On 3 July, 17:06, Mizter T wrote:
On Jul 3, 4:40*pm, "solar penguin"
wrote:

Martin Petrov wrote:
This morning I had to travel to Leyton to Ilford and needless to say,
given I haven't bought a paper ticket in London for YEARS due to
always having a monthly or annual travelcard and auto top up on my
Oystercard, it never crossed my mind that I'd have to buy a ticket to
cover me for the stretch outside of zone 3 to Ilford.

Given that Oyster is still completely useless on most journeys, I'm
amazed that you've managed to go "for YEARS" without needing a paper
ticket. *Were you stuck indoors for most of that time?

"Oyster is still completely useless on most journeys" - total
balderdash, it's completely useful for an untold number of journeys
around London.

The OP said it was useless for most journeys. Can you use it for Leeds
- Manchester? No, of course not.

Even restricting it to journeys in London, can you use it for a taxi
from Euston to Kings Cross? Or to walk across Westminster bridge? Ride
through Hyde Park?

However Oyster PAYG might be useless for most of the
journeys that you want to do - but don't use yourself as the basis for
everyone else!

Oyster PAYG is a very restrictive system for people who's journeys
aren't completely covered. It's also very complicated in engineering
works. If your bus terminates short, or if your train runs over a
person and you have to continue your journey elswhere, or even a
simple rail-replacement DLR trip -- Epping to Cutty Sark, change at
Stratford (touch in/out?), then at Poplar onto a bus (touch in|out?),
then at Mudchute onto the DLR, and then out at Cutty Sark.

When there's disruption, you're told tickets are accepted on buses and
trains, but you'll find that it costs a fortune with oyster.

The fundamental problem is that your oyster PAYG journey doesn't
involve you buying a ticket for a journey, it involves a complex
system of charging and refunding at several points throughout the
journey. If all goes to plan, it's great. If it breaks, it's a hastle.
Even with the exceptionally high cost of a paper ticket, it's often
worthwhile just buying a single, or a ODTC, rather than take the
stress of oyster.