I Lost My Freedom Pass
Two weeks ago my small ticket wallet with my Senior Railcard, John Lewis credit card and Freedom Pass.
I went down Liverpool Street station immediately and for a tenner, I got a replacement railcard and I just phoned my credit card company to replace that.
But for the Freedom Pass was much slower to get a replacement. I phoned 0300 330 1433 and they gave me a reference and an address to which I should send the tenner.
My cheque has now cleared, but I haven’t received the new pass.
I have been travelling around London recently tracing the Goblin Extension, so every day I have had to buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard at £8.90 or because I have a Senior Railcard at £5.90. I do have an Oyster for emergencies and I’ve used that at times.
The money isn’t the problem for me, although it could be for some.
But to get a discounted Travelcard, I can’t just go to the ticket machine at Dalston Junction, I have to go to the Ticket Office. It’s not a real pain, but yesterday, I had been to my doctor’s to pick up a prescription and so used Haggerston station to buy my ticket, which was very slow, as they were having all sorts of problems with the gates and lifts, so the staff were otherwise engaged.
One problem I have with cashless buses, where you must use a card, is that I have no contactless credit card, as my providers don’t issue them. So I have to travel with a spare loaded Oyster card to get me home on the bus.
These last few days have been quite an inconvenience.
It would be a lot worse, if I lived some distance away from a station with a Ticket Office.
There should be somewhere, where you can go to get a replacement Freedom Pass and the replacement system should be able to respond faster.
Should Hackney Send Missionaries To Yorkshire?
One of my Google alerts has found two reports today about New Routemasters being considered for Yorkshire; one in the Huddersfield Examiner and another in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
I live on London bus route 38, which is one the most intense bus services in London, that links Hackney to Victoria via the West End, using a squadron of New Routemasters.
And we love them! So much so, that when we have a choice, as say a bus on a parallel route has arrived together with a 38, we all get on the 38.
I’ve never heard a complaint about these buses, whilst on-board and they are becoming very much part of life in Hackney. They are faster, as they load quickly, everybody seems to be polite and you are certainly more likely to strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger.
So why should only London get the benefits of this superb updating of a humble method of public transport?
Londoners and especially those that live in parts of London, where the routes go, should broadcast their enthusiasm to the rest of the UK and the wider world!
London Has A New Island And Bridge
City Island is a housing development in a bend of the River Lee. The island has been connected to Canning Town, by a new bridge, that was lifted in place by the UK’s largest mobile crane.
Unfortunately, by the time I got there the bridge was in place and the crane was virtually dismantled.
A 3D Map Of London
This 3D map of London is at the Building Centre close to Tottenham Court Road station.
Unfortunately, dalston is just off the map, But it was good nevertheless.
Getting Ready For The Tour
I took these pictures yesterday in mid-morning, as I walked around Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly.
The crowds were as expected later, but as the pictures show, the streets were surprisingly empty. The BBC is reporting this morning, that traffic was down twenty percent yesterday, so perhaps a lot of people took the day off yesterday, or came in later on public transport.
Speaking to a couple of bus drivers and some Transport for London ambassadors, who were there to answer questions, none said that they’d heard of a bus passenger wanting to use cash. The ambassador told me, that no-one had even raised the subject of cashless buses with her.
London Buses Go Cashless
Today was the first no-cash day on London’s buses and I took five trips. I didn’t see anybody board and offer cash.
Perhaps tomorrow, with the Tour coming and people returning to work will throw up some problems.
But after chatting with passengers and an off-duty driver, I think there won’t be much trouble.
The only people who seem to be against the move are the Green Party. Why? Perhaps they are jealous as they didn’t think of it or feel all buses should be free!
A Taxi With A Phone Charger
I got a taxi home today, as I had a heavy parcel to carry and was surprised to see it was fitted with a mobile phone charger.
A Taxi With A Phone Charger
I didn’t need it, but I like the idea. It’s all described here. Apparently, Voafone, who’ve set it up, has a system, where the taxi fare can be charged to your mobile phone bill.
It’s ideas like this that will be the best defence against Uber, when coupled with the black cab driver’s knowledge.
The latter was illustrated recently in Edinburgh, where although it was a black cab, the driver didn’t have the knowledge that I expect from a driver.
