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COMMUTERS can today purchase a new travel card for easy boarding on bus and tram that can be pre-paid for up to 50 journeys.
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Edinburgh ‘Oystercard’ launched for buses and tram"
(44 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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An Oystercard without a cap equal to the day-ticket rate? Harumph.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Little more than a non-smartphone version of the smartphone app, or a plastic version of City Singles tickets?
Posted 9 years ago # -
It needs to include trains too. I have a season ticket but the amount I'm cycling now doesn't make it viable. Yet when I want to use the train from Brunstane, its often not running due to signal problems or staff availability yet I still end up paying for it.
A combined capped bus/tram/train card within Edinburgh would be fantastic
Posted 9 years ago # -
There seems to be a theme here regarding cack-handed copies of transport infrastructure that misses the point of the original.
Oyster cards are good because they are fast and by far the cheapest way to move around in London. Glasgow's Bramble card was the same price as one-off tickets, less flexible for the occasional user and the turnstiles were insensitive enough that they create irritation when going through the barriers.
Now it seems Edinburgh wants to get in on the act of re-inventing the wheel.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Don't forget that Oyster will disappear within the next few years as contactless credit cards can be traced in the same way to do this. Perhaps we should have built that into the new infrastructure
Posted 9 years ago # -
You need to top it up every 180 days by visiting a participating shop or kiosk. That seems a bit rubbish, but a bit like the Smartphone app (as wingpig pointed out).
Posted 9 years ago # -
one good aspect is that it is transferrable. so closer to citysingles. but you can also top it up on the bus, which is handy.
it could be better, but i'll be getting one.
Posted 9 years ago # -
My carnet of city singles ran out some months ago and I hadn't got round to buying a new one because I didn't want 20 tickets all at once.
The new card comes with an initial minimum of 20 journeys.
Doh!Posted 9 years ago # -
The new card comes with an initial minimum of 20 journeys.
Doh!
And unless you buy more twice a year they'll cancel the lot. It really is the poor cousin of oyster. Unless I'm mistaken Oyster credit never runs out.Posted 9 years ago # -
the poor cousin of oyster
Oh no...LRT have launched a Whelk Card.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Stick with the little city singles, my last one from my last batch is now a couple of years old.
What is LB's obsession with running off with my money if I don't use the bus...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Oh no...LRT have launched a Whelk Card.
Perhaps more of an LimpET. The ET obviously standing for Edinburgh Transport.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Argh. Another poor man's Oyster!
The main thing that kills the buses for me is that the routes are like the spokes of a wheel and you can't change service without paying double.
I can get 20 miles from Balerno to Tranent for half the price of Newington to my office on the shore, about 4 miles. This is one of the main reasons we would generally drive (besides the fact that it takes a fraction of the time).
London have got it sorted.
Posted 9 years ago # -
TfL can never get rid of Oyster as there are currently millions of pounds sitting on unused Oyster cards which may never have seen the light of day for over 10 years, which limits the introduction of new schemes as they cannot close it.
With the citysmart expiring after 180 days this gives greater opportunity for LB to introduce newer and better schemes at a later date. It is essentially though an electronic book of City Singles, meaning you don't have to search for change, can be topped up in the bus hopper on a Monday and you don't have to worry for the rest of the week. It's a convenience.
tl;dr If you're not going to use the bus more that 20 times (equivalent to 2 weeks for a standard commuter on the bus) in 6 months, don't get one.
Posted 9 years ago # -
From memory, Oyster is a complete technical dead end and not even slightly standards compliant but it just works because of the scale and vision involved. The Scottish entitlement card which was standards based (and was based on YoungScot and pensioner travel) just never got off the ground; I did a review of the project in the mid 2000's and it was a mess then, with suppliers blaming each other. The free travel for pensioners application worked eventually though.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Standards compliance are an oddity.
I have a Nexus 5 phone, which has NFC capability (i.e. you can tap and pay) but you cant use Google Wallet or any equivalent to pay for things in the UK on that phone - partly due to EE my phone service provider.
So, you can have the most technologically advanced device going, but if one service provider or other doesnt want to play ball it all falls over.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I was originally sceptical of the Lothian Buses mTicket app, since you could only buy a minimum of a tenner's worth of tickets, and they expire after a certain number of months if not used.
However, these days 7 mTickets don't last long so there's no danger of me leaving free money for LB! 3 return journeys and a one-way and that's your £10.50 gone...
Posted 9 years ago # -
@condor2378, TfL could stop using the oyster quite easily. They would just have to provide a way for anyone with cash left on a card to obtain a refund.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@acsimpson
Theoretically, yes, everything is possible.
