30 Jan 2015

Merseytravel's Walrus Card: What's the point?

I'm a frequent public transport user. I tend to travel off peak and at irregular times so I generally buy a Saveaway. It's flexible (buses and trains) and reasonably priced by today's (inflated) standards.

Recently, Merseytravel introduced the Walrus card. It's being trialled in Wirral before a planned roll out across Merseyside. It was dubbed an Oyster card for Merseyside. This sounded great as the Oyster card is really flexible. You load up your card in advance and travel when you need to so no need to queue at the station and fret about missing your train.

Only Walrus isn't like that. You have to load the card on the day you travel. And, it's quite slow to load based on the experience at my local newsagent.

Previously you could buy Saveaways in advance, scratch them off on the day of use and off you go. I always kept a stash at home and never had to worry about buying a  ticket on the day.

So what's the point of the Walrus card? My newsagent reports a huge dive in sales of Saveaways since Walrus was introduced.

We all want public transport to be as flexible as possible. At the moment Walrus is a real step backwards in flexibility as it doesn't allow purchase before the day of travel.

Hopefully Merseytravel are working on this. Otherwise sales of Saveaways are likely to fall and fewer people will be using public transport.

19 Jan 2015

More security tagging dates

British Transport Police have contacted me about some more sessions for
people to get their phones, bicycles etc. registered. Details below
including several at Conway Park station. This is a really practical way
to help fight crime and assist victims whose items are subsequently
recovered.

09/02/2015 Starting 1700 – 1900 hours at Rock Ferry

13/02/2015 Starting 1600 – 1900 hours at Hooton

14/02/2015 Starting 1000 - 1200 hours at Hooton

22/02/2015 Starting 1000 - 1200 hours at West Kirby

28/02/2015 Starting 1300 – 1600 hours at Conway Park

08/03/2015 Starting 1600 - 1900 hours at Wallasey Grove Road

21/03/2015 Starting 0900 – 1200 hours at Conway Park

02/04/2015 Starting 0830 – 1130 hours at Conway Park