In article <1158492326.845636.306470@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
pacer142@gmail.com (Neil Williams) wrote:

Except that many don't have PINs issued (for lack of sufficient credit,
e.g. no overdraft facility. They cannot be used in railway ticket
machines since February IME.

In article <1158511601.801237.191660@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
pacer142@gmail.com (Neil Williams) wrote:

Why? I get Network Card discounts on tickets from Cambridge that include
Underground travel, day Travelcards and tickets to Underground zones.

I'm sure this was splashed and hyped all over the Standard/free whatever
as usual, but the devil (or not) is in the detail...

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=9169

The key points:

Almost all Oyster fares remain the same except:
-- off-peak bus journeys (from £0.80 to £1.00)
-- daily caps (still £0.50 below paper travelcards, but travelcards are
up by an average of RPI+2%%)

Cash fares go up significantly:
-- via Zone 1 singles from £3 to £4 (!)
-- bus singles from £1.50 to £2
-- but paper daily bus passes are frozen, as are non-Z1 travelcards

Season tickets go up by 50p to £14 for weekly bus passes, and around RPI
+ 2%% for Travelcards (as mentioned above).

WoW...Those are quite some increases....Particularly the 33%% Bus Cash
Fare.....
Its all well and good to talk of it as an incentive to promote Off Bus
Ticketing BUT when the Travelcard increases by RPI PLUS 2%% one starts to
think....Hmmmmmm who will be gaining most from this....and the Travelling
Public aint among them.

Perhaps its to underline Peter Hendy`s dire warnings to other UK Cities
interested in emulating Londons supposed success at driving Public Transport
Usage upwards...Mr H DID say "If U aint prepared to Fund it,then don`t do
it" (or words to that effect).

Oh well...the Retail Motor Industry obviously has better lobbyists.... : )

Dave Arquati wrote:

Now that really is taking the piss. Why don't they just abolish cash
fares if that's what they want to do? It's nothing but an underhand
and dishonest tourist tax.

(Yes, I do have an Oyster card. And a Strippenkaart (that I'm using a
bit more often of late :) ), and (somewhere) a Singapore EZ-Link; I
won't be paying these rip-off fares. Regardless of this, it doesn't
stop me believing that they are inappropriate, and that Ken/TfL need a
kick over them).

I'm not convinced by this, nor by the free bus fares. Why shouldn't
teenagers pay (or have paid) their own way? In most of mainland Europe
they'd be paying full adult fare by age 12.

Dave Arquati wrote:

OK, so that's an extra £1 a week for me then. I can't help wondering,
what's the reasoning behind abolishing off-peak fares on the busses?

Neil Williams wrote:

Kev wrote:

Quite.

If Ken wants to implement a tourist tax, that's what he should do.
Such a thing would be added to hotel bills and fully transparent, just
like it is here in the Hague where I'm staying at the moment (it's
about EUR 2 a night).

If, OTOH, he wants to encourage Oyster use, he could do so in other,
better ways. Here's a suggestion.

Kev wrote:

Well you should simply get an Oyster, even as a tourist. They're three
pounds apparently, but when I arrived in London with some friends we
all asked for weekly 1-2's and all got Oyster automatically, without
paying the extra charge.

Rob Hamadi wrote:

I thought a peak fare was higher on Oyster (1.50?)

Neil