On Sat, 13 May 2006 09:16 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Richard J.) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Richard J.) wrote:

Do you wait until you've completely run out of cash before looking
around for an ATM? At least with Oyster, you have the option of
an auto top-up if forward planning is so difficult for you.

AIUI you only have the auto or web top-up option if you use a single
regular tube station. Lots of people don't do that.

You need to use the Tube or DLR for the auto top-up to work, as it
won't top up on a bus or tram. AFAIK it will work at any Tube or DLR
station. I think I had to specify the station where Auto Top-Up would
be registered on my Oyster, but that was just an initial set-up
requirement.

Not what's been said here. Not that auto-top-up would work for a user as
irregular as me.

Auto top up is driven by the level of remaining balance not location so
it would work for occasional users as well as regular ones. In fact you
could argue it is more beneficial for occasional users as it removes the
need to consider specially searching a ticket window or machine. This is
a quote from the Oyster website.

"You can set up an Auto top-up account online so that whenever the
balance for pay as you go on your Oyster card falls below £5, it is
topped up automatically. This can only be done at Tube and DLR stations.
Auto top-up is not currently available on buses. "

I understand auto top up on bus is being developed which will be a good
thing as a current scam seems to be to have a card with no value and
then plead with the driver to be allowed to travel.

For Travelcard auto reloading the situation is as follows :-

"Please note, you can only renew your Travelcard or top up your Oyster
card online or by phone if you are able to collect it from a Tube or DLR
station. You will need to nominate which Tube or DLR station you want to
collect it from. Place your order before 2300 and you can pick it up the
following morning. Simply touch your Oyster card on the card reader (not
the ticket machines at Tube stations) and your order will be added to
your Oyster card. "
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Richard J. wrote:
MIG wrote:
TKD wrote:
"MIG" wrote in message
oups.com...

TKD wrote:
If you live in one of the many places in London (particularly
south) where there are NR stations and local shops can't top
up Oyster, you have little choice but to get a paper season
ticket. You might have an Oyster which you put prepay on
when you get the chance, near work in central London say, but
you wouldn't be able to put your travelcard on it on the
morning when you needed to renew.

Why not? Assuming you live within the Travelcard Area, there's
nothing to stop you from getting a Weekly or longer Travelcard
on Oyster and renewing it in advance (as your Oyster has three
slots for Season Tickets).

I live in Edmonton, North London. My nearest Underground
stations are Turnpike Lane - Southgate (inclusive) on the
Piccadilly Line or Seven Sisters on the Victoria Line.
Admittedly, I do have several Oyster ."Ticket Stops" nearby,
but I opt to renew my Monthly at a convenient Underground
Station about a week before it runs out. Problem solved.

I was in Twickenham recently, and could not find anywhere that
could top up an Oyster.

Your lack of planning is no ones fault but your own. A quick
visit or call to TfL and you would have discovered there are
loads of places to top up in Twickenham.
[list of 17 agents snipped]

How does one "visit TfL" when trying to catch a bus in the
evening?

WAP? PDA? or maybe have some forward thinging and sort it before
your balance got too low?

Are you really sure that these places all top up Oyster? I tried
a number of Ticket Stops in the centre of Twickenham, not
realising till then that Ticket Stops in that part of the world
don't have Oyster equipment.

Rubbish. There are ticket stops with Oyster equipment all over
Greater London and beyond. This website clearly shows which offer
paper and which offer Oyster:
http://www.tfl-ticketlocator.co.uk

Most of these would be a bus ride from where I was. How is this
making my life more convenient?

It isn't supposed to idiot proof your life. Its your responsiblity
to keep your balance topped up if you do not want to have auto top
up enabled.

What a bizarre response. I wanted to catch a bus in Twickenham and
bleedin obviously did not have access to the Web.

Situation: decide at short notice to travel somewhere by bus (and
why should I plan this days in advance?), knowing that there are
ticket stops, go to ticket stop near bus stop and ask for Oyster,
discover that there is such a thing as a ticket stop without
Oyster, walk down high street trying other ticket stops for Oyster,
with no success, and end up getting a paper bus pass.

Why do you imply that this situation involves idiocy? All I said in
the first place was that I was in Twickenham recently and couldn't
find anywhere that could top up an Oyster. I then get lectured on
forward planning.

Do you wait until you've completely run out of cash before looking
around for an ATM? At least with Oyster, you have the option of an
auto top-up if forward planning is so difficult for you.


I will recap on the correspondence.

I said "I was in Twickenham recently, and could not find anywhere that
could
top up an Oyster."

This is a simple statement. I did not say anything about running out
of credit (whether I had or not). I might well have been trying to top
up for a journey four weeks ahead. I might not even have had an
Oyster, but been doing research.

TKD then replied "Your lack of planning is no ones fault but your own.
A quick visit or call to TfL and you would have discovered there are
loads of places to top up in
Twickenham."

This makes wild assumptions, accuses me of "fault", and then suggests
doing something that's impossible if one is walking around Twickenham.

