In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On 9 Nov, 13:10, wrote:

In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at
10:22:32 on Sat, 8 Nov 2008, Paul Corfield
remarked:

irregular travellers and tourists may struggle

Talking of which, I went through T123 Underground station earlier
today, and the automatic barriers were taped off, with everyone
having to take a scenic tour of the booking office to get to the
escalators. It wasn't clear why, and the station employee I asked
looked at me as if was talking Swahili.

The thing that may have confused "irregular users and tourists" was
the lack of an obvious Oyster ad to touch in. It was recommended we
lean over the tape and use one of the pads on the inoperative gates.

Yes, I saw that yesterday when meeting my brother on his way through
London overnight at our mothers on his way from India back home to
the US.

Our mother has had to give up driving so we were using the tube to
meet him for the first time for many years. She has a freedom Pass of
course and I had a day travelcard as I was in London for other
purposes earlier in the day.

I got my brother an Oyster card (£1 to Zone 2 instead of £4 cash
fare) at the ticket office then realised when we reached the platform
that there was no Oyster reader anywhere near the route from ticket
office to platform and had to dash back upstairs for him to touch it
in. No apologies for the confusion from staff at all.

This sounds like it's a thoroughly silly situation and will be causing
lots of angst to lots of passengers be they irregular visitors to
London or even regular travellers. Might I suggest you make a quick
complaint - it won't take a moment and might ensure that the higher
echelons of LU management become aware if this issue and ensure that
in future it is properly addressed, for example Oyster readers are
placed in an obvious location for the period of the works.

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/tube/default.asp

Done. You too, Roland?

Oyster is just what my brother and sister-in-law need as each can use
it when in London (they are rarely there together).

The only snag is how to get auto-top-up. I'm not sure someone can have
an online account without a UK address and the need for travel is
probably too low to justify £20 top-ups (the reason why I don't use
auto-top-up). The convenience might outweigh that for international
travellers like them, though. They also need to be sure which tube
station they will hit first after setting it up. Probably Heathrow
Terminals 123 but not certain at this range. I think they never
need to visit the particular tube station again.

I'm curious as to why you've come to the conclusion that your low
usage means that you cannot justify enabling auto-topup?

Because the minimum of £20 top-up represents several years' usage! I've
spent less than a tenner on pre-pay so far this year. Yesterday was the
first time I've even bought a day travelcard (from Cambridge) for some
time. I mostly cycle in London these days, or occasionally get SWT from
Vauxhall to Putney.

Erm, sorry offhand I can't remember what the deal is with regards to
Oyster, auto-topup and users with a non-UK address.

I did a bit more digging and you have to have a UK postcode and phone
number for an account. Didn't get to look at auto-top-up specifically.

It's a pity you can't just add PAYG credit online.

Problem being that every single Oyster reader at every Tube station
(and indeed mainline rail station where Oyster PAYG is accepted) would
need to hold a complete list of all Oyster cards on which a top-up (or
new season Travelcard) was pending - and that's without even even
considering buses! Perhaps this will be possible one day, but not at
present - the technology simply could not deal with that!

Yes, I understand that but for people who don;t live near a tube station,
that presents a number of problems in using Oyster, some of which have
been discussed here.

--
Colin Rosenstiel