I almost never go to London. Mrs goes maybe once every five years.
She is planning a trip at the end of this month (meeting my sister for shopping - I'd rather gnaw off my own left leg).
Anyway, on another forum, I just came across this sentence:
"In London to use the tube you need a smartphone (iphone) with apple pay; or an RFID card (oyster) or a contactless bank card. Cash and tickets -- and ticket offices -- are gone."
Is this right? I'd vaguely heard of Oyster cards but assumed they were in addition to normal cash and so on. As she has none of those things, will she not be able to use the Tube at all? Sounds a bit bizarre if true, and not sure how that will affect her plans. Or do you now go to a "ticket office" or a machine somewhere and buy some sort of card for a day?
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Never use it. There are people on it you know. Some of them smell.
;-)
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Cash is not accepted on the Tube.
tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/
One thing to remember, you must check in to the departure station and also check out at the destination station. Checking in/out means swiping your card on the reader at the barrier.
Last edited by: Duncan on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 09:22
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>> One thing to remember, you must check in to the departure station and also check
>> out at the destination station. Checking in/out means swiping your card on the reader at
>> the barrier.
>>
A relative of ours ( coincidentally from Cambridge) got an Oyster card and loaded it with £50.
Got on the tube and did not swipe out. £50 lost- tough!
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Ticket offices are gone, except at major termini there are still machines that take cards and cash and issue tickets. Not sure about Cambridge, I can still buy a one day travel card from my local Mainline station that covers me for train and london tube.
You do have a contactless bank card tho dont you? you can use that - it works well.
People diss the tube, it is however the worlds best mass public transport system by a very long way.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 09:24
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No contactless bank card, no. Thanks for the info about the possibility of a ticket from the train station though. I imagine that wherever the Cambridge train ends up in London these days counts as a major terminus too, so perhaps it will be ok.
It all sounds a lot more complex than putting a shilling in a nice man's hand, which is probably the last time I did this.
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I used to travel from Twyford to Canary Wharf all on one ticket, it covered all tube zones and you could use it all day to hop on and off - so if they are travelling into London on the mainline just make sure they get that ticket rather than a return. (Called a travelcard, destination is London Zones 1-6 IIRC)
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 09:52
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Abelio Greater Anglia will sell you a one day travel card, covering your journey into Liverpool street and london underground and buses.
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ISTR that when we went to London for the day, we enquired at our local railway station, and were able to purchase a 'day-pass' for the tube. I think my wife and I ended up with about 10 tickets between us covering the seat reservations and tickets each way to London, then the tube tickets.
Around 4 years ago when we started to make the occasional trip, leaving the car at a tube-station on the outskirts, we bought an Oyster card apiece. I have to say, they have proved very convenient though, as suggested elsewhere, you have to know the rules - e.g. if you fail to 'check out' at your last stop, you will be charged the full-day rate.
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>> I have to
>> say, they have proved very convenient though, as suggested elsewhere, you have to know the
>> rules - e.g. if you fail to 'check out' at your last stop, you will
>> be charged the full-day rate.
>>
You can sort that out online on their website and your card will be refunded
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That's news to me too, I'd never given it a thought - I only go about 20 times a year and being a bumpkin I usually buy a return with 'Travelcard' at the point of departure.
Unless it's walkable at the other end and the weather's reasonable. Going later this week, Portman Square area so I'll probably walk it from Marylebone, about a mile.
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"No contactless bank card, no."
Are you sure? - I though they all were these days. I'm sure your bank will re-issue your debit card for you if it was issued prior to contactless roll-out.
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Quite sure. They sent us one a couple of years ago and I rejected it for tin hattery reasons. They've not sent another, and I have no desire for one.
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>> Quite sure. They sent us one a couple of years ago and I rejected it
>> for tin hattery reasons. They've not sent another, and I have no desire for one.
You will need one to survive in the coming years, and there are no tin hattery reasons to not have one. I can counter any tin hat reasons you can imagine with real practical answers.
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I don't doubt either point.
However, my killer reason for not wanting one you can't counter, is of course, "because I just don't".
It should be combined with liberal doses of "la la la I can't hear you" for true effectiveness.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 10:50
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>> I don't doubt either point.
>>
>> However, my killer reason for not wanting one you can't counter, is of course, "because
>> I just don't".
>>
>> It should be combined with liberal doses of "la la la I can't hear you"
>> for true effectiveness.
Can you change your handle please. Crankcase barely describes the juxtaposition of a bloke embracing electric vehicles on the one hand, and rejecting the rest of 21st century life on the other.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 10:56
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>> Can you change your handle please. Crankcase barely describes the juxtaposition of a bloke embracing
>> electric vehicles on the one hand, and rejecting the rest of 21st century life on
>> the other.
>>
I could, but I ended up with the unwieldy "kindofinterestedinnewstuffaslongasthereisnochanceimaginedorotherwiseo
fanypersonaldataespeciallywhenitinvolvesfinancesinanyshapeorformfallin
gpreytoanexploitcurrentlyonlyinthemindofateenagerwithaccesstosomehidde
nbackdoorbutotherthanthatimsureitwillbefineandanywaythisthinggoesbeepa
ndhasaredlightwhatsnottolike"
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I use contactless quite a lot now. Much quicker and more convenient than cash for small purchases and in cafes, pubs etc Definitely the way forward. There are still a number of places that don't take it but I suspect that in another year or so nearly every shop will.
