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Mike Bristow August 26th 05 06:31 PM

Oyster on NR
 
In article .com,
wrote:
[replied via google so apologies if it looks weird]

A question - do *any* of the NR ticket windows at Walthamstow deal with
Oyster?


OK - I went there this morning.

[snip: the answer is no]

I could have sworn they did; I was obviously wrong. I won't bother donig
the sidestep to Walthamstow, but I will check out Barking.

--
Mike Bristow - really a very good driver


Colin Rosenstiel August 27th 05 08:04 PM

Oyster on NR
 
In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

This happened when One upgraded from APTIS (which had a plug in
unit) to new machines which are not compatible. A nonsense but then
the attitude of the TOCs and Rail Settlement Plan to Prestige always
was nonsensical when I was trying to negotiate with them and
convince them that the scheme was going to happen. Now it has I
suspect the attitude has not changed very much if a recent article
in Modern Railways is anything to go by.


That's not all. I discovered recently the new tribute kit can't do two
singles for a return journey, the TOCs' coming way of doing cheap
fares. So I had to do two completely separate transactions, including
the credit card payments.

What MR article, BTW?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Mark Brader August 28th 05 03:14 AM

Oyster on NR
 
Barry Salter writes:
panto Oh yes it can! /panto


Pantograph? :-)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "It's the almost correct solutions that
are the most dangerous..." -- Dave Eisen

Paul Corfield August 28th 05 07:14 AM

Oyster on NR
 
On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 21:04 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

This happened when One upgraded from APTIS (which had a plug in
unit) to new machines which are not compatible. A nonsense but then
the attitude of the TOCs and Rail Settlement Plan to Prestige always
was nonsensical when I was trying to negotiate with them and
convince them that the scheme was going to happen. Now it has I
suspect the attitude has not changed very much if a recent article
in Modern Railways is anything to go by.


That's not all. I discovered recently the new tribute kit can't do two
singles for a return journey, the TOCs' coming way of doing cheap
fares. So I had to do two completely separate transactions, including
the credit card payments.


Hmm - bit odd that. Having read Barry's reply as well I think it is down
to staff training. I recently booked a series of fairly complex tickets
at Kings Cross GNER office (none on GNER trains either!) and that was
all one transaction and very efficiently done by the chap behind the
counter. I asked him if he liked Tribute compared to APTIS and he said
it was OK. He knew I was LU staff so wasn't completely taken aback by
that question.

What MR article, BTW?


IIRC Roger Ford did an Informed Sources article on Oyster, the ITSO
standard smartcard and how the TOCs were struggling to integrate either
card into their retail systems. It was published within the last 2-3
months. It felt as if time had stood still for 5 years - i.e. no
progress since I was dealing with the TOCs on this subject.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Colin Rosenstiel August 28th 05 02:53 PM

Oyster on NR
 
In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 21:04 +0100 (BST),
(Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

This happened when One upgraded from APTIS (which had a plug in
unit) to new machines which are not compatible. A nonsense but
then the attitude of the TOCs and Rail Settlement Plan to
Prestige always was nonsensical when I was trying to negotiate
with them and convince them that the scheme was going to
happen. Now it has I suspect the attitude has not changed very
much if a recent article in Modern Railways is anything to go by.


That's not all. I discovered recently the new tribute kit can't
do two singles for a return journey, the TOCs' coming way of
doing cheap fares. So I had to do two completely separate
transactions, including the credit card payments.


Hmm - bit odd that. Having read Barry's reply as well I think it
is down to staff training. I recently booked a series of fairly
complex tickets at Kings Cross GNER office (none on GNER trains
either!) and that was all one transaction and very efficiently
done by the chap behind the counter. I asked him if he liked
Tribute compared to APTIS and he said it was OK. He knew I was LU
staff so wasn't completely taken aback by that question.


Kings Cross GNER seemed better equipped than Cambridge last time I made
a ticket purchase. The guy did try to do it in one transaction, stopped
at one point, muttered and started again as two separate single
transactions.

What MR article, BTW?


IIRC Roger Ford did an Informed Sources article on Oyster, the ITSO
standard smartcard and how the TOCs were struggling to integrate
either card into their retail systems. It was published within the
last 2-3 months. It felt as if time had stood still for 5 years -
i.e. no progress since I was dealing with the TOCs on this subject.


Oh that one. Yes, not very impressive. I blame the shambles that is
privatisation and short franchises.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Dave Newt August 28th 05 10:40 PM

Oyster on NR
 
Paul Corfield wrote:
On 26 Aug 2005 06:01:28 -0700, wrote:


ALL of the NR ticket windows on BOTH sides of the station say "Oyster
not available at this window. Please go to LUL office downstairs."



