asdf wrote:
On 19 Oct 2006 16:22:53 -0700, Mizter T wrote:
First time I've ever heard that - are you sure? A £5 minimum balance
on an Oyster card would be very unpopular (and possibly lacking in
proper legal backing) - which is why I find such a move somewhat
unlikely.
Again been sitting here bored and found some more info on this. The
current Fares and Tickets leaflet clearly states what changes are
coming and can be found here
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...ares-2006..pdf
Specifically on pages 2 and 3 - "Failure to touch in and out correctly
will result in a penalty fare."
AND "when you touch in at the start of your journey a charge of up to
£5 will be deducted from your balance. When you touch out at the end
of your journey the charge will be adjusted so that you only pay the
correct Oyster single fare for your journey. If you fail to touch in
and touch out the charge will be applied to your card and the journey
will not count towards your daily cap." Hence the £5 minimum top up.
This is probably referring to the £5 deducted when you touch in at the
NR gatelines at Marylebone, Euston, Liverpool Street, and Fenchurch
Street. This has been in place for around a year.
This wording is new to the September 2006 Fares booklet - to my eyes it
appears to cover both the already implemented £5 charge for
incompleted (i.e. unresolved) journeys that involve passing through
gatelines at NR termini *and* the new £4 charge that will be applied
across the rest of the network from November 19.
Indeed - but it's probably not referring to any £5 minimum PAYG
balance, which was my point.
In that case I agree with your point absolutely. To be blunt the whole
notion of Oyster card holders being required to maintain a £5 minimum
PAYG balance is something that I don't find at all credible whatsoever.
I think that somewhere along the line the upcoming changes (i.e. the
£4 charge for unresolved journeys) have been misconstrued, and after a
round of chinese-whispers what emerged was this new £5 minimum
balance "rule". It's just not going to happen though, for so many
reasons.