Scum-Watch - Rip Off Tube Fares
Quick one as I know some people like to poke holes in stories coming from the Sun (prop. R. Murdoch, 24th member of Cabinet, employer of David Blunkett, supporter of neocons, Blair and Iraq). This story came out a couple of days ago after non-Oystercard Tube fares were raised in London. It's full of specious maths - taking the shortest Tube journey with the most expensive ticket and trying to extrapolate this to the whole network, that sort of thing. However, that's par for the course for the Sun. What really made me chuckle was this:
Now, as anyone vaguely familiar with the London tube network, or indeed any tourist who needs to go to Covent Garden knows, the station there has lifts but no escalators, so the Sun hack involved, Caroline Iggulden, is either filing from her desk or has got the name of the station wrong and was going from Leicester Square to Covent Garden. The article header shows her holding a ticket dated 03/07/2007 with COVENT GDN written on it. I think, correct me if I'm wrong here, since I've been using Oyster for ages now, that the station written on the ticket is where you bought it. So I conclude that the article is a crock of shit and she didn't go anywhere near Covent Garden, or if she did she wasn't paying any attention, which rather calls into question the colourful parts of the rest of the story.
As for things out here in the suburbs, it costs £1 to go to Heathrow off-peak using Oyster. That's about 9 miles. Hey, it fills up the paper. They might have to report on Iraq otherwise.
At today's Liverpool v
At today's Liverpool v Arsenal game the Sun, and in particular Kelvin Mackenzie got his come uppance.
it's not just non oyster
it's not just non oyster fares though. if you forget to flash your oyster card now you get fined the maximum fare.
here's an example how you can "forget". i get on the tube at angel and im going to camden town. its sunday. the ticket barriers are open and not in use because of crushes at the station. i then walk to mornington crescent because camden town is shut to people coming in because of the crowds so i can get back to angel again. i get a penalty fare because i have not touched out at camden :) where i live it's cheaper for my girlfriend and i to take a cab to camden and back than both get a maximum penalty fare plus the returning fares coming back.
another example. i take the DLR from bank to a DLR station in east london (eg poplar). i then walk to canary wharf and use the jubilee line to go back. again i havent touched out and yet i get a penalty fare from a system that has no way of touching out with!
TFL are making a lot of £4 penalties by simply not having the system with 100% coverage all the time.
Based on your debunking I
Based on your debunking I think it's safe to assume the busker was actually a very in-tune Elvis Costello in thermals and she used the escalator by the grassy knoll.
I think you've got entirely
I think you've got entirely the wrong attitude towards the noble Rupert Murdoch and his estimable publications. Its dirty work, I know, not the sort of thing namby pamby limp wristed lefties would ever want to soil their pristine underpants with, but someone's got to lie for their country, and By God Murdoch's plucky journos get their heads down into the shit and suck it up and spew it out better than any other reptiles I knows. Hats off to you, you brave shit-covered lads and ladesses!
You work for him, Rudolph I
You work for him, Rudolph I mean, then?
Latest on the Worst Great
Latest on the Worst Great Western saga:
"According to Tony Miles Modern Railways correspondant, First Great Western were called in to the "Dft" on friday, possibly for a breach of Franchise warning which would see them lose the Great Western franchise"
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=109302#post109302
Would it be over-cynical of
Would it be over-cynical of me to suggest that this (presumably carefully leaked) event is part of an initial attempt to pin the whole thing on FGW's incompetent management and take the heat off the DfT? The blame is split between them, quite evidently - DfT for having the arrogance to micro-specify a timetable and resourcing for the franchise that involved extensive service cuts and FGW for agreeing to implement it.