This happened when One upgraded from APTIS (which had a plug in unit) to
new machines which are not compatible. A nonsense but then the attitude
of the TOCs and Rail Settlement Plan to Prestige always was nonsensical
when I was trying to negotiate with them and convince them that the
scheme was going to happen. Now it has I suspect the attitude has not
changed very much if a recent article in Modern Railways is anything to
go by.


That explains why I thought I was going mad, and had a feeling that the
windows there DID offer Oyster for a short period of time.

There is ONE single LUL ticket window (badly-positioned next to the
luggage gate and in my 3 years of living there, I would say it's closed
A LOT (I can't quantify that - sorry!) of the time.



You can blame me for the luggage gate issue as we had to compromise on
the design when we did the project to put the gates in.


Presumably, it's not your fault it's always closed though? :-)

Maybe when they finish the subway to the bus station (was meant to be
open a few months ago, but has now been put back another 18 months to 2
years - ha!), they will provide some better facilities.



Out of curiosity where did you hear that timescale from?


http://www.walthamforestguardian.co....php?utag=10366

Unless there is more space than I can foresee in the subway link then I
doubt there will be any real expansion of the LU ticketing facility. I
won't mind being proved wrong though.


Those small Oyster Quick Tickets machines are pretty small though -
would be very handy.

[1] to replace the "temporary" 1968 structures that were removed earlier
this year.


....which now looks much better - let's hope it's not something equally
ugly that goes up!

Thanks for the info.

Jason September 8th 05 04:20 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On 25 Aug 2005 10:57:26 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:

I think it's only SWT and Silverlink that issue Oyster cards (and sell
tickets to be loaded to Oyster cards), though only at some stations.


There are more One and WAGN for example. See the list of stations at:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...05.pdf#page=14
--

Cheers,

Jason.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail?

Jason September 8th 05 04:27 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On 24 Aug 2005 16:18:29 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:

I'm no expert, but this is my understanding of the Passengers Charter
discount. It's offered on monthly or longer season ticket *renewals* if
punctuality or reliability over the past 12 months has been below
targets.

This can be worth a 5% or 10% discount.


Or nothing on 'one', who changed their charter some time to require
season ticekt holders to claim for each and every delay!

I stopped buying tickets from them shortly after that...
--

Cheers,

Jason.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail?

Jason September 8th 05 04:34 PM

Oyster on NR
 
On 25 Aug 2005 08:15:43 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:

Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
Alan OBrien wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
I wonder how many people who refuse Oyster cards are working in the
black economy and don't want their regular 5-day a week journies from
A-to-B recorded?

I think the main reason is that some people live in zone 2 north - say
Kentish Town - but work in zone 2 on the other side of zone 1 - say Canary
Wharf. By buying a zone 2 paper weekly they hope to avoid the fare for zone
1 every day, which with Oyster they can't do;


They can't do it with paper tickets, eitherm when the Revinue Protection
crowd get ahold of them.


They shouldn't do it, as it is fare evasion, but just because you
shouldn't do it doesn't mean you can't do it! I know someone who has
done this, I don't approve of it but I know it can be done. I've
overheard someone else being caught doing it by RP staff when changing
Tube lines at Zone 1 interchange stations ("I though my ticket included
Zone 1" - "No sir it doesn't" etc etc).


Some years ago, I used to travel from the northern end of the Victoria
line to West London, changing to the Piccadilly at Green Park.

There were numerous times when ticket checks were done in the
interchange tunnels, precisely for this reason.

Because of this and other notions about 'Big Brother watching over us'
some people may wish to avoid Oyster. I supsect that some NR stations
that are near Tube stations may see a slight rise in the number of
7DTC's sold, but no subsequent increase in passenger traffic.


Additionally, people with paper travelcards can't have journey start
and end times verified for LU "Customer Charter" claims - another
reason for some to avoid Oyster.
--

Cheers,

Jason.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail?

Dave Newt September 8th 05 07:35 PM

Oyster on NR
 


Jason wrote:
On 25 Aug 2005 10:57:26 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:


I think it's only SWT and Silverlink that issue Oyster cards (and sell
tickets to be loaded to Oyster cards), though only at some stations.



There are more One and WAGN for example. See the list of stations at:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...05.pdf#page=14


We already know that the inclusion of Walthamstow on that list is a lie
- how many other stations on the list is it not actually true for?


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