www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23752635
I cannot see many people who don't regularly go to London or live in London bothering to get an Oyster card and therefore London buses will be out of bounds to many, including tourists.
Not a good idea IMHO.
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Do you think that TFL, (or the politicians), give a stuff what happens outside the M25, unless it involves votes?
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You've got to buy a "tap" card to use buses in Los Angeles - they're cashless.
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>>Do you think that TFL, (or the politicians), give a stuff what happens outside the M25, unless it involves votes?
Well as you despise the place they certainly don't give a sheet about you. And you seem to forget that London is a major tourist destination -
1% - and falling - of bus journeys are cash payments. (Amazing when you consider how many tourists there are) Why would you carry the expense of cash handling for such a small percentage?
If you are traveling to London, it makes sense to pre buy an oyster card. Exclusive pre-paid use of transport is in use in many of the worlds large cities.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 19 Aug 13 at 18:00
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You've got to buy the equivalent in most cities in Europe, so not particularly bothered. Of course, London is unique in that an Oyster card is about 5x the cost of a card in European cities, and about 500x what it actually costs to manufacture.
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>> You've got to buy the equivalent in most cities in Europe, so not particularly bothered.
>> Of course, London is unique in that an Oyster card is about 5x the cost
>> of a card in European cities, and about 500x what it actually costs to manufacture.
I'd have said that too but (albeit for a party of five) the Parisian equivalent of Oyster cards were poor value compared with the 'Carnet a Dix' for standard single journey magnetic tickets (of which I still have a handful in my wallet).
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>>Do you think that TFL, (or the politicians), give a stuff what happens outside the M25, unless it involves votes?
And there was me thinking that TFL and the politicians wanted all visitors to London to take advantage of all the amenities that the great city has to offer! :-)
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Since cash fare is twice the oyster card fare, people don't use cash anyway.
Tourists buy day travel card which works like oyster card.
So not much to worry about if it changes.
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Don't really see the issue.
Don't live in London but have had one for about 5 years. It's a no brainer really.
Oyster cards are available to order online and can be managed online. You top up online and tell them which station you're going to start your journey from and it automatically uploads when you tap in, if you decide not to go then the top-up is automatically refunded to your account after 7 days.
OK, so there's a £5 refundable deposit required but that's soon countered by the cost savings.
On the buses a cash single is £2.40, an Oyster single is £1.40, a saving of £1 every time you get on a bus; even better Oyster fares are capped at £4.40 for the day, less than the cost of a return journey by cash.
On the Tube it's even more of a no-brainer, cheapest cash single is £4.50, Oyster singles start at £2.10 but vary due to peak and off-peak and the zones you're travelling in but are always at least £1.50 cheaper, daily peak cap is never more than 3 times a cash single, off-peak cap normally about double the cash single.
I normally reckon that a day in London wouldn't normally cost me much more than £8.50. Unlimited travel around most of Greater London for less than a tenner? Yes, please, my local buses around the local area cost me £4 for the day!
We normally drive to Upminster for 10:00, car parking costs me £2.10 for the day after 10:00, jump on the train, then Tube or buses, daily cap £8.50 each. With SWMBO we get travel all over London all day for a maximum of £19.10. Train fare for us with a one day travel card from just 30 minutes outside the Oyster zone is about £43 for the two of us. We save over £20 for the day, buys a nice bottle of wine with dinner, thank you, very much.
Even better, you can jump on any bus, Tube, DLR or London Overground without having to footle around to find the cash or queue to get tickets. On top of that if you register your card if it gets lost or stolen your replacement card is credited with the existing balance that was on the old card.
Wouldn't be without one.
Last edited by: Cockle on Mon 19 Aug 13 at 19:15
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>> Wouldn't be without one.
>
Indeed. Have one in my wallet.
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>> >> Wouldn't be without one.
>> >
>>
>> Indeed. Have one in my wallet.
edit
However, the top-up on line is crap. Appalling in fact.
1/ I top up on line I expect it to be topped up - As soon as I press the send button.
2/ You have to designate a station to "touch in" to active it - Why?
3/ Its takes longer than 24 hours to activate the top up. I cant top up Sunday night and activate it monday morning at my designated station. WTF?
Had a very long on line conversation with head of IT at TfL. He has no understanding of retail on line payments. Unfair he does actually but the "system"* behind it is rubbish - tho it does have an amazingly fast response time, milliseconds to allow someone in through the gates, can you imagine how many concurrent transactions take place during rush hour?
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I am surprised if the system is an 'online payment system' or similar requiring concurrent transaction processing. I do not know how it is run, but I would guess that since the credit balance is held on the card and 'central communication' with the stations is only done on a 'batch' basis. Sending stolen card and card recharge info to the individual stations on an offline basis?
How is that done for buses? GOK.
Probably specified and designed a long time ago and cobbled together by the lowest tender operator?
