I drafted this post mid week and then it was a tirade at Boris for letting the side down and all going quiet on the Oyster front. But then low and behold, in Friday's Evening Standard, it turns out that we will be able to use Pay as You Go Oyster cards this year.
As Oyster cards were introduced in January 2004, it has taken quite some time for tfl to get the train companies to agree to use them in earnest. Although you can have your travelcard on Oyster, it is no use on PAYG. Currently I have a Zone 2&3 travelcard. I can get into town from work (Canary Wharf) using the tube and PAYG, but if I want to come home, it is the bus or queuing for a ticket at a station for the train.
To my mind, it is this - not being on the Oyster network, rather than not being on the tube network which holds back SE London. Sure, when I moved to London in the mid 90's I'd never have dreamt of living more than a 7 mins (not sure why 7) walk from the tube and I wouldn't have dreamt of living in one of the 'Outer Zones' which is what I thought of anything outside of Zone 2. But those days have gone. Young professionals live in Earlsfield and Tooting these days - the very thought of which would have made me faint in my 20s. And we should welcome them here also. But until PAYG comes in, I am struggling to get any of my older professional friends to even visit Forest Hill. Psychologically, having to get a train ticket at London Bridge is what you do when you go to the seaside, not pop over to a see a friend.
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