Oysters on the Thames

The Thames river bus service, The Thames Clipper – which zooms past my flat on a very regular basis – has announced that it is to start accepting Oyster PrePay cards from November.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/11479.aspx

Still to be confirmed is whether the total cost will be charged to the PrePay card, or if the existance of a PrePay card will simply allow passengers to claim the “Travelcard holders” discount on the fare which is then paid in cash.

I had slightly given up using the Thames Clipper as I no longer have a monthly travelcard and couldn’t claim the discount. Paying £5 for a trip felt a lot worse than the discounted £3.35 I used to pay.

The boats are a lot, lot nicer than the tube and the seats are more reminsant of travelling on a nice aircraft than on a form of mass public transport. Also, my snobbish side also quite liked getting on board and asking for a ticket “to the Savoy please” 😉

It would have been nice to have had this ready for the summer months though, as that is undeniably the most pleasurable time to take the boat into the West End at weekends.