OYSTER CARD D-Day has been announced for the 2 January 2010, a historic date for travellers when the smart card will be eligible for all London overground rail trips as well as underground and bus journeys and now the authorities have sorted out London, they’re planning to extend the idea to the rest of the country.
Popular on LondonNet
“Oyster pay-as-you-go will transform travel in London as for the first time passengers will be able to switch between underground and all overground rail services,” said Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.
“But we must not stop there. I want to see smart ticketing on all modes of public transport in England as quickly as possible.”
Boris Johnson joined in the celebrations, but while Adonis was looking at the track ahead, the mayor was in the guards’ van, casting a weary eye back on the years and years of negotiations that precede today’s announcement.
“After much gnashing of Londoners’ teeth we can finally announce the Oysterisation of all London’s rail services,” said London’s mayor.
“We’ve finally ended the crackers situation of Londoners not being able to use Oyster on every mile of London’s track.”
As a bonus, Johnson revealed that Thames Clipper boats would accept Oyster cards from today, with a 10% fare reduction thrown in.
The slight drawback of the new scheme is that the zones used by Transport for London for Tubes will be different from the zones used by the National Rail companies, which has a knock on effect for fares: they will cost you extra if you use both Tube and train and might be tricky to work out.
On the plus side, the Oyster Card machines will be able to tot up the price within a split second.
