Transport for London gobbles up Oyster

Spare me the innovation

TfL have managed to turn a seriously simple to understand pricing structure for cards and per zone fares into one where you have to dig through their leaflets or site to find the price tables, rules and hidden catches (naturally attracting a finger-wagging 'penalty' charge) that cover each of the ever proliferating journey 'types'.

Take a train from a national Rail station outside your period travelcard zone and you have to microscopically examine an entirely new breed of bureaucratic weaselspeak to work out the hoop jumping required not to get nailed for a 6 quid odd 'naughty boy' fee.

But what really takes the piss is charging those of us who don't buy monthly/yearly travelcards the full whack at weekends, then shut down half the system for "investment works" or whatever new treacle coated term the lynx-scented pricks in the weaselspeak department have decided to call engineering works this week.

The only advantage of turning themselves into a bank would be to give us another clear and unequivocal reason to detest them. Perhaps they ought to stick to running a transport system to a reasonable standard and acceptable price, which ought to keep them busy for a century or so.