In a letter in this morning's Telegraph, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has said the "Ninety five per cent of Tube journeys in London are not paid for in cash." If this is true why is it that on average less than fifty per cent of the machines in stations are Oyster machines? If so many of us use Oyster cards why is Livingstone and TfL so actively promoting the use of cash still?
Livingstone goes on to say that his "policy remains to have the lowest possible fares for Londoners". If this is true why do we Londonders have the most expensive transport system of all the world's capital cities?
2 comments:
I still can't bring myself to buy an oyster card despite the cost. After the DVLA selling all our info I think the propensity for Oyster to do the same thing, only with our travel info to be even worse.
I think the oystercard is excellent, smartcard systems are essential for a modern mass transit network and it's very convenient.
The journey tracking feature is a little disconcerting but there's no need to register the card so you can remain anonymous. Useful for my work expenses though except when it shows 'nightbus N155 - 3.30am' etc :)
Cash tills need replacing but bear in mind a season ticket or £20 top-up covers multiple journeys compared to a single cash fare. You can also set-up your account to be topped up automatically when it falls below a fiver.
Presumably it's the most expensive because the bulk of comparaitves are in Europe where higher taxes subsidise public transport. Whereas stealth tax increases here subsidise the road network expansion and freezing of fuel duty. The US may be cheaper but the New York subway is terrible. Then of course 20 years of underinvestment doesn't help when followed by Brown's skewed PPP deal.
Overall I'd say a £1 bus fare and £1.50 zone 1 single are good value. I actually think London has an excellent public transport system which is improving. Particularly the buses, the coverage is far greater than pre-Ken - previously if I came back late from London all buses finish at 11.30, they now tie in with the last tube (joined-up thinking!) and there are nightbus routes from central London and across outer London.
My real beef with the system is that I can't use it on the trains. I have a paper season ticket for train travel and a pre-pay oyster for bus and tube. But I am denied the cheaper oyster travelcard fares because the train companies refuse to invest in new gates.
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