Hi everyone,

Got mine done at Barbican today and it did require some explanation
and perseverance. Having read the experiences of others on here
(thanks!) I initially explained to the CSA knowing he'd doubt me.
After confirming several times that I wasn't confusing it with my
existing oyster student discount, I showed him the relevant section in
the leaflet. Then he had to contact a colleague in the back office who
showed him how to process the request on their computer. It was a
polite exchange in the end but it's amazing how little information/
training there is about this.

On 3 Jan, 21:05, "Lew 1" wrote:
I assume, then, that the new cap comes into force immediately?
Yes, it seems to have done so.

For anyone intending to go through this process, let me just let you know
what my experience of it was today.

First up, West Hampstead Overground station - where the cashier simply said
"I have no idea how to do that, you'll have to go to the Underground
station". And that was that.

So, I toddled off to the underground, and was told that it wasn't possible..
I tried to explain that it was and even showed the relevant page in the
Tickets and Fares leaflet. They still didn't relent, and after telling me
that I would have to hold up everyone else in the queue while they checked,
still refused to do anything other than sell me a normal travelcard. I
argued the point some more, they did some more phoning, and decided that it
*could* be done, but I would have to get a brand new oyster card to do it.

So, new oyster card in hand (and another £3 deposit paid for the privilege)
they added it on. The whole palava took 15 minutes and as well as appalling
customer service from the staff (who in effect told the rest of the queue
that I was holding them up by being unreasonable) I was also subject to
heckles from other passengers.

Moral of the story? If you want to attempt to add your railcard onto your
oyster be prepared to argue your point, have the relevant page in the
leaflet to hand, have plenty of time to spare - and I would guess try to use
a station with multiple ticket windows. It's not an experience I want to go
through again.

Best Wishes,
LEWIS

I went to Turnpike Lane today, and it all worked just fine. The guy
knew what I was talking about and put the cap on my existing Oyster
card.
I did have to fill in the registration form again, even though it was
an already registered card.

On Sat, 5 Jan 2008, sweek wrote:

I went to Turnpike Lane today, and it all worked just fine. The guy knew
what I was talking about and put the cap on my existing Oyster card.

Lucky you didn't ask him to put a cap in your oyster card. Round that neck
of the woods, he probably could have.

tom

--
Few technologies will ever stand up to the will of adolescents trying
to do things they're told they're not allowed to do. -- Scott Berkun

I tried on Sunday at Brixton, where the clerk seemed to know about it
but refused to do it since there was a long queue. The fact that I
had stood in the queue for 20 minutes cut no ice and he told me to go
away and come back another time.
At Oval the clerk had no idea what I was talking about; I showed him
the page of the fares leaflet and after some consideration he said
that the capbility had been built into the system, but they couldn't
put it on yet (seemed a reasonable response, since he had clearly not
been trained in how to do it.)

Finally went to Green Park on Monday evening, where there was no queue
at the ticket office, and though the ticket clerk hadn't heard of it,
after my showing him the fares leaflet he had a go on the system and
managed it without too much difficulty. Still took long enough that
there were some annoyed people in the queue behind me though!

It seems a great deal - means that if you don't travel in the AM peak,
daily capping will be slightly less (IIRC) than buying a weekly Z12
travelcard. With the proviso of course that it's valid on almost no
NR services south of the river. The recent extensions to oyster
validity seem to have made the system even more biased towards North
London - as the map at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...G-08-01-02.pdf
shows.

On 8 Jan, 17:15, brixtonite wrote:
Finally went to Green Park on Monday evening, where there was no queue
at the ticket office, and though the ticket clerk hadn't heard of it,
after my showing him the fares leaflet he had a go on the system and
managed it without too much difficulty. Still took long enough that
there were some annoyed people in the queue behind me though!

OTOH, I'd bet a penny to a pound that nearly all the annoyed people
behind you were seeking to waste the ticket clerk's time by doing
stuff that the machines could have handled anyway.

....in fact, thinking about it, it makes me angry that clerks get
annoyed about people seeking to carry out transactions at the ticket
office that are difficult and take time. Of course they sodding are;
anything easy or urgent could be done at the machine, and anyone who
tries to speak to a clerk to buy a ticket that's also sold at the
machine thoroughly deserves to be made to wait.

[sarcastic hyperbole]Or preferably shot[/sarcastic hyperbole]

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B wrote:


OTOH, I'd bet a penny to a pound that nearly all the annoyed people
behind you were seeking to waste the ticket clerk's time by doing
stuff that the machines could have handled anyway.

...in fact, thinking about it, it makes me angry that clerks get
annoyed about people seeking to carry out transactions at the ticket
office that are difficult and take time. Of course they sodding are;
anything easy or urgent could be done at the machine, and anyone who
tries to speak to a clerk to buy a ticket that's also sold at the
machine thoroughly deserves to be made to wait.

OTOH it would only be easier to do it at the machine if you know how to
use the machines in the first place. If you're not familiar with them,
or just don't feel comfortable with machines in general, it's usually
much easier and quicker to deal with a real live human being in the
ticket office.


[sarcastic hyperbole]Or preferably shot[/sarcastic hyperbole]

Better still, shoot all the machines and replace them with more human
clerks. That would be a big improvement.

