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Londoners are beginning to get used to the Oyster card. It took some time to digest the idea of "topping up" your little slip of plastic with weekly or monthly travelcards and what the hell Pre-pay is supposed to be, but with not too much fuss, the Oyster card has been absorbed into the London Underground fare system and is as much part of the system as the zones, delays on the Northern Line, "unavailability of staff" and quite interesting advertising.
However... very few of us understand how it works when trying to get a National Rail overground train across London because, let's face it, everyone has to do it at some point and getting stranded at Cricklewood, Alexandra Palace, Herne Hill or Barnes Bridge with the wrong ticket again and yet another threat to be fined to hell and back is not an uncommon feature of London travel. London TravelWatch chairman Brian Cooke has given it straight to the Commons:
"We tried to stress to the committee two main points: firstly, rail fares are extremely confusing and far too complicated, particularly in London, and secondly, the huge incompatibility of fare prices for very similar rail journeys."
In addition to confusing and conflicting train fares, National Rail still refuses to accept Oyster Pre-pay on all of its routes, which is such a total pain in the arse when trying, for example, to go that one stop from Victoria to Clapham Junction, crossing from London Underground Zone 1 to Zone 2. With Oyster Pre-pay that journey should cost £2.30 only and should require just a quick swipe over the Oyster card readers. With the involvement of a National Rail journey it would cost you the price of getting to Victoria then joining the queue to buy an extra ticket for £1.90 for the 5 minute trip to Clapham Junction.
Brian Cooke sums it up nicely:
"Passengers are thoroughly confused at the moment, which puts them off travelling. Passengers understand the simple zonal fares system on the Tube. If this was extended to National Rail services in London it would be much easier for all. It is not rocket science."
London TravelWatch will be discussing the Oystercard issue with senior representatives of Transport for London (TfL) and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) at a public meeting, next Tuesday, December 6, at Ealing Town Hall.
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What passengers end up doing half the time when they realise that:
1) They can't use their Oyster card for a train journey
2) The ticket machines are all either broken or only taking exact change - no cards
3) The queue for tickets is out of the door
4) They'll never make their meeting/evening out by playing by the rules
...is to bunk the train unless there's an inspector right in front of them.
Rail companies are losing money by pursuing this rediculous policy of not accepting Oyster pre-pay.
How much does it cost to have loads of extra staff selling tickets and checking that people have tickets because the rail companies make it unneccessarily hard for passengers to pay? As I'm paying for these staff every time that I buy train tickets in the most expensive city for using public transport in the world, I'd love to know!!!
Hear hear! They could SAVE money AND staff... and all the costs and strife of tracking down fare dodgers and chasing fines could disappear over night if they only bloody well adopt the Oyster system...
The problem with London Transport in general is that they treat their customers as a nuisance and an inconvenience.
Whereas lets face it they really should be trying to help us get from A to B.......
So what is the reason that national rail doesn't want to use oyster? I've never heard their side of it.
The reason why National Rail are not using Oystercards is mainly cos they would lose money - surprise, surprise - and they are resisting at all costs Ken's overtures to pay them a load of dosh (apparently) to get the readers installed across London's stations. We've been discussing the issues A LOT over at my blog
Oystercard not being used on Silverlink and their fares doubling
Oystercard ad banned for being misleading
general Oystercard confusion
Typical, I tried to check the Oyster website (as a soon to be Londoner) and guess what :
This site is being updated
We're sorry but we are currently updating our site. Normal service will be resumed shortly.
If you need to speak to someone about your Oyster card please contact xxxx xxxx.
I didn't know they were having delays on their website too :-)
The really annoying thing is that they actually HAVE oyster card readers at Clapham Junction, only you can't use them if you have pre-pay, only for monthly/yearly passes or whatever. I grumble every time I see them. grrrrr!
My favourite is the joint stations like Wimbledon that have train and tubes - but don't have Oyster-equipped ticket machines, despite having Oyster barriers. So you can't quickly and easily buy a tube ticket or top up an Oyster card, despite it being a tube station!
The problem is that the Train company is running the station and only wants its (frankly shit) ticket machines in the station. Which is, of course, ridiculous...
Then there's the DLR, where you can use Oyster, but can't top up your card at Mudchute, Crossharbour, or pretty much any station that isn't Canary Wharf - and even then you have to go into the Tube station to do so. What a joined-up system, hahaha! It makes me want to weep.