On Nov 24, 9:25*pm, "
wrote:

On 24/11/2010 07:49, Paul wrote:
[...]*If you use a Oyster card to make a PAYG journey on a
bus, does it show you the remaining balance just as it does on the
tube?

Yes.

Although not spectacularly clearly (the LCD display isn't backlit or
anything) - the advice of Mr Thant, formerly of this parish, was to
focus your eyes on the display before touching-in - alternatively my
advice is to get on the bus last, which gives you a bit more time to
look at the display. On bendy buses (and the 507 and 521 'Red Arrows')
it's easier as the Oyster reader devices have large and easy to view
screens.

One thing that was lost in shops (ahem, I mean 'Oyster Ticket Stops')
when the old Pass agent machines (which printed tickets) were
decommissioned in favour of the new Pearl devices was the ability for
customers to actually see a display of how much PAYG credit was on
their Oyster cards (plus also the type and expiry date of any season
ticket) - see:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/resources/corp...ter-card-3.jpg
or via http://tinyurl.com/old-Pass-Agent-terminal

Now if a customer wants to know this, shopkeepers have to read their
small display on their small EPOS type device and tell the customer
what it is verbally, which all takes a bit longer and also requires
the attention of the shopkeeper.