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When booking on websites for Smartcard fulfilment, there's the additional issue of how the ticket will be delivered to the smartcard. The options seem to be load to smartcard via app (in which case you might as well have used the app for the whole process), or load at gateline. But with load at...

Just tried it again using the Southwestern website, and this time I did get Smartcard as a fulfilment option. The first time I did it I wasn't logged in, so I guess the system didn't know I had one. To get an Anytime Return I had to go to Other Fares, then I think still had to select trains...

I was able to select an Anytime Return for this journey with Deliver to Smartcard on the app though I did have to go through the charade of selecting specific trains. Obviously with this ticket type you don't then have to travel on these trains. With the website on my laptop, however, it was...

I believe it's classed as the geographical centre of London and of course it is home to a rail terminus. But in reality it's just one place among many in a larger area that constitutes central London, so wouldn't be particularly useful as a bus terminal. That said, nearby Trafalgar Square used...

I'd say London is very different in this regard to other UK cities, simply due to its size, and the fact that even what can be thought of as central London is not really one place, but a number of different areas all with different purposes. So there is no one place that could serve as a useful...

I must admit I was under the impression Oyster readers at NR stations could now read ITSO cards. Certainly the gateline Oyster readers at Epsom can read ITSO. So I was surprised at GTR only having the facility to load to smartcard from ticket machines outside the Oyster area. I realise that...

GTR is certainly an outlier on this, at least locally. I heard that GTR singles and returns can be purchased and loaded to a smartcard using a ticket machine but only on machines located "outside the London area". Can anyone confirm this, and if it's correct what is meant by "the London area"...

This looks great. I always feel irritated having to select specific trains whilst knowing I can travel on any train that meets the ticket conditions. Is it possible to load a ticket to a smartcard? Would that work by selecting Ticket on Departure?

It just seems ridiculous that in the course of the 3 minute journey from Ewell East (Zone 6) to Epsom you can jump 4 zones.

Regarding tramlink to Sutton, this has been mentioned pretty much since the trams started in Croydon, so over 25 years. I travel a fair bit between Croydon and Sutton off-peak and the current four trains per hour are usually fairly empty, even those with only 4/5 carriages. Unless my memory...

I had a situation this week where, having specified the station I wanted to collect, the TVMs at that station both said the ticket couldn't be found. Yet I was able to collect it about three hours later at a completely different station. The ticket had been booked a few days before, so it can't...

Talking of Starbucks, I hear that Costa is now taking over 26 Starbucks branches within Cineworld cinemas. Given the current state of the two coffee chains I'm not sure if that's an upgrade or a downgrade!

Just to follow up on this, I have received a reply from c2c but to be honest it was inconclusive. I can only assume it was down to either a blip in the app (which they would probably never admit to) or an error on my part. I've since booked a few more tickets on c2c without issue - all expected...

Starbucks seems to have gone out of its way to alienate customers in recent years by not taking cash, and taking various political stances. Added to that they traditionally had the most expensive, yet the weakest coffee, so all in all they don't tick too many boxes.

Haha - I think that would truly be the end of Costa!

I think Costa pushed the franchise model way too far, and give their franchisees way too much autonomy and as you say this is responsible for the frustrating variations between branches. I guess at the time franchising was seen as an easy way to expand, but I think they're paying the price now...

One thing I have noticed in the past few years with Premier Inn is you do have to watch for parking charges. I booked the same PI last Christmas at Portsmouth North Harbour that I'd used the Christmas before. There were no parking charges on my first visit, so didn't check closely when booking...

Pret's filter coffee is a very good deal, but it always seems uncertain whether a particular branch will offer it. I guess it requires an extra piece of equipment, so you'd think all larger branches would do it, but they don't. I've not tried any of the smaller, take-away only branches as I...

Drinks in pubs. It's insane to be paying best part of (or even all of) a tenner for a pint.