Londonist: Oyster Coming To Mainline Trains

t0m

Fri, 16 May 2008 13:11:31 +0000

I'm struggling to see what this article has to do with our new Mayor. A reference to our former Mayor would have been useful, given that he was the person behind these policies. Fortunately this has been rectified in the comments, but perhaps reading beyond Boris' (spin-full) press release would be useful for future stories.

Dave

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:08:09 +0000

I think that London travellers are reaping the vast majority of the benefits, to be honest, regardless of any PR machines or slanted reporting.

Lindsey

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:23:06 +0000

You've got to admit that Boris is reaping the benefits here. I'm jumping for joy that this is nearly here but, still, it's a bit rich that BJ's PR machine's making it his personal triumph. Or maybe it's just terrible Metro reporting.

Dave

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:08:18 +0000

Geez, what a bunch of whingers some of these commenters are. This Oyster rollout is excellent news for a huge proportion of London travellers, and long overdue, regardless of whose idea it was. Why not just enjoy the benefits that this will bring, instead of bleating on about some imagined "political spin" because you don't like the colour of the mayor's tie, or whatever pointless axe you feel the need to grind. This anti-Boris whining is beginning to get tiresome already. I'm no great fan of the man (and I didn't vote for him), but I'm not so one-eyed that I'm not happy to see a good result for the transport system, whoever announces it.

sweek

Tue, 13 May 2008 20:02:18 +0000

The amount of political spin on this story really is quite amazing. I don't know how Boris can make it seem as if he's the one behind this. Ken has gotten every single London operator to agree to use Oyster a long time ago already. See this news story: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/3326.aspx FGW just rolled it out onto part of their network because this was agreed on while Ken was in charge. I can't wait for FCC to roll it out, though. It'd make it a lot easier for a lot of my travelcard-less friends to visit!

Amanda Farah

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:54:15 +0000

Sorry, didn't realise this was merely a continuation of good works. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

steve_w

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:49:45 +0000

Yes - the previous Mayor got the TOCs to agree to this, the project is rolling out already (the stations from Seven Sisters to Liverpool Street went live a couple of months ago). The new Mayor merely committed to support the completion of the process - a better headline would be "Boris continues Ken's good work". Grrr, indeed.

Mr Thant

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:11:47 +0000

What do you mean "first steps"? There are four train companies that already accept Oyster PAYG on all of their London services (c2c, Chiltern, London Overground, London Midland), and two more with significant coverage (First Capital Connect, National Express East Anglia). On top of that, the First Great Western deal was as good as done before the election (they'd started accepting it on part of their route already), and all the other train companies had already pledged acceptance from next year, so Londonist (and, in fairness, most other press) is falling for Boris' shameless repackaging of Ken's policies. Grrr.