[Gllug] ist that right that the Oyster card got RFID on it?

[Matthew King]

Nix <nix at esperi.org.uk> writes:

> On 16 Jan 2007, Bruce Richardson said:
>
>> On Tue, Jan 16, 2007 at 01:28:38PM +0000, Alain wrote:
>>> > Ah well, now there's a point.  Why are the cash fares so expensive
>>> > now?
>>> 
>>> Trying to get everyone to adopt oyster. Since the difference is much greater
>>> than any cost savings I suspect that there is another agenda in play.
>>
>> I don't think it's a huge secret that the long term hope is for Oyster
>> to become an electronic money.
>
> There are also efficiency concerns. Ticket gates using the old cardboard
> tickets are *slower* than Oyster (about twice as slow by my
> guesstimates, and much slower when a ticket fails scanning). Throughput
> maximization on ticket gates in major stations at rush hour is a big
> concern for LT.

Of course it would simply not do to point out how much faster throughput
is without those infernal automatic gates.

If we simply must have them, though, (I maintain that we needn't, and
that their cost far outweighs their benefit. And don't even get me
started on the buses) I would put forward the idea that although the
cardboard tickets can be slower it is not by a significant factor UNLESS
either is used by a tourist.

In fact I usually go through the gates faster with a paper ticket than
others around me with an oyster. The only thing that slows me down is
that the gates themselves do not open at the same speed at which I walk.

Vaguely related: I have not bothered to buy an oyster in the past
because I do not use public transport enough recently (it has become
simply too expensive, dirty, inefficient, impersonal ... the list goes
on) but can an oyster be bought in the same manner as a travelcard?

Can one go up to a window and ask for a one-day oyster-card which can
then be thrown away (or recycled) when the day is over?

It seems to me that all privacy concerns can be simply done away with if
oyster is (potentially) a throw-away card rather than Yet Another Wallet
Stretcher.

Matthew

-- 
I must take issue with the term "a mere child," for it has been my
invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely
preferable to that of a mere adult.
                                           --  Fran Lebowitz

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