Farage Won’t Use An Oyster Card
This article in the Standard shows a lot about how Nigel Farage thinks.
I have both an Oystercard and a Freedom Pass, both of which track me through London. The only reasons, I have the Oyster, is to use it on the cable car and the river boats and also to give to visiting friends, so they don’t have to queue up to buy a ticket.
So I can be tracked, but then so what? Perhaps Nigel has a few secrets that he doesn’t want revealed. Perhaps, he’s even having relations with someone from Uganda?
The Advantage Of Properly Integrated Systems
I don’t use an Oyster Card for my meanderings around London, as I have a Freedom Pass, which gives me everything except the cable-car free.
But this advert on the Overground caught my eye.
Oyster Advert On The Overground
When I used an Oyster Card, I suspect, I didn’t always touch out, so it probably cost me a few pounds in total.
So if I read this correctly, if you don’t touch out and you’ve registered the card, you will be told you’ve got a refund. That in itself, will probably mean that you will probably be more careful about touching out.
Remember that Oyster is one of the main ways, that Transport for London, determine the real journeys done by passengers. So removing the touch out error, means they will have better data to plan the network.
This looks like a classic application of the nudge principle.
Ridiculous Ticketing
I went to the football at Ipswich today. at least the trains were running normally and after a late breakfast or was it an early lunch, I caught the 13:30 from Liverpool Street station. Before I’d left home I’d tried to buy the ticket I’d wanted which is an Off Peak Return from Harold Wood to Ipswich, but for some unknown reason the computer wouldn’t let me choose this ticket. Why Harold Wood incidentally, you may ask? The reason is that my Freedom Pass takes me that far and so I just need to buy the extra.
So I had to buy the ticket in the booking office at Liverpool Street station. Usually, they sell me an Off Peak Return from Harold Wood to Ipswich, but this time, they sold me back-to-back Off Peak Returns from the Zone 6 Boundary to Manningtree and from Manningtree to Ipswich. The cost was £18.25. Two weeks ago, I was sold one ticket for the journey from Harold Wood to Ipswich at £20.95. I questioned this with the clerk and he said this was the best deal.
On the train, just like I usually do, I upgraded to First Class at a cost of £7 each way. But this did give me pretty good free wi-fi and a soft drink or coffee if I wanted one.
My reason for calling it ridiculous is that if I want a First Class Off Peak Return ticket, why can’t I buy one in one go on the Internet? I know that my Freedom Pass only gives me Standard Class to the Zone 6 Boundary, but surely they could have two Senior First Class tickets, one for those with Senior Railcards and Freedom Passes and one for those without the Freedom Pass. Properly priced and thought through, it might actually be a big seller, as quite a few of those in their later years spend money on the better tickets.
As it is I bought the First Class Upgrade on the train and got yet another orange ticket. I was also issued with a Penalty Warning on the way up to Ipswich. According to the Inspector, this was Department of Transport rules, but I’ve never had one before.
Ridiculous Ticketing
I do wonder how much all this paperwork costs GreaterAnglia and their passengers in extra charges. But at least all of the staff I met, were extremely curteous and had my needs uppermost in their mind. And the clerk saved me £2.70.
The system would probably be easy to implement as everything is computerised.
If you are buying a ticket on the web, it would just be necessary to check a box to say you had a Freedom Pass.
If you’re buying at a Ticket Office, the clerk needs to see your Freedom Pass anyway to give you the right ticket. He would do the equivalent of checking the box.
The orange ticket would instead of having SNR have another code of perhaps SNR* to indicate it was only valid with a Senior Railcard and a Freedom Pass.
Looking For A Double-Sided Card Holder
I spent some time yesterday, looking for a new credit card holder, that meets the specification I laid down in this post.
I was unsuccessful, although an assistant in Selfridges said, he’d got a leather one and used a safety pin clipped in it, to identify the side to use.
Winter Fuel Payments
A former minister, Paul Burstow is suggesting that winter fuel payments be means-tested. It’s here on the BBC.
I’m over 65 and get a state pension, winter fuel payments, free travel in London through my Freedom Pass and discounts in lot of places including on National Rail through my Senior Railcard.
