Oyster reader yellow covers to be replaced with Google Logos

Just so I'm clear..... "contactless" is the same as "touchcard"? Has the little symbol of four curved lines? IME the card have to actually touch/contact the reader to work (same for a mobile with NFC, it's the "near" in Near Field Comm.).

Another case of calling long-wave light "blue" and hoping people buy it.

'Cars' goes back to Yerkes days.

Likewise "trucks" for bogies.

"Articulated" simply means "jointed", a description which is met by any train made up of more than one vehicle (or even a single vehicle mounted on bogies). However, in a railway sense it does usually mean an arrangement in which wheelsets are shared between vehicles - examples are as diverse as Gresley's "quad art" sets, most modern trams, the DLR units, "Cartic" car-transporting wagons, and the original Eurostar units. The ability to walk between vehicles may, or may not, be a feature of such arrangements. (Gresley's Quad-Art and Quint Art sets were non-corridor compartment stock). In some systems such as the DLR and Croydon Tramlink, the entire unit is seen as one vehicle which bends in the middle, in others the individual bodies are considered to be separate and each have their own number (e.g Eurostar, Greater Anglia's "FLIRT" units)

The term "articulation" is also used for steam locomotives with two or more coupled wheelsets able to pivot relative to each other (e.g. Mallets, Garrets, Fairlies). Although most modern diesel and electric locomotives have a similar arrangement to that of a Fairlie, they are not normally described as articulated.

That says it all.

I've no problem with the above seat advertising, or normal paper poster ads around stations. I winced a bit when stickers appeared on gate paddles and flat screen panels (do we really need to voluntarily consume more power and generate more heat underground?), and grimaced when stations and some roundels were temporarily branded.

My first reaction when I came across this thread this morning was to check the date (to check that I'd not overslept by a few weeks and woke up on April 1st.

Payment is an integral part of accessing the transport network, and whilst multiple payment options are always welcome, the choice of which to use should be up to the consumer, with no hidden strings attached (other than charges/caps etc where the technicalities of a method dictate or allow this)

I've worked with IT and technology for around 45 years, and lean towards working with information security. Nothing is totally secure these days and there is far more covert commercial tracking than the average person on the street realises. I'm trying to stay away from talking about brands here but I must briefly make two mentions and a third comment. Firstly, based on my own deep knowledge, on Security grounds, the only contactless consumer device payment system I'd use is of the fruity brand (a number of technical reasons to say this, but this thread is not the place). Secondly, I'll not contribute payment and location history to the google data mines. Thirdly - Oyster does not involve having no option but to wave an expensive device or payment card around in a public place at a particular instant (and it actually processes an instant faster at the gate). I still use an Oyster card so that I can keep my bank cards securely zipped up inside my jacket and am in control of where I reveal my tech.

The present generation is happy to trade security for convenience. Madness!

I too only use Oyster. No bank cards and no expensive hand held computers for all to see.

Have a bank card stolen and for a few hours someone else could go shopping at yours (or the bank's) expense! Even if the bank does pick up the tab its still a hassle to sort it all out - and ends up being paid for by everyone who pays bank account fees.

I suppose that I could, if I had no other choice, use a wristband type device or a small portable key fob reader that has been placed inside a pocket. Almost certainly I would have done this with Oystercards had such an option been available - it exists in Hong Kong, why not London too? Yes I know we have bPay devices like this but they still create an 'easy access' route to a bank account.

I have a jacket that includes a small zipped pocket at the end of one of its sleeves and sometimes I place my Oystercard in that. Revenue inspectors don't like this and always insist on seeing the card.


Ah, the late Paul Corfield would almost certainly have commented on my message.

I’m sure the rollout of the Google labels was halted before completion due to the current crisis.

Much advertising on the Underground has remained intact from early-March, therefore there are theatre productions, cinema releases, sporting events all trapped in time as they haven’t been changed.

Application of the Google labels resumed at stations yesterday.

I saw some GPay touchpads yesterday - the only two central London stations which I used yesterday were Holborn and Great Portland Street, so it much have been at one or both of these.

I was out again today, being taken 'all around the houses' at Kings Cross (some exits were closed) and Oxford Circus. I think it was at the latter that I saw these, and as a reprise to what I saw in early March (this year) I also saw an advert for McDonalds on the ticket gate - to be pedantic it was on the body of the gate machinery and beyond the paddles which open if one has a valid ticket / smartcard / whatever.

I do not know if this is a fresh deal with a different financial package, or the same deal resuscitated from hibernation. Either way, whilst the funds would have been 'much needed' back earlier this year I can only imagine that they will be 'even more welcome' today. The word 'lifeline' comes to mind. 

wow, its taken a long time to apply them everywhere!