I’ve talked about public transportation in England and how great it is, well it has always been good, even when I was a child and my grandmother and I would go to market. Back then I was enamored of the buses and trains the trams and coaches. No need for a car unless one lived in the wilds, but even then, a bus would pretty much get one anywhere.
During my childhood the public workers who manned the ticket booths were brilliant. To my mind they knew the comings and goings of every bus and train that ran in and around London. In addition they knew how to connect between the trains, buses and trams to effortlessly get me where I needed to be. What they didn’t have memorised they referred to on the printed schedules, a canny piece of paper that could be relied upon to get everyone from A to B at a specific time. Those rail schedules with attendant bus connections still exist today although I prefer the freedom of waiting around on platforms and under bus shelters until my knight in shining armour trundles by.
With the advent of the internet came more information. Special deals and passes appeared that have always been there only the thought to ask never occurred. For example, hubby gets a freedom pass which enables him to travel on a bus or a train in and around the first 5 zones for absolutely zilch, who’d’ve thought? We’re still teenagers at heart! My daughter gets a third off all train tickets by toting a card that states she is under twenty-five. The rest of us, I, pay full price unless I am smart enough to work out what is called an Oyster card which in essence is an intelligent pass that works out where I’ve been, how long I’ve been travelling and caps my costs at whatever daily pass rate I qualify for that day.
I use an Oyster card.
And as my cousin aptly observes,
“Travelling in England is such a complicated business these days there is really no working it out!” She’s right.
I understand enough to get me around today! I top up my card at a machine when I need to, anything less than two pounds will get me nowhere. Each time I enter a train station I have to touch my card to the Oyster reader, it shows me how much my initial journey is and my balance. Then I have to touch again at my destination, touch again if I’m continuing by tube, both in and out. Sometimes I notice I have been charged only 10 pence for a journey. I have yet to be charged nought.
Today I asked a question of one of the rail policemen. I was travelling by tram and needed to change trams and, like the bus, I only need to touch my card on boarding not on alighting. However I was changing trams and wondered if I needed to touch again?
“No,” he said, “there is an amount of time you are given to complete a journey. You only need to touch again if you exceed the 70 minutes allotted for your estimated time of arrival at your destination.”
How do they know where I am going? CCTV is far reaching here. This was new information about the intelligent Oyster card.
“If I continue by bus would I need to swipe my card again?” I asked, knowing there isn’t a bus driver in London who would permit me access to his bus without a swipe. He nodded. He knew his stuff!
“But,” he continued, “if you decide to go and have a cup of coffee during your journey you can swipe your card again and get an extra twenty minute,” really, he said ‘minute,’ “added to your allotted time and not be charged.”
How does the reader distinguish between a coffee break and a journey?
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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