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)

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

Why not? It would save you money next year.

It takes 5 mins to get one, and then you just feed a tenner into the
machine when the barriers say you are getting low.

I love my oyster prepay, and delight in going straight through the
barriers while my work colleagues search their pockets for cash to go in
the ticket machine.


Tim

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.

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 02:47:14 +0100, Tim Bray
wrote:

It takes 5 mins to get one, and then you just feed a tenner into the
machine when the barriers say you are getting low.

....which TfL get to keep and earn interest on.

Oyster in its current form is not suitable for very infrequent
passengers. There is no excuse for blatently ripping these people
off. 2 quid was expensive, but 3 quid is offensive.

I hope the taxis increase their takings substantially and TfL's income
decreases accordingly, to teach them a lesson for this.

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.

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 00:52:20 GMT, Chris Tolley
wrote:

A similarly good deal can be had around Liverpool too.

While a Liverpool city centre single is somewhere around the gbp0.50
mark, as I recall. Even Metrolink isn't that expensive (and it is
usually regarded as overpriced), and Manchester of course has its
3-route free city centre bus network.

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 hope the taxis increase their takings substantially and TfL's income
decreases accordingly, to teach them a lesson for this.

There's an idea! How about Oyster Prepay in Black Cabs with a higher rate
if you paid by cash ;-)

--
Phil Richards
London, UK
Home Page: http://www.philrichards1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Laurence Payne wrote:

They're there. They work on period tickets. But the train companies
don't seem to want to wire them up to the pre-pay system.

That's because they are slow on the uptake of a purely zonal fare system as
per the tube. AFAIK it's not due to come into effect until 2006 or 2007.
Unfortunately NR are very much in the past with their archaic point to
point system for rail only journeys within the Travelcard area.

--
Phil Richards
London, UK
Home Page: http://www.philrichards1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:52 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

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?

Why not? My mother lives in Newcastle, but comes to London a few
times a year. She loves her Oyster card. It strikes me that a lot of
people seem to object to Oyster on some bizarre principle, and end up
cutting off their noses to spite their face. There was some woman
being interviewed on BBC London yesterday. "The likes of me don't have
an Oyster card," she said, "I think it's disgusting." FFS....
--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

The London Underground at War, and in Films & TV:
http://www.nickcooper.org.uk/

It takes 5 mins to get one, and then you just feed a tenner into the
machine when the barriers say you are getting low.

...which TfL get to keep and earn interest on.

Oyster in its current form is not suitable for very infrequent
passengers. There is no excuse for blatently ripping these people
off. 2 quid was expensive, but 3 quid is offensive.

No. There is a *perception* that Oyster in its current form is not suitable
for very infrequent passengers. There is no minumum balance on the card.
Only put a fiver on if that is all you will use all year. You don't have to send
away your passport or have a credit check to get one - you just go to a tube
station and ask for one. You don't even have to fill in a form if you don't want
to. Its just plain old fear of change.

In message , at 17:52:40 on Tue, 4 Oct
2005, Paul Terry remarked:
My job takes me into London (via SWT and tube) only occasionally, for
which I use one-day travel cards.

How would Oyster benefit me, bearing in mind that it is not accepted by
SWT?

But how do highly priced cash fares dis-benefit you, given that you have
a travelcard?
--
Roland Perry