In article ,
lid (asdf) wrote:

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 22:24 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

Absolutely! No Oyster in Cambridge or Putney.

But the fare increases won't affect journeys from those stations.

They will for overnight stays. These include tube travel in central
London to work when I have to buy tube singles, currently £2 (Zone 1)
or £2.20 (Zones 1 & 2).

In which case you can pay less (and the fares will actually *decrease*
from 2006) if you use Oyster pre-pay for those singles.

So I have to get an Oyster for what is in fact just two tickets so far
this year.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at
22:24:00 on Tue, 4 Oct 2005, Colin Rosenstiel
remarked:
But the fare increases won't affect journeys from those stations.

They will for overnight stays. These include tube travel in central
London to work when I have to buy tube singles, currently £2 (Zone 1) or
£2.20 (Zones 1 & 2).

No wonder I use my bike now if at all possible.

Why don't you get an Oyster? Is the three quid really that much of an
issue? I have an Oyster and use it about once a month, as much for the
convenience as the ticket price.
--
Roland Perry

In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:

In message , at
22:24:00 on Tue, 4 Oct 2005, Colin Rosenstiel
remarked:
But the fare increases won't affect journeys from those stations.

They will for overnight stays. These include tube travel in central
London to work when I have to buy tube singles, currently £2 (Zone 1)
or £2.20 (Zones 1 & 2).

No wonder I use my bike now if at all possible.

Why don't you get an Oyster? Is the three quid really that much of an
issue? I have an Oyster and use it about once a month, as much for the
convenience as the ticket price.

£3 for two two pounds tickets seems more than the hassle is worth in my
book. I was wrong in thinking I'd bought as many as 7 singles this year.
The actual number I found on checking was 2.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 13:16:11 +0100, "Paul" Paul @whydoyoucare.co.uk
wrote:

A single Tube journey in zone one will cost £3 instead of £2 while a
single bus journey will rise from £1.20 to £1.50, said Mayor Ken
Livingstone.

Absolutely ridiculous.

£3 per Tube ride is a sick joke, while £1.50 per bus ride is not far
off what you'd pay for a few miles elsewhere in the country, but is
offensively expensive for a short journey.

I understand the purpose of the exercise is to encourage Oyster use,
but IMO this is not the way to do it. Will this, OOI, now make taxis
cheaper for a short journey than the underground? What's the minimum
fare these days?

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

Neil Williams wrote:

I understand the purpose of the exercise is to encourage Oyster use,
but IMO this is not the way to do it.


So what is the way to do it? Abolish cash fares straight away? I now
consider cash fares to be effectively abolished now anyway as I see no
reason to pay in cash when it costs more.

On 4 Oct 2005 11:01:19 -0700, "Richard Adamfi"
wrote:

So what is the way to do it? Abolish cash fares straight away? I now
consider cash fares to be effectively abolished now anyway as I see no
reason to pay in cash when it costs more.

Cheaper fares on Oyster, not artificially and ridiculously
over-expensive ones on paper.

Also, look at improving access to Oyster. How about an issuing
machine eating, say, gbp10 notes (and credit cards) and issuing
non-registered pre-pay Oyster cards to tourists with a fiver deposit
(with return machines also provided to return the deposit) and a fiver
of credit?

Finally, flatten and simplify the Oyster fares structure. The paper
fares structure does not fit it well and introduces unnecessary
complexity.

And gbp3 is an absolute insult. Off-peak, you can get a ticket for
unlimited train travel throughout Greater Manchester for less than
that, for example. gbp2 is too much for a Zone 1 single, IMO.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

Neil Williams wrote:

Cheaper fares on Oyster, not artificially and ridiculously
over-expensive ones on paper.

Of course, that would be better but we have already tried that strategy
this year. It would appear that many people are still paying the 2
pound cash single compared to the 1.70 Oyster fare. It is clear that a
bigger differential is needed to encourage Oyster use.

In article .com,
(Richard Adamfi) wrote:

Neil Williams wrote:

Cheaper fares on Oyster, not artificially and ridiculously
over-expensive ones on paper.

Of course, that would be better but we have already tried that strategy
this year. It would appear that many people are still paying the 2
pound cash single compared to the 1.70 Oyster fare. It is clear that a
bigger differential is needed to encourage Oyster use.

Why should I be expected to get an Oyster for just 7 single tube fares
so far this year?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 4 Oct 2005 11:35:31 -0700, "Richard Adamfi"
wrote:

Of course, that would be better but we have already tried that strategy
this year. It would appear that many people are still paying the 2
pound cash single compared to the 1.70 Oyster fare. It is clear that a
bigger differential is needed to encourage Oyster use.

Could these "many people" be the ones;
- for whom Oyster is too complicated (e.g. it involves a visit to the
window)
- who are only making a simple single or return journey which they
won't be repeating any time soon

Unless ticket machines are replaced with Oyster issuers, and even if
they are in some cases, people will still, quite reasonably, want
singles. This is not an excuse to rip them off. Oddly, bus
travellers aren't being fleeced to the same extent, even though the
impact of their use of single tickets actually involves delaying the
bus (if ticketing is from the driver).

IMO, this is largely designed to increase income.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

Neil Williams wrote:

And gbp3 is an absolute insult. Off-peak, you can get a ticket for
unlimited train travel throughout Greater Manchester for less than
that

Which may well explain why people call it *Greater* Manchester. ;-D

A similarly good deal can be had around Liverpool too.
--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9683652.html
(Class 108 51916 at Kettering - last day of the Corby service, 1990)