On Aug 12, 2:02*pm, Tom Anderson wrote:

Afternoon all,

Elsewhere, my spies report:

Do check your keys for use as I head that there are ghost riding the
bicycles when you are not.

Thanks for the tip off. *I appear to have cycled from Eccleston Place to
Belgrave Square on 10 Aug, before my key was even activated, whilst
being asleep in bed at home. *Hmm.

Anyone heard any more about this?

Yes, wel I've experienced it - a couple of 'ghost trips' appeared last
week when I logged in to the web account - this was particularly
interesting as my membership key *still* hasn't been delivered.

I was a bit worried that someone else might be using my key (e.g. if
it had been lost in the post, or sent to the wrong person) - however I
know one has to activate one's key online or by phone before it will
work, and furthermore in my account status summary it said the account
was still "awaiting activation", so I thought there being some sort of
glitch at their end was the most likely explanation (I did note that
the web account still showed my correct name and address in the
personal info section, rather than someone else's). I'm pretty sure I
logged out and then logged in a little bit later and found the the
'ghost trips' were still there.

I did then call up the Cycle Hire helpline to (a) ask where my key was
and (b) query these 'ghost trips' - the person I spoke to didn't
appear to have access to any account information, instead they tapped
out a summary of my problems, took my details (name, address, email
address) and said they'd send it over to customer services - and I
haven't heard anything since. One thing that may have messed things up
is that I gave them a different email address - the email address I
used when signing up was specific to the cycle hire account, but it's
a bit of a mouthful to say down the phone (and the CS person said they
had a very bad line, lots of crackle etc despite it being fine at my
end, so I didn't want to make a difficult call even worse).

I think I logged in either much later on that day or else on the next
day and found that the 'ghost trips' had vanished.

I've just tried to log in and found that it won't let me in (and I'm
sure I'm using the correct password). I'll leave it for a bit before
trying again. And of course I need to chase them up about my missing
key (again). As I said in another post, this might not be their fault
- our new postman seems to be a little undiscriminating about which
letterbox on his round he posts his letters in...

On 12/08/10 16:37, Mizter T wrote:

Yes, wel I've experienced it - a couple of 'ghost trips' appeared last
week when I logged in to the web account - this was particularly
interesting as my membership key *still* hasn't been delivered.

It seems a great shame they need to send you a new RFID device for use
with this. Surely the scheme should have been designed to use Oyster
Cards...?

-roy

On 15 Aug, 17:02, Roy Badami wrote:
On 12/08/10 16:37, Mizter T wrote:

Yes, wel I've experienced it - a couple of 'ghost trips' appeared last
week when I logged in to the web account - this was particularly
interesting as my membership key *still* hasn't been delivered.

It seems a great shame they need to send you a new RFID device for use
with this. *Surely the scheme should have been designed to use Oyster
Cards...?

Perhaps they are not secure enough for £1000 bicycles?
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...cle4184481.ece

In message mcU9o.38403$GW1.14027@hurricane, Roy Badami
writes

It seems a great shame they need to send you a new RFID device for use
with this. Surely the scheme should have been designed to use Oyster
Cards...?

Oyster cannot support the £300 charge made for lost or terminally
damaged bicycles.
--
Paul Terry

On 15/08/10 18:41, Paul Terry wrote:
In message mcU9o.38403$GW1.14027@hurricane, Roy Badami
writes

It seems a great shame they need to send you a new RFID device for use
with this. Surely the scheme should have been designed to use Oyster
Cards...?

Oyster cannot support the £300 charge made for lost or terminally
damaged bicycles.

And yet it can support an annual Travelcard that costs many times that
sum...

It's a pity that Oyster couldn't have been upgraded to have the
necessary capabilities...

-roy

In message Y8W9o.93300$6C1.13499@hurricane, Roy Badami
writes

On 15/08/10 18:41, Paul Terry wrote:

Oyster cannot support the £300 charge made for lost or terminally
damaged bicycles.

And yet it can support an annual Travelcard that costs many times that
sum...

But the travelcard has already been paid for - Oyster is simply acting
as a convenient medium for using the purchase.

In the case of a lost bicycle, TfL need to have a mechanism to initiate
a £300 payment.

It's a pity that Oyster couldn't have been upgraded to have the
necessary capabilities...

Well, I suppose TfL could insist that anyone using an Oyster for bicycle
hire must have at least £300 credit on their Oyster, but would that
really be attractive to anyone?
--
Paul Terry

On 15/08/10 19:35, Paul Terry wrote:

Well, I suppose TfL could insist that anyone using an Oyster for bicycle
hire must have at least £300 credit on their Oyster, but would that
really be attractive to anyone?

I'm not suggesting it should use Oyster prepay. I don't see why an
Oyster card couldn't carry a "bike scheme key" as a product loaded onto
it in exactly the same way as it handles other products. Payment could
be using whatever the bike scheme actually really does use (credit card
number on file, presumably?)

-roy

On 15/08/2010 19:39, Roy Badami wrote:
On 15/08/10 19:35, Paul Terry wrote:

Well, I suppose TfL could insist that anyone using an Oyster for bicycle
hire must have at least £300 credit on their Oyster, but would that
really be attractive to anyone?

I'm not suggesting it should use Oyster prepay. I don't see why an
Oyster card couldn't carry a "bike scheme key" as a product loaded onto
it in exactly the same way as it handles other products. Payment could
be using whatever the bike scheme actually really does use (credit card
number on file, presumably?)

-roy
That's what already happens with Oyster in some cases, such as if you go
below £5, in which case the Oyster automatically tops it up. Funds for
that will directly from your debit or credit card.

On 15/08/2010 19:15, Roy Badami wrote:
On 15/08/10 18:41, Paul Terry wrote:
In message mcU9o.38403$GW1.14027@hurricane, Roy Badami
writes

It seems a great shame they need to send you a new RFID device for use
with this. Surely the scheme should have been designed to use Oyster
Cards...?

Oyster cannot support the £300 charge made for lost or terminally
damaged bicycles.

And yet it can support an annual Travelcard that costs many times that
sum...

It's a pity that Oyster couldn't have been upgraded to have the
necessary capabilities...

-roy

Give it time, I imagine that this will eventually be the case.

In message MQW9o.46545$ss1.15033@hurricane, "
writes

On 15/08/2010 19:15, Roy Badami wrote:

It's a pity that Oyster couldn't have been upgraded to have the
necessary capabilities...

Give it time, I imagine that this will eventually be the case.

Given that TfL haven't included Oyster readers on the bike terminal
stations, I fear that it could be a very long time.
--
Paul Terry