In article ,
(TheOneKEA) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(TheOneKEA) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Thanks to Matthew, a poster on another thread, my attention has
been drawn to the following announcement by Chiltern Railways -
I will copy and paste for the sake of the record:

From
http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/content.php?nID=4&ID=237
snip

What I want to know is why the opportunity to equip Wembley
Stadium with Oyster validators and ticket machines was not taken
during that station's reconstruction. It seems like such an
obvious thing to do that there must be some reason why it was
not done.

The ITSO standards problem? The agreement that Oyster can
co-exist with ITSO-standard smartcards is quite recent.

I doubt it - Chiltern's services are so entangled with Oyster now
that it seems strange for them to hold out in such a fashion.

You're assuming it was them and not the DfT or SRA.

At the very least, I would suspect that there would be problems
expanding the current ad-hoc PAYG agreement for West/South
Ruislip-Marylebone to include Wembley Stadium, as AFAIK LU paper
tickets comparable to PAYG fares are NOT valid for that journey.

Considering the earbashing Chiltern gets about their lack of trains
at the Sudbury stations, making up for it by allowing Oyster PAYG
travel to and from Wembley Stadium (and later, maybe Northolt Park)
would have helped somewhat. Besides, the PR opportunity would
surely be useful ("Chiltern Railways is first TOC to fully embrace
Oyster").

Not my point.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

TheOneKEA wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(TheOneKEA) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Thanks to Matthew, a poster on another thread, my attention has
been drawn to the following announcement by Chiltern Railways - I
will copy and paste for the sake of the record:

From http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/content.php?nID=4&ID=237
snip

What I want to know is why the opportunity to equip Wembley Stadium
with Oyster validators and ticket machines was not taken during
that station's reconstruction. It seems like such an obvious thing
to do that there must be some reason why it was not done.

The ITSO standards problem? The agreement that Oyster can co-exist with
ITSO-standard smartcards is quite recent.


I doubt it - Chiltern's services are so entangled with Oyster now that
it seems strange for them to hold out in such a fashion.

At the very least, I would suspect that there would be problems
expanding the current ad-hoc PAYG agreement for West/South
Ruislip-Marylebone to include Wembley Stadium, as AFAIK LU paper tickets
comparable to PAYG fares are NOT valid for that journey.


LU paper tickets are *not* valid for any journey on Chiltern from
West/South Ruislip - whether it be to Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, the
Sudbury's or Northolt Park. The fact that Oyster PAYG is valid from
West/South Ruislip to Marylebone (only) is because it's a special
arrangement between Chiltern and LU, though obviously it is one that
offers a fairly easy accounting proceedure as the exact number of
people making that journey can be determined from the Oyster database.

Bringing Wembley Stadium into the Oyster PAYG fold would be good, but
if it was only Wembley that was PAYG enabled and not the Sudburys and
Northolt Park I suggest it would be a cause of considerable passenger
confusion; also TfL would be keen on the whole line being PAYG enabled
rather than having it done in a patchy fashion; plus it would make more
sense for the revenue recouperation agreement between Chiltern and TfL
to include the whole line. I think it's far better, and indeed more
logical, to bring the whole line into Oyster PAYG rather than do it on
a station by station basis.

Anyway installing Oyster readers is hardly a big proceedure, so it's no
big deal it wasn't done when Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt. If
Chiltern has wanted to make Wembely a gated station then it would have
been sensible for them to have done so during the redevelopment, but
they haven't, so adding Oyster readers now is no big deal.

Mizter T wrote:

LU paper tickets are *not* valid for any journey on Chiltern from
West/South Ruislip - whether it be to Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, the
Sudbury's or Northolt Park.

Actually, LU paper tickets *are* valid on Chiltern...but only between
the Ruislips, and Amersham to Marylebone.

Admittedly, being valid between the Ruislips isn't *that* much use most
of the time, given that there aren't that many trains stopping at both
during the week.

Cheers,

Barry

Barry Salter wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

LU paper tickets are *not* valid for any journey on Chiltern from
West/South Ruislip - whether it be to Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, the
Sudbury's or Northolt Park.

Actually, LU paper tickets *are* valid on Chiltern...but only between
the Ruislips, and Amersham to Marylebone.

Admittedly, being valid between the Ruislips isn't *that* much use most
of the time, given that there aren't that many trains stopping at both
during the week.

Cheers,

Barry

It's probably more handy in the inbound direction than the outbound - if
you're at a Ruislip, you can hop on a Chiltern if one is imminent.

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave A wrote:

Barry Salter wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

LU paper tickets are *not* valid for any journey on Chiltern from
West/South Ruislip - whether it be to Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, the
Sudbury's or Northolt Park.

Actually, LU paper tickets *are* valid on Chiltern...but only between
the Ruislips, and Amersham to Marylebone.

Admittedly, being valid between the Ruislips isn't *that* much use most
of the time, given that there aren't that many trains stopping at both
during the week.

Cheers,

Barry

It's probably more handy in the inbound direction than the outbound - if
you're at a Ruislip, you can hop on a Chiltern if one is imminent.


You've not ever been to the Ruslips then have you Dave?! IIRC at both
the Central line calls at an island platform, whilst the Chiltern
platforms (which aren't island platforms at either station) can only be
reached by going over the bridge (at West Ruislip) or under the subway
(at South Ruislip) from the Central line island platform. It's the kind
of mad dash that I'd relish but most wouldn't! Plus, most importantly,
many Chiltern trains don't stop at both the Ruislips, making them
pretty useless for conveying yourself between them, whilst Central line
trains depart most frequently.

