London buses will not accept cash fares from a Sunday 6th July 2014

I received this email yesterday from TfL.

"I am writing to let you know that from Sunday 6 July, all our buses are going cash free so you will no longer be able to use cash to pay for your bus fare in London.

Instead of cash, you can use an Oyster or contactless payment card to pay as you go, or a Travelcard. A single adult bus fare is £1.45 with Oyster or a contactless payment card. Only touch the card you want to use on the yellow card reader."

I understand why they've done it, but don't feel particularly comfortable with the changes. 

As the tourist season has got into full swing (is there such a thing in London?), I have recently noticed an increase in the number of passengers paying for their bus fares with cash. Certainly more than the 1% of passengers who supposedly do so. 

The changes will happen and will not be reversed - I think there needs to be a digital brand campaign for Oyster targeted at overseas tourists. Too many have no idea of what their optimal ticketing arrangemts ought to be when visiting and traveling around London. 

Oystercard Deposits

Transport for London announced today that, with effect from 17th May, a £3 deposit would be charged on all Oystercards. Currently deposits are charged on only a few cards.

The press release contains some startling facts;

• a third of all new Oyster cards issued with a 7 Day Travelcard or bus & tram pass on them are discarded after a week
• seven million Oyster cards have been issued to 700,000 Travelcard and 300,000 bus & tram pass season ticket holders. If I'm understanding this correctly, that means each season ticket holder has gone through an average of seven Oystercards.

I am on my second Oystercard - the first one developed a fault and I use the second one only for some journeys at the outer extremities of the Metropolitan Line. This is because I now have a cardboard Travelcard issued by Chiltern Railways (living as I do in rural Buckinghamshire).

I had always thought that the £3 deposit on pre-pay cards was to stop people exiting through gates (putting their cards overdrawn, which I think can happen up to £3), and then throwing the card away.

Given the facts as outlined by tfl, I think that the £3 deposit has to be a good idea. There is some shocking waste going on.

Free Lunch

Have you ever heard of the phrase "There's no such thing as a free lunch"?

Well, time will tell, but I may have found me one today.

There is only one problem in that it involves me going to a footall match.

Now, as I don't do football, I am being a bit of a hypocrite in accepting the invitation, but the person who has invited me knows me well and is a good friend. And I like food.

I'll let you know whether it really is a free lunch.

The next conundrum is how do I get there? I usually drive, but if I am on a freebie in a paid-for box, I quite fancy a drink or two. That means doing battle with several Chiltern Railways trains and the Metropolitan Line. I've even found my empty Oystercard so that I don't have to pay silly cash fares for the last bit of the journey to Watford.

I think I'll drive tomorrow for the rugby and go by train today.

Get up... get out... it's a lovely Autumn day here in rural Buckinghamshire. I've just taken this picture shown at the top of this post from the bedroom, especially for you! Enjoy.

DIY Sauna

Late Monday afternoon. Wandered down to Marble Arch to catch a train out to Stratford.

La la la... through the ticket barrier. La la la... down the escalator. La la la... along the passage way and down the stairs. La la la onto the platform.

BANG!

It was as though I had walked into a brick wall. It felt really hot. It wasn't particularly hot outside, or anywhere elso on the station, just on the platforms. I acclimatised fairly quickly, but the contrast in air temperatures over the space of a few feet was incredible.

I seem to recall that the Evening Standard ran some articles a few years ago about the differences in ambient air temperatures on different London Underground lines - my recollection is that the Central Line was the warmest because of the type of braking system that the trains use.

Anyhow, if my experience of this week is anything to go by... Need a sauna? Don't spend big bucks on a fitness club or gymn. Don't fly off to Scandinavia to experience the real deal. Just buy an Oystercard and check out the platforms at Marble Arch. Delightful.

Along the Central Line? Only a Little Bit...

After a few teasing hints and 18 1/2 years living in West London, I've gone and done it.

Yes... I've moved to the country.

It will take me about 25 minutes longer to get to work. I will still use the Central Line most days (so this blog's name shouldn't be changing) and my Annual Travelcard now costs an enormous amount of money.

There is a downside, from an underground perspective, in that I no longer have an Oystercard. Because I now live way outside the Travelcard Zones, my season ticket has reverted to to old fashioned cardboard variety. You know the ones- they get bent, thumbed and dogeared. They also react violently to the close proximity of mobile phones or laptop computers, which will inevitably lead to bi-monthly visits to the ticket office to get said worn ticket replaced.

Despite the Big Brother overtones I have always been an Oystercard fan. Please don't tut at me too much while I fumble to extract my ticket from it's natty little folder and then watch as it takes an extra few nano-seconds to feed through the ticket barrier.

Lots of good things about the countryside to bore you with coming up.

Extra Platforms opened at London Marylebone

The two new platforms (4 & 5) have now opened at London Marylebone as part of the Chiltern Railways Evergreen 2 project. [Chiltern Railways: Please update your website]

Hopefully it will mean fewer occasions of the late notification of platform numbers at Marylebone. Mind you, the new platforms 4, 5 & 6 at London Marylebone are so far from the concourse that two or three minutes has to be allowed to get to them, with hiking boots optional.

The platform barriers look as though they are having a significant upgrade and increase in numbers, though if my experience with the new gates is anything to go by, they need a bit of tweaking. My perfectly valid and otherwise functioning Oystercard received the flashing red eye of doom last week.