On 9 Jan, 08:04, "solar penguin"
wrote:
John B wrote:

OTOH, I'd bet a penny to a pound that nearly all the annoyed people
behind you were seeking to waste the ticket clerk's time by doing
stuff that the machines could have handled anyway.

...in fact, thinking about it, it makes me angry that clerks get
annoyed about people seeking to carry out transactions at the ticket
office that are difficult and take time. Of course they sodding are;
anything easy or urgent could be done at the machine, and anyone who
tries to speak to a clerk to buy a ticket that's also sold at the
machine thoroughly deserves to be made to wait.

OTOH it would only be easier to do it at the machine if you know how to
use the machines in the first place. *If you're not familiar with them,
or just don't feel comfortable with machines in general, it's usually
much easier and quicker to deal with a real live human being in the
ticket office.

If you've never used any kind of machine in your life, perhaps:
however, if you've successfully managed to buy a Mars bar or a condom
from a vending machine, the Tube machines are hardly a complex
development on that.

I'll forgive people who aren't literate in any of the languages they
offer, perhaps...

[sarcastic hyperbole]Or preferably shot[/sarcastic hyperbole]

Better still, shoot all the machines and replace them with more human
clerks. *That would be a big improvement.

If by "improvement" you mean "extremely expensive way of making things
slower and more complex for regular travellers", then you're
absolutely right.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On Jan 9, 8:04 am, "solar penguin"
wrote:
John B wrote:

OTOH, I'd bet a penny to a pound that nearly all the annoyed people
behind you were seeking to waste the ticket clerk's time by doing
stuff that the machines could have handled anyway.

...in fact, thinking about it, it makes me angry that clerks get
annoyed about people seeking to carry out transactions at the ticket
office that are difficult and take time. Of course they sodding are;
anything easy or urgent could be done at the machine, and anyone who
tries to speak to a clerk to buy a ticket that's also sold at the
machine thoroughly deserves to be made to wait.

OTOH it would only be easier to do it at the machine if you know how to
use the machines in the first place. If you're not familiar with them,
or just don't feel comfortable with machines in general, it's usually
much easier and quicker to deal with a real live human being in the
ticket office.



When I was at Green Park with a queue building up behind me, there was
in fact a supervisor hanging around the machines helping people work
them.


[sarcastic hyperbole]Or preferably shot[/sarcastic hyperbole]

Better still, shoot all the machines and replace them with more human
clerks. That would be a big improvement.

The current big improvement is making most of the smaller machines
accept cards and do oyster. There's often a queue for the couple of
larger machines, while almost nobody can use those machines that can
just sell you a single ticket for £4 in coins.

In message
of
Tue, 8 Jan 2008 09:15:08 in uk.transport.london, brixtonite
writes
I tried on Sunday at Brixton, where the clerk seemed to know about it
but refused to do it since there was a long queue. The fact that I
had stood in the queue for 20 minutes cut no ice and he told me to go
away and come back another time.
At Oval the clerk had no idea what I was talking about; I showed him
the page of the fares leaflet and after some consideration he said
that the capbility had been built into the system, but they couldn't
put it on yet (seemed a reasonable response, since he had clearly not
been trained in how to do it.)

"Can you direct me to the Station Supervisor's Office" might be helpful.
Otherwise COMPLAIN via http://www.tfl.gov.uk/contact/default.aspx
London Underground thinks people who speak to its staff have a better
opinion of them than those who don't. You may want to sway that opinion.
The standard Mystery Shopping of London Underground stations does not
specifically measure the effectiveness of Ticket Offices.
It seems there is another project which measures things like queuing.


Finally went to Green Park on Monday evening, where there was no queue
at the ticket office, and though the ticket clerk hadn't heard of it,
after my showing him the fares leaflet he had a go on the system and
managed it without too much difficulty. Still took long enough that
there were some annoyed people in the queue behind me though!

It ought not to be necessary to carry the fares leaflet. "Please, can
you check the fares leaflet" might be instructive.


It seems a great deal - means that if you don't travel in the AM peak,
daily capping will be slightly less (IIRC) than buying a weekly Z12
travelcard. With the proviso of course that it's valid on almost no
NR services south of the river. The recent extensions to oyster
validity seem to have made the system even more biased towards North
London - as the map at
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...G-08-01-02.pdf
shows.


A particular politician has been trying to integrate public transport
for more than 20 years. It is a struggle. North South jealousy does not
help. A friend's father was one of the Bromley councillor who scotched
Fares Fair. She is still convinced Ken is a North London Mayor. OTOH, I
know nothing north of the river as sweet as the bus - tube interchange
at North Greenwich.
--
Walter Briscoe

Walter Briscoe wrote:

A particular politician has been trying to integrate public transport for
more than 20 years. It is a struggle. North South jealousy does not help.
A friend's father was one of the Bromley councillor who scotched Fares
Fair.

Well it would have helped if "Fare's Fair" [sic] had had the same benefits
across London rather than just putting up the rates for some.

She is still convinced Ken is a North London Mayor.

Well what has Livingstone (and I mean Livingstone, not the creation of a
London wide authority as the two are often confused) actually done for
people there?