Do you remember when travel in London was happy and simple? I do, it was before the Oyster Card was invented.
Promoted as a "smartcard that you can use instead of paper tickets". They make it sound so easy.
Below I am going to explain how UNEASY this system is. Not the concept, just the fact that it's a stupid bit of plastic that very rarely does what it is meant to.
Kent as a county, was never really interested in the Oyster Card scheme. Like it's residents (the clever ones) we realised that due to being part of greater London and Kent, we would land up paying more by having a system like Oyster instead of a ticket that could get us from Inner London to wherever we were resident. We were against it so much, in some towns, Oyster Card machines were installed and then removed shortly after and did not return for a number of years when other areas had unfortunately succumbed to it's "magic!" When it did return, it drew boundaries on certain lines. Like the time my mum and I visited Dartford on our Oyster cards and got fined at the other end. Oyster card runs on the whole line APART from the final destination which you cannot use on Oyster - how are we meant to know THIS!!! And they clearly mark that there are places to buy Oyster cards in Dartford, even though you can't use them at their station - weird!
Wimbledon Station, one of many evil places where your Oyster Card works in a slightly different way just to confuse you again. At Wimbledon you have to buzz into the station and then on the platform of the train you are getting, but not the same when you come into the station. Also, if the barriers are open at the front doors you just buzz on the platform because if you buzz in the same as normal, you may be fined. WHAT THE F***! And I know it's true, because when it was installed, I got fined SO many times and so did lots of other people I used to know. No signage to say this, like at Dartford.
Today was a glorious day, before my Oyster Card decided to sting me for no reason. I buzzed in at one station and when I buzzed out at my destination it came up as "Seek Assistance 74 (or something similar)". The station I was at doesn't tend to have attendants and I was unsure why it was reacting like this, when an amount came up when I buzzed in originally. I went out later in the day and it had taken the full £7 fine (roughly) instead of the amount for my journey. Absolute w***! I phoned up the Oyster Card number and it says I have to wait 24 hours to phone up (even though I shouldn't have been fined).
If you don't live in London, you may not understand the annoyance of this crappy piece of plastic, but I have had to put up with it since I was a student and I HATE it!.
My blog title comes from this great song that really sums up how I feel about Oyster Card and travel in London in general (If I've mentioned it before, it's because it's the best : p) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UymKurTBdhw
Promoted as a "smartcard that you can use instead of paper tickets". They make it sound so easy.
Below I am going to explain how UNEASY this system is. Not the concept, just the fact that it's a stupid bit of plastic that very rarely does what it is meant to.
Kent as a county, was never really interested in the Oyster Card scheme. Like it's residents (the clever ones) we realised that due to being part of greater London and Kent, we would land up paying more by having a system like Oyster instead of a ticket that could get us from Inner London to wherever we were resident. We were against it so much, in some towns, Oyster Card machines were installed and then removed shortly after and did not return for a number of years when other areas had unfortunately succumbed to it's "magic!" When it did return, it drew boundaries on certain lines. Like the time my mum and I visited Dartford on our Oyster cards and got fined at the other end. Oyster card runs on the whole line APART from the final destination which you cannot use on Oyster - how are we meant to know THIS!!! And they clearly mark that there are places to buy Oyster cards in Dartford, even though you can't use them at their station - weird!
Wimbledon Station, one of many evil places where your Oyster Card works in a slightly different way just to confuse you again. At Wimbledon you have to buzz into the station and then on the platform of the train you are getting, but not the same when you come into the station. Also, if the barriers are open at the front doors you just buzz on the platform because if you buzz in the same as normal, you may be fined. WHAT THE F***! And I know it's true, because when it was installed, I got fined SO many times and so did lots of other people I used to know. No signage to say this, like at Dartford.
Today was a glorious day, before my Oyster Card decided to sting me for no reason. I buzzed in at one station and when I buzzed out at my destination it came up as "Seek Assistance 74 (or something similar)". The station I was at doesn't tend to have attendants and I was unsure why it was reacting like this, when an amount came up when I buzzed in originally. I went out later in the day and it had taken the full £7 fine (roughly) instead of the amount for my journey. Absolute w***! I phoned up the Oyster Card number and it says I have to wait 24 hours to phone up (even though I shouldn't have been fined).
If you don't live in London, you may not understand the annoyance of this crappy piece of plastic, but I have had to put up with it since I was a student and I HATE it!.
My blog title comes from this great song that really sums up how I feel about Oyster Card and travel in London in general (If I've mentioned it before, it's because it's the best : p) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UymKurTBdhw
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