But that would leave them having to pay out literally millions and I'm not sure logistically how practical that would be, never mind the hit to the books.
Posted 9 years ago # -
But that would leave them having to pay out literally millions and I'm not sure logistically how practical that would be, never mind the hit to the books.
If they acted in good faith the money from these dormant cards will be sitting ring fenced earning interest and could be made available with out too much effort. I doubt Literally Millions is that big a deal for TFL since it has a turn over of literally billions.
Posted 9 years ago # -
3 return journeys and a one-way and that's your £10.50 gone...
I might almost make 7 journeys in a year but probably not 6 months which is a shame because it would be good to have my phone loaded with credit. The ticket machines for the tram are so cumbersome that if the tram is approaching the stop you've already missed it, whilst scanning the QR code would be much quicker.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The ticket machines for the tram are so cumbersome that if the tram is approaching the stop you've already missed it, whilst scanning the QR code would be much quicker.
This.
Also there's only 1 machine per platform, so if there are people ahead of you, again you'll miss it.
Being able to use a card is great, but it's still slow. And then there's the paywave / tap and pay which doesn't work, even though the logo is on the front of the machine and what looks like a reader area.
Oh and why does it ask your destination for a flat fare ticket (airport excluded) which you have to pick off a wee touch screen that you can't read in glare, and then prints you a ticket without the destination regardless? It should have 2 options - "Airport" / "Not Airport" by default and "other options" e.g. day tickets hidden away elsewhere.
Oh and while we're on the subject, the rain gets into the ticket trough and you get a wet ticket, or when you open the flap to retrieve your ticket it blows away...
A thoroughly useless user experience.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I have never had a problem getting a tram ticket. But then I don't go looking for problems, just drop the money in the slot and take a ticket. Must take about 3 seconds.....
Posted 9 years ago # -
First time you miss the tram because there is a dittery old lady trying to work out if its better to buy a ticket to Murrayfield or Haymarket you'll not be looking for problems you'll be just as annoyed by poor implementation of a pointlessly complex UI.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The only time I went on the tram I used a day ticket which I bought on the bus. Easier than dealing with machines.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"because there is a dittery old lady trying to work out if its better to buy a ticket to Murrayfield or Haymarket "
Lets ignore that the comment is fairly patronising to two sections of society, but if said tram user is a pensioner, I would probably tell her she doesnt need a ticket as her free bus pass is valid.
At least thats what my dittery old mum and dad have told me............
I am also unsure that QR code scanning or other types of new fangled stuff works any easier than a ticket machine for older people.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Fair enough, confused tourist (this one doesn't even speak very good English or Spanish or German)...
Don't travel pass users still have to tap their card before they travel as the bus pass users do?
I am also unsure that QR code scanning or other types of new fangled stuff works any easier than a ticket machine for older people.
My dad has no problem with contactless or QR codes... But the less people who have to use the single cumbersome ticket machine the lesser the queue or panic as the tram arrives.
Lets ignore that the comment is fairly patronising to two sections of society, but if said tram user is a pensioner, I would probably tell her she doesnt need a ticket as her free bus pass is valid.
And just for the record that wasn't (just) a patronising comment but actual user experience of an older person trying to navigate an unnecessarily cumbersome UI. I just never thought to say the tram was free with her pensioners pass, it was very much precoffee and I had other stuff on my mind.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Perhaps she was from outside town. Isn't it only Edinburgh council residents who get it free?
Posted 9 years ago # -
First time you miss the tram because there is a dittery old lady trying to work out if its better to buy a ticket to Murrayfield or Haymarket
Hey, I'm a dittery young(ish) chap and I missed the tram the first time I tried it!
But then I don't go looking for problems, just drop the money in the slot and take a ticket.
I don't look for them either, but if you can direct me to the machine into which you actually just pop £1.50 and the ticket comes out, I may be less grumblesome.
Once you are more familiar with the user experience I'm sure it speeds up, but the first couple of times I've use it I found it needlessly laborious. There's a good reason that it's time efficient to just get on the Lothian Bus and pop your £1.50 flat fare in the hopper - the driver isn't scrolling through a list of destinations on a tiny screen (or inputting codes off a route sheet) and trying to work out what your fare is. I don't think it's asking for too much for a big red button on the tram ticket machine welcome screen that says "£1.50 single". Think of all the seconds it would save and all the missed journeys it would avoid. Seconds. Vital seconds!
Posted 9 years ago #
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