Peter Frimberley wrote:

They did announce a new type of ticket machine a few weeks ago that
will fit into many of these spaces. You expect them to do it
overnight?

Call me mad, but I would personally consider it essential to have all
required infrastructure in place before launching a new ticketing
system, and *certainly* before raising prices on the old system to an
effective penalty rate.

TfL have not done this.

Why don't you just register for auto-topup and avoid the problem
altogether?

Others have stated good reasons why not.

Neil