Of course if you're at a Ruislip heading into town, then - dependent on
your ultimate destination of course - a Chiltern train into Marylebone
might be just the thing. But only if you're using Oyster PAYG - and not
if you've got a printed LU ticket, as it ain't valid for anything other
than a Ruislip to Ruislip journey. And AFAICR there's no Chiltern PIS
displays in the concourse of either station (though I think there may
be a few posters) which I think makes it less likely that people would
go by Chiltern on the spur of the moment.

By the by, you usenet self seems to have transmogrified into Dave A - I
wonder if there's any particular reasoning for your rather late and
lacklustre bid at online anonymity? Perhaps I shouldn't ask! ;-)

Mizter T wrote:
Dave A wrote:

Barry Salter wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

LU paper tickets are *not* valid for any journey on Chiltern from
West/South Ruislip - whether it be to Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, the
Sudbury's or Northolt Park.
Actually, LU paper tickets *are* valid on Chiltern...but only between
the Ruislips, and Amersham to Marylebone.

Admittedly, being valid between the Ruislips isn't *that* much use most
of the time, given that there aren't that many trains stopping at both
during the week.

Cheers,

Barry
It's probably more handy in the inbound direction than the outbound - if
you're at a Ruislip, you can hop on a Chiltern if one is imminent.


You've not ever been to the Ruslips then have you Dave?! IIRC at both
the Central line calls at an island platform, whilst the Chiltern
platforms (which aren't island platforms at either station) can only be
reached by going over the bridge (at West Ruislip) or under the subway
(at South Ruislip) from the Central line island platform. It's the kind
of mad dash that I'd relish but most wouldn't! Plus, most importantly,
many Chiltern trains don't stop at both the Ruislips, making them
pretty useless for conveying yourself between them, whilst Central line
trains depart most frequently.

I certainly have been to the Ruislips a number of times, to make
connections from the Central line to Chiltern to High Wycombe and vice
versa. I was thinking more of being aware upon arrival at the station
that a Chiltern train was about to arrive, rather than a mad dash.

Of course if you're at a Ruislip heading into town, then - dependent on
your ultimate destination of course - a Chiltern train into Marylebone
might be just the thing. But only if you're using Oyster PAYG - and not
if you've got a printed LU ticket, as it ain't valid for anything other
than a Ruislip to Ruislip journey. And AFAICR there's no Chiltern PIS
displays in the concourse of either station (though I think there may
be a few posters) which I think makes it less likely that people would
go by Chiltern on the spur of the moment.

Quite likely. I was really thinking of people familiar with the
timetable or with the excellent WAP Live Departures service (which I
swear by).

By the by, you usenet self seems to have transmogrified into Dave A - I
wonder if there's any particular reasoning for your rather late and
lacklustre bid at online anonymity? Perhaps I shouldn't ask! ;-)

My computer celebrated the new year with a complete hard disk failure in
which I lost everything I hadn't backed up (which seems to be quite a
lot of stuff, including email settings)... I'm still fiddling around
bringing everything back to its pre-death state!

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

In message , Dave A
writes
My computer celebrated the new year with a complete hard disk failure
in which I lost everything I hadn't backed up (which seems to be quite
a lot of stuff, including email settings)... I'm still fiddling around
bringing everything back to its pre-death state!

You're not alone, Dave. :-)

Mine went down on 12 December. After a *lot* of work, most stuff is
restored now but it was an *anguishing* process.

(Demon's "Helpdesk" managed to cause my only e-mail loss in the affair,
though, showing me how to reconnect and download three weeks' worth of
e-mails and then talking me through the reinstallation of the backed up
files.......which promptly over-wrote the newly downloaded stuff!)

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Dave A wrote:

My computer celebrated the new year with a complete hard disk failure
in which I lost everything I hadn't backed up (which seems to be
quite a lot of stuff, including email settings)... I'm still fiddling
around bringing everything back to its pre-death state!

Sympathies, Dave. Mine suffered a RAM failure last October. Luckily all I've
not got backed up is a few photographs and some odds and sods. It takes an
age to get a machine set up to your own preferences doesn't it? Sodde's law:
the new drive bays are a different size, so I can't even drop the old hard
drive into the new machine. Life's never easy!

TfL have aspirations to introduce Oyster PAYG as far as High Wycombe,
and possibly Princes Risborough / Aylesbury:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/rail/downloads...dary_May06.pdf

Interesting. For me such a feature would avoid the curious hard-coded
route I'm sold the occasional times I take the train that way -
Central line "via S [or W] Ruislip" which can involve 50min wait in
the relevant Ruislip if the sales office has miscalculated arrival
times in the transfer station onto a Chiltern. PAYG would be an
improvement, and would be a welcome reversal of the TOCs' bad habits
of selling inflexible tickets for high prices.

Not sure letting Livingstone loose beyond is a good idea though...
--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

Just noticed this:

http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/up...ations/342.pdf

On the second page, under Major improvements for 2007: Chiltern
Railways state

"Amongst the changes you can look forward to in 2007 a

Oystercards extended to Aylesbury and High Wycombe

Ticket gates at Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield and Leamington Spa".


On a related note, I see that ticket gates are being installed at City
Thameslink and Blackfriars.