Last edited by: pmh on Mon 19 Aug 13 at 19:43
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>> I am surprised if the system is an 'online payment system' or similar requiring concurrent
>> transaction processing. I do not know how it is run, but I would guess that
>> since the credit balance is held on the card and 'central communication' with the stations
>> is only done on a 'batch' basis. Sending stolen card and card recharge info to
>> the individual stations on an offline basis?
>> How is that done for buses? GOK.
>>
>> Probably specified and designed a long time ago and cobbled together by the lowest tender
>> operator?
Yes credit is held on card, and yes "update" info is batch processed to "target" terminal, but 48 hours? Ridiculous. I should be able to top up my midnight and have it available by 06:00 the next morning.
Given up online updates, I top up at wherever I enter the transit system, Takes two minutes.
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Oyster cards will be obsolete soon. Barrier readers being adjusted so you tap in with credit or debit card.
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>> Oyster cards will be obsolete soon. Barrier readers being adjusted so you tap in with
>> credit or debit card.
An option, not an alternative. Smart cards for National Rail are also on trial
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>> >> Oyster cards will be obsolete soon. Barrier readers being adjusted so you tap in
>> with
>> >> credit or debit card.
>>
>> An option, not an alternative. Smart cards for National Rail are also on trial
Its NFC, they can be set to accept any payment method concurrently. Oyster cards will expand to buy other stuff.
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My normal mode of travel in London is of course the eponymous bike.
I have an Oyster though that lives in same wallet as my rail season. It's set to auto top-up by £20 whenever balance falls below (I think) £5. That way if I'm drinking, travelling with a colleague or it's pixxing down I can use bus/tube etc without trouble.
Along with my Boris Bike key it means I'm never (E,O & 7/7 incidents E) stuck for transport in London.
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you have to be very careful how you keep your cards in your wallet. Any NFC device that contacts two cards at once refuses to work. I have to keep my touch CC's and oyster in separate leaves of my wallet.
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>> you have to be very careful how you keep your cards in your wallet. Any
>> NFC device that contacts two cards at once refuses to work. I have to keep
>> my touch CC's and oyster in separate leaves of my wallet.
Absolutely. My Oyster lives in a separate wallet along with magnetic card season and photo card carried in my shirt pocket.
Plastic cards live elsewhere and a third cloth purse carries cash and a spare plastic as a back up
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Although I've never used a London bus, I imagine this will have no effect on the Crumblies' bus pass. My pass is valid for all service buses in the UK...including the Smoke.
With TfGM buses you just get on and swipe the card over a reader, purely to gauge number of trips that the cards are used for. Do TfL pensioner's passes work the same? We can also use our free passes on all trams and train journeys within Gtr Manchester.
Very useful !
Ted
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Is a none issue, I don't live in London but I have an Oyster card and have done for years and I cannot remember the last time I have paid cash on a bus in London, haven't done for at least 10 years.
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...carried in my shirt pocket.
Humph! We left the gate open again.
};---)
I often use the buses when I go to London for a break from my designer hellhole home. Never had an Oyster card; as Movi says, my One-Day Travelcard gets me unlimited bus rides. (I wonder how TfL monitors use of those when I just wave mine at the driver.) Never paid a cash fare and don't see this as likely to exclude non-Londoners.
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>> My pass is valid for all service buses in the UK...including
>> the Smoke.
>>
I think you will find that geriatric bus passes are only valid in their country of issue, (England / Scotland / Wales). It is a funding thing.
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I'm very annoyed by tfl's accepting contact less cards. It means I have to be very careful when going through the gates these days to offer the right bit of my wallet. This is not progress!! And why does my new HSBC credit card not have it when my new HSBC debit card does?
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Anybody know if my OAP bus pass will work in London on the buses???.... I assume it is OK as it has a chip in it which works on the local buses but have not used it recently in London .
I assume is read in the same way as an Oyster card.
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Just answered my own question.....found on the TFL website...
As I live outside of London I can use my national bus pass only after 9 30 am in London on the buses and have to show it to the driver rather than having the chip read.....
Shame it does not work on the tube as well.....
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>> Its a B U S pass !!!!!!
>>
:-)
Not necessarily, ours used to give us a 50p (£1 return) rail fare to any Scottish city when the journey started within the county, until the council decided they could not afford it.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 20 Aug 13 at 16:51
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>> Shame it does not work on the tube as well.....
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>>
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If you lived in London it would, London resident pensioners get free Tube travel as well as the buses. If they come to my town they get free buses but if my Mum goes to London for the day she gets free buses but has to pay on the Tube.....
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>> you have to be very careful how you keep your cards in your wallet. Any
>> NFC device that contacts two cards at once refuses to work. I have to keep
>> my touch CC's and oyster in separate leaves of my wallet.
>>
I keep my Oyster in my wallet with cards, which is one reason why I won't be having a NFC card. I mean, why should I have 2 separate wallets just to please my bank?
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Buses For Londoners Only - Old Navy
