MSE News: London buses to stop taking cash this summer

Torry_Quine

What happens with all the visitors who will no doubt be very confused especially if non English speakers. I think it's ridiculous not to take cash.

daveyjp

Torry_Quine wrote: »

What happens with all the visitors who will no doubt be very confused especially if non English speakers. I think it's ridiculous not to take cash.

Visitors are grown ups and they research destinations before arriving. I have been to many cities where no cash is taken on public transport and always managed, in a lot of cases pre buying is much cheaper.

joncombe

wealdroam wrote: »

Looks like the 'vote' was spoiled by people who have no interest is the result.

TfL (or whoever made the decision) were probably right to disregard those 'opinions'.

I don't follow how you can say the vote was spoiled by people who have no interest. Just because someone normally pays by Oyster does not mean they want to lose the ability to pay by cash. If you lose your Oyster card or it stops working (which happens to me) at the moment you have an alternative (cash). Yes it's more expensive but at least there is an alternative.

Oyster was rather pushed by making the fares (particularly on the tube) much more expensive if you didn't use Oyster. So I'm not surprised that the majority of people responded always or normally use Oyster. Doesn't mean they want to lose the ability to pay by cash though.

d-b_2

I don't live in London but was so appalled by the fares when visiting that I now have an Oyster card - but I'm not sure how tourists new to the city will get on.

d-b_2

daveyjp wrote: »

Visitors are grown ups and they research destinations before arriving. I have been to many cities where no cash is taken on public transport and always managed, in a lot of cases pre buying is much cheaper.

Not sure about the visitor/student arriving late at night or early in the morning. Or just passing through.
Are all of them going to have contactless cards that can be used in the UK? I hate it when overseas and can't use cash. Others doing it doesn't make it right for us. There's usually a machine to buy a ticket from at the bus stop.

Lara44

wealdroam wrote: »

Lara, did you take part in TfL's consultation last year?

Was the verdict from the consultation published?

Here is MSE's News item from that time:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2013/09/london-buses-may-stop-taking-cash-next-year

And here is the forum discussion on that consultation:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/63018298#Comment_63018298

which you will see had a link to TfL's consultation questionaire.

I also remember seeing large posters at bus stops urging people to take part in the consultation.

Yes I did, shame that it doesn't seem to have mattered

If you lost your purse it's a lot easier to borrow a couple of quid from a friend to get the bus than try to find a newsagent selling Oyster at 2am. And you have to borrow a lot more money by the time you pay £5 and then top up...

Pincher

How do you buy from a Tube station office when they intend to shut them during off peak hours?

When you are a tourist, you don't really want to mess around with returning cards to a closed office because your flight is 10pm. I usually buy a One Day Travelcard designed for tourists, which you can chuck away when you get home.

I propose we develop a London Tourist card, which is linked to a credit card. Like a Store Loyalty card, they come inside a flyer that explains how you activate it, e.g. smart phone app, webpage, tourist office, tube stations, ATM with a the right signs. You provide a credit card, and the activation makes an authorised credit reservation, e.g. £100, or more if you prefer. At the end of the visit, you close the account, and the system will take the amount of money you actually used from your credit card.

If they want to re-use the cards, then they need to provide recycle points somehow. The flyer the card comes in can double as a return envelope; on receipt of the returned card, the system can refund the credit card any deposit that was taken.

If it's widely accepted, the tourist can skip exchanging sterling altogether.

spanglish

Whilst I can understand the thinking for inner London, the fact is that in outer London you're lucky to find anywhere selling tickets after about 7pm in built up areas and nowhere at all in many others, and buses are the only form of public transport available. I just don't see how it can work unless they provide machines at bus stops, even if only for cashless top-ups

wealdroam

Pincher wrote: »

How do you buy from a Tube station office when they intend to shut them during off peak hours?

When you are a tourist, you don't really want to mess around with returning cards to a closed office because your flight is 10pm. I usually buy a One Day Travelcard designed for tourists, which you can chuck away when you get home.

I propose we develop a London Tourist card, which is linked to a credit card. Like a Store Loyalty card, they come inside a flyer that explains how you activate it, e.g. smart phone app, webpage, tourist office, tube stations, ATM with a the right signs. You provide a credit card, and the activation makes an authorised credit reservation, e.g. £100, or more if you prefer. At the end of the visit, you close the account, and the system will take the amount of money you actually used from your credit card.

If they want to re-use the cards, then they need to provide recycle points somehow. The flyer the card comes in can double as a return envelope; on receipt of the returned card, the system can refund the credit card any deposit that was taken.

If it's widely accepted, the tourist can skip exchanging sterling altogether.

That seems rather complicated to me.

Did you notice that contactless credit and debit cards will work in the same way as payg oyster?
I.e. with the travelcard or bus pass cap.

rockiedog

Just noticed on the FreePostcodeLottery website you can top up your Oyster card for £4, and get £30 credit, is this legit?
Im sure I read somewhere that it could be a scam?