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Do you get a receipt with contactless? I check all my statements, current account & CC, and for smaller amounts I always use cash. Surely using contactless, consolidating the receipt vs the statement, takes up as much time as getting out a handful of loose change? Presumably there is some cost to the retailer, albeit small. I cannot see banks providing it foc.
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Banks love cards.
They reluctantly accept that people will want to spend or withdraw their own money occasionally, and much prefer that they don't create trouble by going into such branches as they have, or writing IOUs on silly bits of paper that they have to process.
The cost of the card payments is met by the merchant fees including interchange, charged to the retailers and indirectly to their customers and flowing to the card issuers and payment processors (owned mainly by the banks).
The EU has been trying to regulate interchange for some time, as the networks (Visa and MC) were essentially competing with each other by raising the amount charged to retailers (who have no real choice but to accept the cards) and increasing the payments to the issuers to induce them to use their network. An interesting case of competition pushing up prices.
Interchange is at last coming down now, so expect the banks to look elsewhere to make up the loss of profit.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 11:44
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>> Banks love cards.
Yes, cash is expensive. Its expensive to make, store, handle, transport and it even costs money to destroy it.
And its inconvenient and its not needed.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 12:01
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You have a receipt if you want one. You just need to ask. I don't normally bother. Paying by card actually gives you a better idea where your money is going. I know my monthly expenditure on coffees exceed the fuel bill for my car !
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I never use a card for any payment under a tenner. I know where my money goes! I take out £12 and that gets me 4 pints. And not sufficient left to tempt me to a bag of chips on the way home! When I walk over the hill with the dog £3 is enough for a pot of tea & toasted tea cake, so if I'm calling in the pub on the way home I take £15.
Fortunately the log fire and papers are free....
Don't think I've bought a coffee for almost six months, when I called in to a McDonalds overseas to use their wifi.
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Zeddo, when I was ' in trade' any customer proffering a card for anything under a fiver was asked to pay cash. If they had no cash at all, my staff were instructed to let them have the goods and pay later. Sometimes they would pop back within minutes to repay the money. Having the personal touch like that helped me compete with the big boys. Didn't always work, I'm sure occasionally people forgot to repay, or sometimes had no intention of doing so, but each case was assessed on its merits. It was a very local trade, and we recognised most of the customers.
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>> Zeddo, when I was ' in trade' any customer proffering a card for anything under
>> a fiver was asked to pay cash. If they had no cash at all, my
>> staff were instructed to let them have the goods and pay later. Sometimes they would
>> pop back within minutes to repay the money. Having the personal touch like that helped
>> me compete with the big boys. Didn't always work,
Probably why you are no longer trading!
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Nationwide debit cards are contactless, at least ours is. Default now seems to incorporate contactless tech. Can be ordered without the facility according to the website.
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Just noticed my Barclays Connect debit card has the contactless symbol on it.
Only use it for withdrawing money from cash machines though.
The rest of my card payments are done on my Tesco MasterCard credit card which isn't contactless. Maybe when it's renewed later this year it might be?
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>> The rest of my card payments are done on my Tesco MasterCard credit card which
>> isn't contactless. Maybe when it's renewed later this year it might be?
Some are not, Mrs Z had her purse nicked* just before christmas, and the replacement JLP credit card is not contactless.
She had two contactless cards in there, they were used by the perps before the cards were stopped, and its been no problem by any of the two banks involved to get the transactions refunded. Painless.
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>>She had two contactless cards in there, they were used by the perps before the cards were stopped
Is there a financial limit for each transaction or time period?
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>> >>She had two contactless cards in there, they were used by the perps before the
>> cards were stopped
>>
>> Is there a financial limit for each transaction or time period?
Currently 30 quid per transaction. The lloyds one stopped itself after "suspicious activity" (buying booze to the value of 25-30 quid in three different supermarkets in 15 minutes) The nat west one didn't till they were contacted by us. Both Lloyds and Natwest refunded within 24 hours.
Technically they didn't, because the transactions are not valid - cleared - until 24 hours has passed.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 13:49
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Bit tough if you were a bit broke though. There's been times in my life when someone lifting £90 out of my bank account would have quite messed up my day.
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>> The rest of my card payments are done on my Tesco MasterCard credit card which
>> isn't contactless. Maybe when it's renewed later this year it might be?
>>
I got a new tesco card about 4 months ago. No contactless.
If they don't offer it soon then I'm likely to leave, with the cut in clubcard points I think there may be better offers out there
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>> Nationwide debit cards are contactless, at least ours is.
Mine isn't, but I've just requested one at the nearby branch (the current one gets reported as 'damaged'). Thanks for the prompt!
Last edited by: Focusless on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 13:11
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Glad to help! However, on re-reading "contactless" in my missive above, it should really have read contactless-less…..It's an older one, without radio gadgetry:)
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There are still a number of places that don't take it but I suspect that in another year or so nearly every shop will.
