Tube fare rises: Why so keen to get everyone on Oyster?

[Cloo]

I don't give a toss if they know where I'm going and neither does 'The Man'. There's all sorts of ways of knowing where I am if 'The Man' is that bloody interested in me, so unless you're going to live in some paranoid communication and credit/bank account etc free existence just chill out - you're not that interesting, I'm afraid.

As for Oyster, another reason they're keen to get onto them is presumably stopping touts. If you need the card to travel, you can't give it away, innit?

 

[rennie]

u just made me think about the touts in Brixton. what will happen to them?

Ooooh n saying there's no queue for Oyster crads is bullshit... so many of those machines don't wrok/run out of change etc.

crap.

 

[Cloo]

Funnily enough (or quite obviously really), it was being at Brixton tube that made me think about that!

 

[Orang Utan]

Ooooh n saying there's no queue for Oyster crads is bullshit...

There's always a massive queue for the Oyster machine and none at all for the others - if you have the right change for a single, you whizz straight through

 

[girasol]

so what would be the "right" way?

eh? I thought it was quite obvious really... Don't charge people without an Oystercard extra for travelling in London and paying cash?

Oyster cards are appealing in themselves, most regular tube travellers will be keen to have one, it's just more convenient, no queuing on a Monday morning, quicker to get through the gates, etc...

As for the occasional travellers, it's a bit ridiculous to punish them and overcharge them just because they don't want an Oyster card. What about tourists? It's not like London has the reputation of being cheap to visit/travel. Why make it worse by charging them even more money? If they're on a one off visit to England (and I'm sure they will be once they realise how much they are being ripped off) why should they get an Oystercard?

 

[chio]

As for the occasional travellers, it's a bit ridiculous to punish them and overcharge them just because they don't want an Oyster card.

As an occasional traveller to London (not been since about March), I have an Oyster which lives in a drawer and comes out when I go down there. I see your point about one-off tourists, though.

 

[Valve]

the simple fact that all your journeys are recorded...

in the same way that the congestion charge zone has helped to reinforce the ring of steel around the city because of everyone's numberplate being filmed, oyster wankery is another big brother bit.

next up: oystercard and ID card rolled into one...