Great Western Coffee Shop

In the news today.

Smartcard extended to rail route 
 
First Great Western passengers will be charged same as zonal Tube fares 

Commuters within London travelling on First Great Western (FGW) trains will be able to use pay-as-you-go Oyster cards from September.

Announcing the deal Mayor Boris Johnson said he will discuss rolling out the card on mainline routes with the heads of other train firms before the summer.

From September passengers travelling from West Drayton and Greenford into Paddington can use pay-as-you-go fares.

The fares will be the same as the zone charges for London Underground.

The electronic Oyster cards are used across the city on the Tube, buses, trams and the Docklands Light Railway network.

Passengers can currently use Oyster cards only as a travel card - to cover fares for periods from one week to one year, for travel to London destinations including overground stations.

Speeding up journeys

Mr Johnson said: "This is excellent news for thousands of FGW passengers and takes us a step closer to making Oyster the only ticket you'll need to travel in London.

"TfL is investing ^40m in new Oyster equipment and we will be working with the train operating companies to agree their deals and open up Oyster for all Londoners.

London's transport commissioner Peter Hendy said: "With 17m cards issued since its introduction, Oyster has been a huge success in speeding up journeys and cutting down on queues on the Tube, buses and national rail."

FGW chief operating officer Andrew Haines said: "This is good news for our Greater London customers, who will now be able to use Oyster facilities throughout their journey."

Oyster cards will be accepted at West Drayton, Hayes & Harlington, Southall, Hanwell, West Ealing, Acton Main Line, South Greenford, Castle Bar Park and Drayton Green stations on the mainline route.
 

Transport for London wants to replace the Oyster travelcard with new mobile phone or bankcard-based ticketing systems (link below.)
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/16/20081022/ttc-oyster-card-could-be-set-to-disappea-6315470.html

I must confess, I've had one of the Barclaycard OnePulse cards (a Visa card with Oyster incorporated) for over a year now, and I'd never go back to the plain Oyster card I had before that. It's just so convenient, and (to date at least) has proven to be fault-free.

Yes I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that the Oyster name belongs to the currant provider who want a large sum of money to allow TFL to keep the name after they lose the contract next year !

According to Transport for London, there has been a 75 per cent increase in local Oyster Ticket Stops, with almost 3,800 outlets now open across London (link below.)
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/10218.aspx

That's raisin enough for me. ;D