On May 7, 12:53 am, wrote:
On May 6, 2:39 pm, Boltar wrote:

On May 6, 12:47 pm, wrote:

The advantage of people paying by oyster isn't just reduced costs.
It's also faster journey times. It used to take forever for a long
queue to board a bus, when many people were paying cash. Now that
paying cash is significantly more expensive, hardly anyone does.

So make it exact money only then. Problem solved. Works in loads of
other places in the country. Besides which regular commuters will have
an oyster card anyway because its more convenient if you travel every
day so why nobble occasional commuters?

B2003

Exact money still quite a lot slower than oyster. People fiddle about
opening their wallet, a ticket has to be dispensed.

That happens anyway on the tube when people top up their oyster cards.
As for the buses yes it could slow things down a little but I think
its a fair trade off.

Also, if the rule were exact money only, then some people might find
that annoying as well, on occasions when they were caught short of
change...

Well there could always be a rule of exact money or more if they only
have a 2 pound coin for a 1 pound journey, The choice would then be
theres as to whether to travel or find a shop and get some change.

The problem with this country is its always the stick approach , never
the carrot. Instead of "we'll penalise you if you pay by cash" it
should be "if you use Oyster X times in a month you'll get a free 5
pound top-up" or something like that. But no , that would be far too
civilised.

B2003

On May 7, 9:10 am, Boltar wrote:
The problem with this country is its always the stick approach , never
the carrot. Instead of "we'll penalise you if you pay by cash" it
should be "if you use Oyster X times in a month you'll get a free 5
pound top-up" or something like that. But no , that would be far too
civilised.

The point is, given that fares are set with the aim of getting a
specific level of farebox revenue, those two things are *exactly the
****ing same*.

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

On 6 May, 12:47, wrote:

The advantage of people paying by oyster isn't just reduced costs.
It's also faster journey times. It used to take forever for a long
queue to board a bus, when many people were paying cash. Now that
paying cash is significantly more expensive, hardly anyone does.

In a sense, having to effectively pay a penalty for using cash is the
price we pay for faster journey times. I don't think the people who
are responsibe for the difference between oyster and cash fares were
motivated by spite.

There is also the advantage of cutting down bus robberies. There is
less motive for villans to attack drivers to steal the money now that
there are often only small sums of cash in the box.

wrote:

The advantage of people paying by oyster isn't just reduced costs.
It's also faster journey times. It used to take forever for a long
queue to board a bus, when many people were paying cash. Now that
paying cash is significantly more expensive, hardly anyone does.

In a sense, having to effectively pay a penalty for using cash is the
price we pay for faster journey times. I don't think the people who
are responsibe for the difference between oyster and cash fares were
motivated by spite.

I'd be a lot more sympathetic if the system was geared up to make it easier
to actually use Oyster throughout. Generally when I'm travelling by bus it's
either at night or weekends, when it's significantly harder to find a place
to top up the Oyster due to all the convenience stores being shut, and these
are precisely the times when people need the safety of bus travel. Then I'm
not sure where one can actually buy an Oyster card from (we don't have a
tube station here). Both of these are impossible to do so at the bus stops.

In article
,
(Boltar) wrote:

I had to use a bus on the w/e and found that my pre pay had run out.
It cost me 2 quid to go 1 mile because I had to pay by cash. Is that
fair? I don't think so. Same story on the tube.

I think one of the first things boris should at is ditch Kens
idiotic , deliberate and spiteful disparity between the Oyster and
cash fares to deliberately force occasional commuters to use Oyster
to no benefit to themselves but every benefit to TfL.

Always keep a small credit on your Oyster then. I keep £1.50 so I won't
get caught out like that.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Tue, 6 May 2008 14:24 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article
,
(Boltar) wrote:

I had to use a bus on the w/e and found that my pre pay had run out.
It cost me 2 quid to go 1 mile because I had to pay by cash. Is that
fair? I don't think so. Same story on the tube.

I think one of the first things boris should at is ditch Kens
idiotic , deliberate and spiteful disparity between the Oyster and
cash fares to deliberately force occasional commuters to use Oyster
to no benefit to themselves but every benefit to TfL.

Always keep a small credit on your Oyster then. I keep £1.50 so I won't
get caught out like that.

I carry a book of Saver bus tickets to use when I run out of PAYG
credit. Has come in handy on several occasions. I can't use Auto
top-up as you have to 'charge' the card at an underground barrier and
I rarely use the Tube.

Ken

In message , Ken
writes

I carry a book of Saver bus tickets to use when I run out of PAYG
credit. Has come in handy on several occasions. I can't use Auto
top-up as you have to 'charge' the card at an underground barrier and
I rarely use the Tube.

Only the first time to enable the facility. After that even buses can
do it.

If that doesn't help, they will send you a card already enabled for auto
top-up on request. Then you need do nothing other than make sure you
have a quid or two in your account for the update.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

On May 6, 10:10 am, Boltar wrote:
I had to use a bus on the w/e and found that my pre pay had run out.
It cost me 2 quid to go 1 mile because I had to pay by cash. Is that
fair? I don't think so. Same story on the tube.

I think one of the first thingsborisshould at is ditch Kens
idiotic , deliberate and spiteful disparity between the Oyster and
cash fares to deliberately force occasional commuters to use Oyster to
no benefit to themselves but every benefit to TfL.

B2003

Why?

On May 7, 12:11 am, francis wrote:
On May 6, 10:10 am, Boltar wrote:

I had to use a bus on the w/e and found that my pre pay had run out.
It cost me 2 quid to go 1 mile because I had to pay by cash. Is that
fair? I don't think so. Same story on the tube.

I think one of the first thingsborisshould at is ditch Kens
idiotic , deliberate and spiteful disparity between the Oyster and
cash fares to deliberately force occasional commuters to use Oyster to
no benefit to themselves but every benefit to TfL.

B2003

Why?

Why not? Or perhaps you'd like to pay double for petrol at a filling
station if you pay by cash instead of paying with BP Card or Shell
Card or whatever?

B2003

On May 6, 10:10*am, Boltar wrote:
I had to use a bus on the w/e and found that my pre pay had run out.
It cost me 2 quid to go 1 mile because I had to pay by cash. Is that
fair? I don't think so. Same story on the tube.

I think one of the first things boris should at is ditch Kens
idiotic , deliberate and spiteful disparity between the Oyster and
cash fares to deliberately force occasional commuters to use Oyster to
no benefit to themselves but every benefit to TfL.

B2003

The people that the cash fares catch are hapless tourists. This is
especially so on the N9 out of Heathrow - the ONLY public transport
after HEX and Connect and the Tube have shut down. Then tourists might
arrive on a late flight, and having just visited an ATM only have £10
notes (or worse £20s). When I used to work at LHR I witnessed hundreds
of times a stroppy bus driver refusing to allow a tourist (usually
with luggage) to board because said driver did not have any change.
They don't have a float when they start their shifts. Most airport
workers use Oyster. So the lack of cash change is a real problem. The
situation would be marginally better if the airlines sold Oyster cards
on board, or if Oysters could be bought from vending machines. Even
ticket machines would be useful at Heathrow Central - but there are
none there. Rip-off Britain again. CJB.