I would like to get a statement each year, as to how much I’ve received. I could then give an equivalent amount to charities of my choice. Probably, I’d to that on my birthday to celebrate cheating the Devil for another year.
If the government didn’t pay me, they’d only blow in on some ridiculous project.
Is The New South London Line What Passengers Want?
I ask this question after the report of the demonstration last night and this piece on the South London Line’s opening today. Both reports give the impression, that most South Londoners think the routing is wrong.
I’m not from South London and therefore I have no idea what is best for Peckham and Clapham. But I do know that opening the East London Line to Crystal Palace prompted me to visit, as exploring the electric trains south of the Great Sewer, is something that North Londoners are genetically programmed not to be able to do. They always feel happy on anything that is on Harry Beck‘s iconic Underground map.
The opposition to the routing of the South London Line seems also to be led by a group of anti-Boris politicians, who tend to believe that anything Boris backs is thoroughly bad and driven by his ego, rather than common sense.
What seems to have been forgotten here, is that the new South London Line routing was proposed before Boris became Mayor and that something had to be done for a few years to create extra paths into London Bridge station, whilst it is being rebuilt. Just as I complain about buses being disrupted by Crossrail, in part the South London Line problems are a victim of the London Bridge improvements. I think it is true to say, that Transport for London has an extensive database of journeys by public transport in London, because of the Oyster Card and Freedom Pass information. So they probably know a lot more about where customers actually go, than the customers themselves.
Incidentally, I travelled part of the way this morning to Clapham Junction station with a doctor, who was going on shift at Kings College Hospital by Denmark Hill station from his home in Hoxton. It was certainly an easier journey for him than before the new line opened. So although, there will be some losers because of the changes, there will also be winners. How many other people have moved house or changed job in the last couple of years, in anticipation of the changes? We don’t know, but Transport for London will in a few months, when they analyse the journeys.
Bus Pass On Rails
Modern Railways is reporting that the government is doing an experiment with First Great Western, whereby a concessionary bus-pass can effectively be used as a Senior Railcard.
I have both and it would be one less card to lose, if I had to carry just one card. The Freedom Pass also has a photograph and I have used it where a photo ID is required.
I also have to show both cards, when I go to Ipswich, by buying a ticket from the Zone 6 boundary to Ipswich, as I do the London end of the journey on my Freedom Pass.
I don’t know how many concessionary bus passes and Senior Railcards are in circulation, but abolishing the Senior Railcard and using the concessionary bus-pass wouldn’t be very affordable in these times of financial restraint.
But then the experiment may show that if those with bus-passes got rail travel with a third off, the extra revenue might pay for the scheme.
It certainly seems an idea that will eventually be implemented.
Especially, as it would be a real vote winner for the party that brought it in. Especially, if they tied up the rules, so that bus-passes worked under the same restrictions nationwide.
An Advantage Of A Freedom Pass
I have a Freedom Pass and one of the advantages is to go places, you’ve never been before. Today I walked to Dalston Junction station and took the East London line to Brockley station.
In a way it was just to have a coffee at Brown’s of Brockley. As you can see the cafe is just by the station.
Is this an example of how new transport links create employment?
At least the coffee was worth the trip, even if I did return soon after I’d finished my cappuccino.
An Oyster Card And A Freedom Pass
Although, I’m entitled to free travel in the London area, I actually carry both and I suspect many Londoners eligible for a Freedom Pass carry an Oyster Card as well.
I carry the Oyster Card mainly for the Emirates Air-Line, as it’s cheaper than paying cash and it gives me speedy boarding. But I also carry it, if say a friend should turn up and doesn’t have a card. I do keep them separate, so I don’t pay twice for a journey.
Yesterday, I went to Ipswich, which is outside the Freedom Pass and Oyster Card area. Ipswich like many stations has the same Cubic barriers at London, so wouldn’t it be nice if I could use an Oyster Card to pay for the journey. I know there’s the complication of the fact that I pay for my Senior Railcard to get a discount of a third on rail fares outide my Freedom Pass area, but computing could work that out.
Perhaps, even a Freedom Pass could also be uploaded with money like an Oyster Card.
There are endless possibilities and hopefully a sensible solution will be found. And of course, one that desn’t use a dreaded smart phone!
The Anonymous Widower 