I remember once, C and I were going to a house, in a tucked away square in South London. The driver dropped us in the next street and said there was a litle passage into the square. There was and it was just by our destination by chance.
You don’t get that sort of knowledge from a computer system!
Crossrail Is Even Now Having A Big Effect On London
Two stories I found today, show the sort of effect Crossrail is going to have on London.
This article from Ealing Today describes how Hanwell is going to get four trains per hour during peak hours of the day. Currently, it would appear it’s less than that. The report says this.
Dr Onkar Sahota, Labour Assembly Member for Ealing & Hillingdon said: “Whether it has been the re-opening of the South entrance to the station or the step-free access to platform level, the good news for Hanwell keeps coming.”
“I am pleased that after so much pressure from across the community, Crossrail have relented and will attempt to deliver four trains during peak hours.”
“I will continue to press the Mayor and Crossrail to ensure that we have a minimum of four trains per hour at all times, and will be watching closely to ensure that Crossrail come good on their pledge to deliver the long awaited Sunday service.”
There is also this report from Easier Property, which discusses how if your near a Crossrail station properties are doing better. It says this.
According to Hamptons International , transactions for properties within a mile of a Crossrail station grew by 21% in 2013, compared with the London average of 13%, and New Festival Quarter from Bellway Homes certainly echoes this London-wide trend.
And it is still four or five years before the new railway opens.
What Will Be The Effects Of Cashless Buses?
When London’s buses go cashless on the sixth of July, London and the passengers on its buses, will submit themselves to a big experiment.
But as I said in this post, nearly all of the staff and passengers seem to be strongly in favour.
The average London bus driver isn’t stupid, as what employer would allow an imbecile to have control of any £200,000 machine. The biggest problem they have with cash, other than the security one, is the inevitable delay, when passengers go searching for small change. London buses are timed to the minute and drivers seem not to like to miss their schedule.
I haven’t found any actual data on what passengers think about going cashless, but I have seen or heard no complaints in the media. I have heard the odd moan though, when a bus is delayed by passengers searching for small change. Although, that seems to have happened less since it was announced buses were going cashless and contactless bank cards could be used.
There will obviously be some troubles on the sixth, but I suspect TfL will put a lot of extra staff on the buses to smooth things through.
Remember though that according to Wikipdeia, London’s buses are used by six million riders a day and that every touch-in is registered on TfL’s ticketing system. That will generate an enormous amount of data.
When it has all settled down, just by examining before and after data will give conclusions, that will help with the planning of London’s transport system.
Will going cashless speed the buses?
Will the buses be carrying more or less passengers?
Will we be seeing a new group of passengers using a bus for the first time?
Would visitors to London, use their bank card or an Oyster?
Will we see a long term decline in the use of Oyster on buses?
I will not speculate, but let the data do the talking!
But the biggest effects will be felt, if the scheme works well and increases the revenue and profitability of London’s buses.
How many cities seeing how the London system works, would decide to go to a similar system? Many bus systems like Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow are not very comprehensible to a visitor without a guide, but London’s simple touch-in once with your bank card system, is probably understandable to everybody familiar with a contactless bank card.
I would also see London using the same system on the Underground, Overground and railways within London.
As Oyster now works on train journeys around London and many stations like Cambridge, Watford and Brighton are gated, would we see pressure to allow the Oyster/bankcard ticketing on journeys around the broader South East of England. Yesterday, when I went to Salisbury, I paid £24.60 for my walk-up Off Peak ticket, which was the same price as if I’d bought it earlier in the day on-line. It would have been so much more convenient to have touched-in at Waterloo and touched-out at Salisbury with a contactless bank card. Especially, as I just missed the previous train to Salisbury, so with a contactless bank card ticket, I’d have got there thirty minutes earlier.
So will we see the creeping of Oyster/bank card ticketing out from London? One problem is Railcards, but I’m sure one could be associated with a particular bank card.
Would it increase the resolve of TfL to introduce cashless ticketing all over the Underground, Overground and trains in the London area?
London’s new ticketing regime is going to provide a lot of answers to questions, some of which haven’t even been thought up yet. It is also going to ask a lot of politicians to bury some of their views. A lot of money will have been proven to have been wasted on systems that can never accept contactless bank cards.
The Anonymous Widower 