MSE News: London buses to stop taking cash this summer

jon81uk

~_Aridjis_~ wrote: »

I am a very occasional visitor to London. It looks like I will have to try and work out how the Oystercard works (can you even get one just for one day?) or use the tube or walk!

For one day just buy a paper travelcard from a tube station ticket machine, or add it to your tickets for the National Rail journey into London (if arriving by train).
If you expect to be back in London more than once a year then get an Oyster, these can be obtained from some tube ticket machines for a £5 deposit plus credit (or buy online and get it posted to you). This will charge per journey taken from the credit and the maximum you will be charged per day is around 70p less than the one day travelcard. You can then use the Oyster card next time adding more credit as needed (can top up online too).
Later this year contactless bank cards will be accepted on the tube as well as buses and the daily cap will apply to them (same as Oyster).

But for occasional visits, paper travel cards are still just as easy and can be bought from all ticket machines.

Richard_T_

Im a very infrequent visitor to London, Ive probably only been there a coupe of times in the last 10 years, and on both occasions it was sight seeing /trip out ( the big wheel/london tower bridge etc) and on both occasions i have used the buses but only for the odd journey and on both times using cash to pay the driver.
If the buses no longer accepted cash and I was to visit again then it wouldn't be viable to use the bus.
As in order to do so I would have to find somewhere to buy an oyster credit card, and then top it up, instead of just paying for the journey.
more faff, more expense.

Andy_L

Richard_T_ wrote: »

Im a very infrequent visitor to London, Ive probably only been there a coupe of times in the last 10 years, and on both occasions it was sight seeing /trip out ( the big wheel/london tower bridge etc) and on both occasions i have used the buses but only for the odd journey and on both times using cash to pay the driver.
If the buses no longer accepted cash and I was to visit again then it wouldn't be viable to use the bus.
As in order to do so I would have to find somewhere to buy an oyster credit card, and then top it up, instead of just paying for the journey.
more faff, more expense.

Oyster fares are cheaper than cash, so more faff but less expense

wealdroam

Richard_T_ wrote: »

If the buses no longer accepted cash and I was to visit again then it wouldn't be viable to use the bus.
As in order to do so I would have to find somewhere to buy an oyster credit card, and then top it up, instead of just paying for the journey.
more faff, more expense.

I can only guess you haven't yet read the article mentioned in the original post.

Particularly this bit:

Contactless cards – which have a wavy symbol on the front – can already be used on buses and will be rolled out to the Tube, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway later this year, with a price cap introduced so they can work as bus passes or travelcards.

No faff, no expense... and guess what... the fare will be even cheaper than the cash fare you are used to paying.

Looks like a win to me.

iAMaLONDONER

wealdroam wrote: »

I can only guess you haven't yet read the article mentioned in the original post.

Particularly this bit:

No faff, no expense... and guess what... the fare will be even cheaper than the cash fare you are used to paying.

Looks like a win to me.

Not everyone has a contactless card (in fact most don't)

wealdroam

iAMaLONDONER wrote: »

Not everyone has a contactless card (in fact most don't)

I can well believe that not everyone has a contactless card, and indeed accept that 'most people don't'.

Just out of interest, I have had a contactless card since November 2011. I didn't request it, it just came as the regular card replacement every four years or so.

I suspect many more people have a contactless card than you think.

The UK Cards Association tells us:

The UK Cards Association 18/11/13
In the UK the number of cards in issue with contactless functionality is 36.3 million, whilst there are over 164,000 contactless terminals (as at the end of September 2013).

iAMaLONDONER

Andy_L wrote: »

Oyster fares are cheaper than cash, so more faff but less expense

Tbf to pay for a single journey you can a) pay 240p till Summer anyway or b) pay a £5 deposit and £1.45 ( tube stations require a minimum £5 top-up) meaning you need £6.45-10. If you only have a few pounds on your person than a cash fare is the ONLY way(till Summer )

Voyager2002

Lara44 wrote: »

What happens if you lose your purse on a night out? No Oyster card, no contactless card - no safe way to get home? It is a stressful and expensive city to live in already, thanks to TFL for making it much worse by abolishing cash despite the verdict of the public during the "consultation process". Plus the upcoming ticket office closures - another Boris U-turn.

An actual experience: and in fact I believed that buses had stopped taking cash fares some years ago..

I needed to take a tube and then a bus to get to a job interview. Apparently something went wrong when I 'touched out' from the tube station (I didn't notice anything wrong at the time), so virtually all the credit on my oyster card was removed. Anyway, the bus arrived (late); my oyster didn't work; no way was I going to get off and wait for the next one so we were stuck there arguing... Another passenger had a spare oyster card and attempted to pay for me. He couldn't because he didn't have enough credit, but by this point I had taken out some money to pay him and so the driver mentioned that I could pay cash.

The system really needs a bit more flexibility for when the technology fails.

iAMaLONDONER

wealdroam wrote: »

I can well believe that not everyone has a contactless card, and indeed accept that 'most people don't'.

Just out of interest, I have had a contactless card since November 2011. I didn't request it, it just came as the regular card replacement every four years or so.

I suspect many more people have a contactless card than you think.

The UK Cards Association tells us:

Well it's a shame for the poor soul who has only cash after Summer with no contactless card!

giraffe69

I don't know why people make it so hard. It is so easy to get an oyster card and once done equally easy to top it up online. I no longer live in London but visit a few times a year and use the tube and occasionally a bus and it all works with no problem at all.

With the addition of contactless cards which will become more common it will work for an even wider range of people and TfL will save much on the collection, distribution and security of the cash. Instead of sorting this out you will have people on here banging on about their inalienable right to pay(more) by cash, the iniquity of autotopup etc. All I can say is stay at home then!