Sunday 13 December 2009

Deptford news snippets

Updates on a few stories I've been following and links to some interesting reading on other local blogs:

Funding for a new station on Surrey Canal Road as part of the East London Line extension looks like it could be in place soon, reports the News Shopper.

Deptford Marmoset posted photos of some interesting holes in the ground on the Tidemill School redevelopment site.

Deptford Film Club has been awarded funding from the New Cross local assembly to cover the costs of film licensing and publicity for the first six months.

Andie has posted some excellent articles about the history of the Surrey Commercial Docks - the latest looking at the history of the ill-fated Surrey Canal.

And finally, don't forget that Oyster prepay is coming to a railway station near you from January 2nd. The intention is to make travel easier and cheaper for those people who don't travel regularly/don't have a season ticket. Whether or not it will, depends very much on your individual circumstances - you can use the single fare finder here to find out how much it's going to cost you. I also recommend that you read Darryl's post which tells you in as simple terms as possible the things that TFL/Southeastern Trains haven't thought necessary to communicate. Make sure you have a clear head when you go over there to read it though.

As an occasional train user myself, I look forward to not having to find change/struggle with Deptford station's frequently-out-of-order ticket machines, but I am very disappointed that off-peak returns using paper tickets are going to be scrapped. I have had a Network Card for years - you pay £20 for a card which is valid for 12 months (now hiked to £25 I notice) - and can get a third off off-peak travel. I suspect this means I have to queue up twice to buy reduced-rate tickets with my card for a return trip to town. So the benefit of using Oyster for peak journeys will be cancelled out by the inconvenience off-peak. *Sigh*

I'm also wondering how long it's going to be till Southeastern Trains intends to upgrade its ticket machines so that you can top up your Oyster card on them (considering the machines in Deptford are relatively new, I suggest it's going to be a long long time).

4 comments:

darryl said...

Charlton's ticket machine has had a reader applied with a bit of sticky-back plastic, so I imagine Deptford's is on its way.

John said...

St Johns already has the oyster thnigymajig on the ticket machine.

MyMetropole said...

The Oyster 'thingymajig' :-) is happening in 2010 as soon as the deals have all been signed by TFL, but word on the street is that this will be on by March.

south london solicitors said...

I have seen that one in Charlton - its hardly the appliance of science it looks like something from Blakes Seven!

Surely some software amendments and a card that works in all the machines is not too much to ask for southeast london and out lack of tubes it a must really