What Mayor Ken and his henchmen at TfL don't realise is that they are not in their Animal Farm world of utopia where everyone has to travel the way they say they should. If I want to use public transport and am not "in the know" about Oyster cards it most certainly does not serve the cause if I am charged £4 for a quick tube journey, as the casual user would likely say "never again".

It is the increasing governmental way nowadays to charge huge sums to anybody who does not do as they want. Only today I have heard separate discussions about big fines if you don't put your rubbish out to spec, or if you want to own a car that is not of a politically correct type, or here if you don't use Oyster. There is no attempt to make things convenient or easy, only to hit you in the wallet if you don't follow the procedure.

Most journeys in London I do by car. It is far faster, more convenient and cheaper. The London public transport network is probably the most unreliable of all those round the world I have most experience of, in terms of delays and disruptions. And after any hiatus it takes them far longer to get back going again than elsewhere. Just bad (but overpaid) management.