Ticketing In London Takes Another Big Step
Over the last month,since London’s buses went cashless, the silence has been deafening about this issue and I haven’t found any news reports about problems or complaints.
So it was no surprise to see that from September 16th the Underground, Overground and DLR will accept contactless bank cards.
There are still a few small steps to take, like bringing all of other rail companies into the system. Once this is done, you could say turn up at Gatwick Airport touch your contactless bank card on the reader and then again, when you get to Victoria, to get into Central London. Obviously, you can do that from September 16th at Heathrow or City Airports, as they are in the Transport for London area.
One of the things also to be introduced is a weekly cap. So will this mean that if you put a weekly ticket on Oyster, you won’t need to any more.
Boring Television
It’s fascinating to read the heavyweight reviews on the BBC2 program, The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway, in the Independent and the Telegraph.
When did serious engineering programs get such coverage?
The Times has a report, if you’re a subscriber, but there’s nothing in the Guardian.
How Would The Scottish Diaspora Vote On Independence?
I ask this question as the BBC has a story about five famous Scots, who live outside Scotland would vote.
I can’t find a poll of Scots outside Scotland asking how they would vote, but I can add an anecdote.
I used to play real tennis with an American, who was an academic at Cambridge. His research area was the relationship of the diaspora, with their original country. He had found that a lot of the troubles in the Indian sub-continent had been funded by donations from abroad. As a Bostonian, he did add that he didn’t think that the Irish in his home city, had helped find a solution in Northern Ireland.
I also think, that we all like places where we grew up or to which we have a strong connection, to do well and have control of their destiny.
For this reason, it could be that if Scots living outside Scotland had the vote, then the referendum would more likely be a vote for independence.
So could Alex Salmond have got it wrong, on not allowing Scots abroad to vote, if he wants the vote to go his way?
The Anonymous Widower 