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There's loads of places that doesn't take them. I bet it'll take 10 years before most shops take them. Especially in smaller towns and villages. I can only think of one shop that takes contactless and i spend more than £30. Come to think of it i don't think I've ever used contactless payment.
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The local Ladies of the night said they'll do contactless. I said well what use is that?
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Over a billion transactions in Europe by July 2015 and every Visa terminal in Europe to be contactless by 2020. Boots, Sainsburys, Aldi, Marks and Spencer all currently rolling out contactless. Even the charity outlet I volunteer at had an upgrade to a contactless terminal last summer even though the till came out of the Ark!
www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2015/07/contactless-payment-transactions-pass-the-magical-1bn-mark
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Oh I'm sure the number is increasing, just that it'll be a good while yet before its everywhere. Closer to 10 years than 1. It takes along to change over, Google how many cheques are still used in the uk as an example.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 19:27
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>> Oh I'm sure the number is increasing, just that it'll be a good while yet
>> before its everywhere. Closer to 10 years than 1. It takes along to change over,
>> Google how many cheques are still used in the uk.
Everyone who takes a card for payment now, will be contact-less in 18 months. Thats every machine. Its not difficult or expensive.
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Might well be the case. I'm not against them just that I haven't seen very many at all. Where did you read they were all changing over (in the UK i assume) in the next 18 months?
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>> Might well be the case. I'm not against them just that I haven't seen very
>> many at all.
Have you looked? Many are not obvious, - take up round here is already at about 75%
>> Where did you read they were all changing over (in the UK
>> i assume) in the next 18 months?
Some IT / banking article somewhere
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 19:47
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Have you looked? Many are not obvious, - take up round here is already at about 75%
Yeah i keep an eye out. The machines are donkeys years old.mind you some of the shops have a min £10 spend on card. Although one place, if the boss isn't in, charge you a tenner on plastic and give you the difference from the til back. Might be a while for them!
>> Some IT / banking article somewhere
>>
Righto, cheers. Mind you the banking association thought cheques would be gone by 2018. There was an increase in use a couple of years back.
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>
>> Righto, cheers. Mind you the banking association thought cheques would be gone by 2018. There
>> was an increase in use a couple of years back.
My bank no longer automatically sends a chequebook when the last one is used, I have to ask for one if i want one.
Dunno where you get this cheque use increasing from, I employed a guy to put up an aerial for my mum, and he refused to take a cheque as his bank wont take them. Same with the landscape gardener.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 20:05
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It was an old article i read. I don't think it is now but did a couple of years after it was supposed to fall.
Mine send me one automatically, but i still use a few a year.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 11 Jan 16 at 20:18
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>> Everyone who takes a card for payment now, will be contact-less in 18 months. Thats
>> every machine. Its not difficult or expensive.
Some organisations are going to have to get a wiggle on to meet that deadline. None of the checkouts at Sainsbury's local 'Superstore' take them yet. Nor did Maplin when I was in stocking up on batteries last week.
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>>
>> >> Everyone who takes a card for payment now, will be contact-less in 18 months.
>> Thats
>> >> every machine. Its not difficult or expensive.
>>
>> Some organisations are going to have to get a wiggle on to meet that deadline.
>> None of the checkouts at Sainsbury's local 'Superstore' take them yet. Nor did Maplin when
>> I was in stocking up on batteries last week.
Its not difficult or expensive.
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>> Some organisations are going to have to get a wiggle on to meet that deadline.
>> None of the checkouts at Sainsbury's local 'Superstore' take them yet. Nor did Maplin when
>> I was in stocking up on batteries last week.
Neither do our local B & Q.
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>> Neither do our local B & Q.
Homebase was another where chip/pin is still mandated.
Greggs, Boots, Aldi and Waitrose OTOH all do contactless.
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Oh that's torn it Bromp. I often deliberately leave my loose change in the car so I don't get tempted by a Greggs sausage roll...
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>> Oh that's torn it Bromp. I often deliberately leave my loose change in the car
>> so I don't get tempted by a Greggs sausage roll...
I resisted Greggs until I spotted the cyclists' manna; bread pudding. My workday breakfast is now bread pudding with CAB staff's free coffee.
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Having just had a few days in London, though previously we've used Travelcards, this time I bit the bullet and purchased an Oyster Card. (SWMBO already owned an aged one, albeit with no credit on it).
£5 up front, and then whatever credit you want to put on it.
As we both have Railcards, these were also "added" to the Oyster, which means reduced fares apply where the Railcard would be valid.
Travelcards are still useful if you are an infrequent visitor (no £5 up-front), but, if you have, for example, an ENCTS bus pass, the value is defrayed somewhat by the fact you can use the buses free anyway.
The fact that the Oyser Card will be capped at the value of a Travelcard anyway (should your travel patterns match the conditions) means they are a good idea for a repeat visitor.
Had quite a good time in The Smoke, seeing "The Play That Goes Wrong" as mentioned elsewhere on here, and getting held up by the Bowie "Celebrations" in Brixton.
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London Tube - Runfer D'Hills
