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 May 7, 9:19 am, John B wrote:
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*.

Right , that would be why this sort of incentive is used with store
cards , because getting a discount if you spend X amount is "exactly
the f*cking same" as telling people to use our store card because
otherwise we'll charge you twice the price. Oh , and thats after you'd
paid 3 quid for the priviledge of buying said card (though I think
that might have been waived now, not sure).

They may well have reduced the Oyster fares initially a small amount ,
but those reductions have long since vanished and since then the cash
fare on the buses have become extortionate and now its a minimum 4
quid to go anywhere on the tube!

B2003

On May 7, 9:35 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*.

Right , that would be why this sort of incentive is used with store
cards , because getting a discount if you spend X amount is "exactly
the f*cking same" as telling people to use our store card because
otherwise we'll charge you twice the price.

With store cards:
1) of course they jack the price up for non-cardholders. What, you
think Tesco is a charity now?
2) the card data allows them to do targeted promotions. Not so
important for TfL ("we see you enjoy travelling from Highgate to
Moorgate. Why not try Notting Hill Gate and Southgate?")

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

On May 7, 9:50 am, John B wrote:
With store cards:
1) of course they jack the price up for non-cardholders. What, you
think Tesco is a charity now?

AFAIK you don't get anything any cheaper when you buy with these cards
apart from the odd promotional item. No doubt you can collect points
or whatever , but god help you if you don't cough up on time because
the interest rates will nail you.

2) the card data allows them to do targeted promotions. Not so
important for TfL ("we see you enjoy travelling from Highgate to
Moorgate. Why not try Notting Hill Gate and Southgate?")

)

Wouldn't put it past them at some point to use that info for non
transport purposes though , depending on the data protection act
(though thats never stopped reams of companies flogging our personal
data in the past). Maybe if you always travel to a station with a new
supermarket or something opening near by, you might get a promotional
leaftlet through your door one day , who knows.

B2003