London Buses May Go Cashless
According to reports like this one on the BBC, it looks like London buses may go cashless.
There have been a few comments that the usual suspects are against this, as it may hurt the poor and the vulnerable, but I don’t think it will create too many problems after the first few months, especially if publicity and the technology was cranked up a bit.
I do remember though, a conversation on a Manchester bus, with an off-duty driver and union representative. He felt that their single-door buses where the low-life gathered around the driver and tried to steal his money were very inferior to two-door buses. he would have loved a cashless system.
I’ve just done a small calculation. There are six million riders on each weekday on London’s buses and working on a figure for today that one per cent of riders buy a ticket with cash, that means that 60,000 riders a day buy paper tickets. as there are 250 weekdays in a year, that means there are fifteen million tickets sold each year.
The cost of collecting the cash is given as £24 million a year, so it would almost appear that some of those without tickets could be issued with a free get-you-home ticket. Transport for London are saying they might bring in the Hong Kong system, where an expired card is good for one journey.
I do think though that if the decision was made to go cashless, as the no-cash day approached most people would do something about getting a ticket like Oyster.
i do suspect though that there will be a few objectors, who would not countenance any ticket like Oyster, that enabled them to be tracked,
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?
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!
What To Do With Old Oyster Cards
If you have finished using your Oyster card, like I did, when I got to an age that entitled me to a Freedom Pass or perhaps you are sadly leaving London for good, there are two things you can do with it.
You can donate it to charity by dumping it in a box like this one at Liverpool Street station.
Oyster Charity Box
Railway Children is an international charity that fights for children who live on the streets.
Or you could ride several times on the Emirates Air-Line.
How Few Use Oyster!
On the London Underground this morning, I was surprised how many people seemed to be holding old-fashioned card tickets.
Is Transport for London doing enough to tempt passengers to use the cheaper alternative of an Oystercard.
Oyster Cards for London Visitors
I have a feeling that London doesn’t do enough to publicise how a visitor to London gets an Oyster card and what the terms are. I was asked this morning by a couple of Austrian ladies and they seemed at a bit of a loss. So I asked a helpful London Underground lady at a barrier and she gave me the full rules, which include.
- To get an Oystercard you need to put up a refundable £5 deposit in addition to how much credit you want.
- You can top up an Oystercard using a credit card at machines.
- If you no longer want your Oystercard when you leave the UK, you can cash it in at certain places. Or even give it to charity!
Where’s the Oyster Information?
At
The Anonymous Widower 