Pre Pay Oysters finally accepted on National Rail

Why did it take so long?

Regular readers know that I've had a particular bug-bear with the fact that Pre Pay Oystercards currently aren't accepted on National Rail Stations in London. Even on a line like the North London Link or Silverlink or whatever it's called these days, which is wholly within zones 1-6 - you can't use Oystercard Pre Pay.

It means that people (like myself) who live in London but travel partly or wholly by National Rail, can't take advantage of the lowest fares, which Sheriff Ken uses to bribe people into using Pre-Pay. Yesterday "Transport for London agreed to pay for Oyster validation equipment to be provided for all London rail stations in Zones 1 - 6". This is going to cost TfL (or rather us, at the end of the day) £19million.

But why exactly has it taken so long? There have been all sorts of arguments surrounding the use of the pre-pay on National Rail. You might remember when TfL's "Faster, Smarter, Easier, Oystercard" ad campaign had to be pulled because it breached the advertising code. "The ASA pointed out that passengers would have to buy an extra ticket to travel on National Rail routes not covered by Oyster."

For quite some time Ken has claimed that he had offered to pay National Rail for the various readers required for Oystercards and that National rail turned the offer down. To me this made no sense. Firstly, because Oystercard readers already exist at a lot of National Rail stations, for non Pre Pay cards. Surely all that was needed was a slight change in the programming so the readers could be used for Pre-Pay?

Secondly, why on earth would National Rail turn down his offer? It means they get money up front from the pre-pay element (slightly less money admittedly - but if you balance that against the interest they would be making with these reserves in the bank, I reckon they'd be quids in).

There's a huge amount of spin in Ken's press release trumpeting the success of the "significant breakthrough", but not a lot of substance, and no explanation as to why this didn't happen before.

Here's the timing in a nutshell: "The introduction of Oyster technology could start this year at gated stations and once worked through with train operators, Oyster pay-as-you-go could be available at National Rail stations in London during 2008." Nice and specific then!

The release continues: "Currently there are only 60 London National Rail stations where passengers can use Pay-as-you-go. The total number of stations in London zones 1-6 is 310." Why is it being called 'Pay as you go' now and not 'Pre-Pay'?

"Transport for London introduced the Oyster card in 2003 to speed up passage through Tube gates and boarding buses. Oyster allows 40 people per minute to pass through gates, 15 more than those with magnetic stripe tickets."

I'm still amazed by these figures as I really can't see how paper travel cards are that much slower - well that's if you have your travel card ready. I know that Oystercards can apparently be read through pockets and bags, but I very, very, rarely see people using them this way. People seem to prefer to "touch in" by placing their cards directly onto the readers.

Anyway, they're my opinions and I'd be interested to hear yours. Hopefully, some of you will be able to take advantage of Pre-Pay, sorry Pay As You Go, when it eventually comes into force. Or perhaps you might think us partial National Rail users were making a fuss about nothing and resent the 19 million quid being spent on this.

Dogs must be carried on the London Underground

Tube pooches

Whenever I see the "Dogs must be carried" sign by the escalators on the London Underground I do envisage confused tourists wondering why Londoners are ordered to carry dogs, and how whether there is a local pet shop doing a roaring trade selling puppies for people to pop under their arm specifically for escalator travel. Yesterday I saw a woman carrying a dog which was perfect for this.


Only a couple of weeks ago I was asked what the rules were for dogs on the Tube. As far as I know "carrying dogs on escalators" is the only rule.


Oh, and I don't think that dogs are allowed to sit on the seats, although to be honest I've never seen any signs to that effect. Otherwise you don't have to pay for dogs to travel on the Tube. However, if they are travelling by themselves they may be approached for Oystercards or a fare! Feel free to jump in if I've left out any other Tube rules for canines.

Finally, here's a picture from my archives, sent in by dog fan, Frank Timmer, of a man failing miserably with the "Dogs must be carried" rule.


Hope he didn't give himself a hernia.

Zone 1 Tube Challenge 2006

Travel round zone one in fastest possible time


It's that time of year again when people who feel the urge to do a Tube Challenge but don't fancy all of the 275 stations on the system, can have a go at the 64 (I think) stations in zone one. So if you are free on Friday May 19th (skive a day off work or college) the organiser, Chris Presswell, is still taking entries.

However, as Chris says "Anybody unable to get the day off from work/school/college/prison is welcome to join us for an evening of drunken antics, geeky chat and tube-related games (TBC)". I'll keep you posted of the post challenge pub location nearer the time.

Full details are on the Tubechallenge website and there's plenty of discussion about tactics, team names, T-shirts, trophies and other things beginning with T on the Tubechallenge Forum.

Look out for a Tubechallenge quiz this Friday where you can win a copy of Tunnel Vision by Keith Lowe (kindly donated by Graham O'Mara, who really is spoiling us). Tunnel Vision is a novel about a guy who takes part in a personal "stag" Tube challenge on the eve of his wedding, with his essential belongings dotted around the network. Fortunately this year's Zone 1 challengers won't have the added pressure of looking for their passport, credit cards, house keys etc - although it would add a certain je ne sais quois to the proceedings!

"I never go out in the rain"

Rain on the Line

Last week a "heatwave", this week it's tipping it down. Yesterday morning the Sadistic District Line was playing up and at least they couldn't blame the possibility of heat buckled rails. I imagine it was a bit too wet for them.


I particularly hate wet days on the London Underground (well I particularly hate wet days anyway). You have to find places for your sodden umbrellas, or you usually get dripped on by someone else's sodden umbrella. There's also that horrible musty smell of hundreds of wet coats and jackets slowly drying in the human heat. Or the vile smell of wet moquette from the Tube seats. Then that horrible realisation when you plonk yourself on a seat which has been vacated by someone who "didn't have an umbrella", like I did yesterday. Yuck!

Makes note to self to always feel seat before sitting on it. Then again, on a late night train you're taking a bit of a risk as to what the "wetness" might be. I'll leave you to make your own conclusions!

London Underground Google Desktop Widget

A Tube Tool for you

Thanks to Kasper Weibel who sent me a link to a Google Desktop Sidebar plugin. He said:

"Transport for London has given me so much

... now I want to give them something back

One of the challenges of everyday London life is to find out if The Tube is running or not. Usually it is, but not always.

I have consulted Transport for London's page on http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/realtime/ time and time again. And I suspect millions of hours are spent looking up this information on a yearly basis.
I want this information on my desktop!

... and I specifically want to use Google's Desktop Sidebar (GDS) for it.

I herewith present The Tube Plugin for GDS. Install the thing, start GDS and you will have a new panel with real time (almost) information on The Tube."

Cheers Kasper, it sounds cool. I haven't loaded Google's Desktop Sidebar yet, so haven't been able to check it out, but I'll give it a try. If anyone gets there before me, let us know what you think in the comments.