So lets forget the pointless attempts at criticising my lifestyle and
stick to the statement that I WAS in Twickenham and I COULD NOT find
anywhere that could top up Oyster. Why I was there and how much credit
I had and what is or isn't difficult for me is no one's business
(although I've told you since).

(Incidentally, forward planning is not difficult for me, but I am not
so bizarrely uptight that casual bus rides in the evening are something
I actually forward plan for days ahead.)

On 13 May 2006 03:52:22 -0700, MIG wrote:

So lets forget the pointless attempts at criticising my lifestyle and
stick to the statement that I WAS in Twickenham and I COULD NOT find
anywhere that could top up Oyster. Why I was there and how much credit
I had and what is or isn't difficult for me is no one's business
(although I've told you since).

(Incidentally, forward planning is not difficult for me, but I am not
so bizarrely uptight that casual bus rides in the evening are something
I actually forward plan for days ahead.)

For future reference, most bus stops have a map displayed showing the
Ticket Stops in the local area. These maps differentiate between those
that sell Oyster and those that don't.

In message .com, MIG
writes
I will recap on the correspondence.

I said "I was in Twickenham recently, and could not find anywhere that
could top up an Oyster."

This is a simple statement. I did not say anything about running out
of credit (whether I had or not). I might well have been trying to top
up for a journey four weeks ahead. I might not even have had an
Oyster, but been doing research.

The list of places provided earlier in this thread demonstrated that
there are a lot of places in Twickenham to top up Oyster. So it would
be unlikely that there was no where available.

That you could not find anywhere would depend on which part of
Twickenham you were in, how much effort you actually made (which you
didn't specify) and what time of day it was. I guess it depends on the
assumptions you were making - readers can't read your mind and are
entitled to make their own conclusions based on the information
available; no need to take offence, just correct the assumptions if
wrong.

Re. that you couldn't find anywhere, I can offer the following advice:
Open your eyes and take a good look around you (this may require minimal
effort); if this yields poor results ask passers by.

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

Auto top up is driven by the level of remaining balance not location
so it would work for occasional users as well as regular ones. In fact
you could argue it is more beneficial for occasional users as it
removes the need to consider specially searching a ticket window or
machine. This is a quote from the Oyster website.

"You can set up an Auto top-up account online so that whenever the
balance for pay as you go on your Oyster card falls below £5, it is
topped up automatically. This can only be done at Tube and DLR
stations. Auto top-up is not currently available on buses. "

My current Oyster balance is 10p. It could be months before I need it
again. it's never had a balance of more than about a fiver.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

asdf wrote:

On 13 May 2006 03:52:22 -0700, MIG wrote:

So lets forget the pointless attempts at criticising my lifestyle and
stick to the statement that I WAS in Twickenham and I COULD NOT find
anywhere that could top up Oyster. Why I was there and how much credit
I had and what is or isn't difficult for me is no one's business
(although I've told you since).

(Incidentally, forward planning is not difficult for me, but I am not
so bizarrely uptight that casual bus rides in the evening are something
I actually forward plan for days ahead.)

For future reference, most bus stops have a map displayed showing the
Ticket Stops in the local area. These maps differentiate between those
that sell Oyster and those that don't.


I had never noticed that (and hadn't realised they didn't all do
Oyster). This is rather helpful, thank you.

I don't use Oyster on buses very often, but when I do this is something
I'll need to check (eg after a holiday when travelcard has expired).

Paul G wrote:

In message .com, MIG
writes
I will recap on the correspondence.

I said "I was in Twickenham recently, and could not find anywhere that
could top up an Oyster."

This is a simple statement. I did not say anything about running out
of credit (whether I had or not). I might well have been trying to top
up for a journey four weeks ahead. I might not even have had an
Oyster, but been doing research.

The list of places provided earlier in this thread demonstrated that
there are a lot of places in Twickenham to top up Oyster. So it would
be unlikely that there was no where available.

That you could not find anywhere would depend on which part of
Twickenham you were in, how much effort you actually made (which you
didn't specify) and what time of day it was. I guess it depends on the
assumptions you were making - readers can't read your mind and are
entitled to make their own conclusions based on the information
available; no need to take offence, just correct the assumptions if
wrong.

Re. that you couldn't find anywhere, I can offer the following advice:
Open your eyes and take a good look around you (this may require minimal
effort); if this yields poor results ask passers by.


Given that I am not still stuck in Twickenham, I don't need any advice.
I certainly didn't ask for any. And given that the unsolicited
"advice" given so far has mostly been smug, patronising, offensive and
totally irrelevant, I'd probably still be there if I did.

Of course I just sat down with my eyes shut and didn't say a word to
anyone. How come my Oyster wasn't topped up? It's an outrage.

This isn't to say that this group isn't full of members who go out of
their way to give full, accurate and very helpful responses to
questions. ASDF's recent contribution to this thread will be useful to
me in dealing with a situation that I didn't know about (ie ticket
stops not selling the full range).

But I didn't ask for advice; I made a simple statement about being in
Twickenham which a few people have decided to censor by ridicule. I
can't guess at the motive, but it's obviously important to them.