Oyster cards on buses
 

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I
tries to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added
funds at a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

Help much appreciated

CC

Oyster cards on buses
 

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?

You have to go to a Tube station or Oyster Ticket Stop to top it up.
Bus stops usually have a map showing the nearest locations.

In the meantime, you'll have to pay the £1.50 cash fare.

Oyster cards on buses
 

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong
wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I
tries to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added
funds at a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

Help much appreciated

CC

Auto top-up does work on buses, from about a month ago. My card was
recently topped up on the 323 - must be the most that route has ever
taken on a single journey, I reckon.

Al Holmes

Oyster cards on buses
 

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong
wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I
tries to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added
funds at a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

Help much appreciated

CC
I can find no reference, but I'm sure someone in this group mentioned
fairly recently that auto topup was to be introduced on buses.

Did I imagine it?

Oyster cards on buses
 

Al Holmes wrote:
On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong
wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I
tries to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added
funds at a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

Help much appreciated

CC

Auto top-up does work on buses, from about a month ago.

I remember someone saying here that this was going to happen. Haven't
tried it myself - there are Oyster-enabled newsagents everywhere! You
can find them by area or postcode he
http://www.tfl-ticketlocator.co.uk/


--
Larry Lard

The address is real, but unread - please reply to the group

Oyster cards on buses
 

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

Understandable. They can be a little inconsistent with their info to say
the least.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I tries to
add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added funds at a
Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

You have probably read
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...er/general.asp which
unfortunately is out of date. Auto top-up now works on buses and at tram
stops and the initial auto top-up instruction can be picked up at tram stops
as well as tube and DLR stations (I'm not sure if season tickets and other
PAYG top-up can also be picked up at tram stops).

Of course if you don't ever use PAYG on tube, DLR or trams then that doesn't
really help much. You are probably best of adding funds at one of the very
many Oyster enabled 'Ticket Stop' shops around Greater London.

I believe you can also now order Oyster cards online that are already
enabled with the auto top-up instruction. You might like to look at that.

G.

Oyster cards on buses
 

"Graham J" wrote in message
...
This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

Understandable. They can be a little inconsistent with their info to say
the least.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I tries
to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added funds at
a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

You have probably read
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...er/general.asp which
unfortunately is out of date. Auto top-up now works on buses and at tram
stops and the initial auto top-up instruction can be picked up at tram
stops as well as tube and DLR stations (I'm not sure if season tickets and
other PAYG top-up can also be picked up at tram stops).

Of course if you don't ever use PAYG on tube, DLR or trams then that
doesn't really help much. You are probably best of adding funds at one of
the very many Oyster enabled 'Ticket Stop' shops around Greater London.

I believe you can also now order Oyster cards online that are already
enabled with the auto top-up instruction. You might like to look at that.

I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for which
station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will only be
using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Is there any confirmation about these changes?

Thanks

p.s. also, why is it I cannot use a more normal username on the website?
e.g. my email address?

Oyster cards on buses
 

I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for
which station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will
only be using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Your Oyster card needs to be tweaked so that it is recognised as having auto
top-up enabled. In order for this to happen you have to nominate a tube or
DLR station or a tram stop where you will be know you will be using your
Oyster within the next week and it is that which you are being asked for.
When you validate your Oyster on entry to that station your PAYG balance
will be topped up by an amount you nominate when you order auto top-up (you
have to buy some 'manual' top-up at the same time as ordering auto top-up
for some reason) and your Oyster card will be programmed with the auto
top-up instruction. From then on auto top-up will work for you.

The gotcha is, of course, that if you aren't intending to make a tube, DLR
or tram journey using Oyster then you can't get the auto top-up on your
existing card. I had this problem but because I was using the tube now and
again, only with a paper travelcard, I was able to make a short journey
using the Oyster card and get it programmed (and because there was a free
£10 top-up promotion at the time it didn't actually cost me anything).
Another option I know quite a few people use is to touch in at their
nominated station so the card gets programmed and then go straight to the
ticket office and get the journey cancelled.

I seem to remember that TfL belatedly realised this is a bit of a stopper
and that you can now order Oyster cards online with the auto top-up already
enabled. So it might be easiest to just get a new one. Unless of course I
was just dreaming that bit.

Oyster cards on buses
 

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:28:26 +0100, elyob wrote:

I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for which
station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will only be
using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Only if you're prepared to actually visit Waterloo and touch the
barriers there to collect the auto-top-up instruction.

Oyster cards on buses
 

"Graham J" wrote in message
...
I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for
which station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will
only be using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Another option I know quite a few people use is to touch in at their
nominated station so the card gets programmed and then go straight to the
ticket office and get the journey cancelled.

I seem to remember that TfL belatedly realised this is a bit of a stopper
and that you can now order Oyster cards online with the auto top-up
already enabled. So it might be easiest to just get a new one. Unless of
course I was just dreaming that bit.

I could go for a bike ride over to Richmond, it's a bike ride I often do for
leisure, but I've no use for Oyster on tube etc as I always end up getting a
travelcard and train it into town. So, can get another card or do the turn
up and cancel. Is it possible to redeem my old one (£3 deposit) and transfer
the credit to my new one?

Oyster cards on buses
 

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:57:15 GMT, "Graham J"
wrote:

I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for
which station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will
only be using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Except that you can't at Waterloo. There's nothing on the web site to
explain why to I emailed TfL who replied to say that it was to do with
the Waterloo and City closure and some ongoing work on the gates,
IIRC. Irrelevant in your case, but you did mention Waterloo!

Your Oyster card needs to be tweaked so that it is recognised as having auto
top-up enabled. [...[

I decided that Auto Top-Up was so useful that I'd plan ahead a bit and
wait until I needed the underground. I didn't expect the walk to
Southwark, but did find two nice pubs and a street of restaurants (at
Southwark) along the way so it wasn't a waste of time...

[...]
I seem to remember that TfL belatedly realised this is a bit of a stopper
and that you can now order Oyster cards online with the auto top-up already
enabled. So it might be easiest to just get a new one. Unless of course I
was just dreaming that bit.

I ordered mine around the time that the rules changed and you could
top-up on buses. The help pages and the normal text were inconsistent
so I emailed - again - and was told that I'd still have to visit a
station. I *think* this was incorrect advice. Perhaps if you ask
now, they've got their story straight.

Richard.

Oyster cards on buses
 

asdf wrote:
On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?

You have to go to a Tube station or Oyster Ticket Stop to top it up.
Bus stops usually have a map showing the nearest locations.

In the meantime, you'll have to pay the £1.50 cash fare.

Its never worked for me. Could this be because I have a season ticket
as well (which is the one that's being used)? Its most tiresome.

Francis

Oyster cards on buses
 

Oyster cards on buses
 

Ken wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong
wrote:

This is probably a silly oyster-noobie question, but I'm finding the tfl
online advice clear as mud.

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?
Firstly, auto-top up doesn't work with buses, and secondly when I
tries to add funds online, it said I would have to activate the added
funds at a Tube or DLR station. Is this right? Can't you add funds online?

Help much appreciated

CC
I can find no reference, but I'm sure someone in this group mentioned
fairly recently that auto topup was to be introduced on buses.

Did I imagine it?


See this answer [1] from TfL's useful "oyster help" Q&A website [2]

-----
Question
When using Auto top-up, when is my Oyster card topped up?

Answer
Once activated, your pay as you go balance will automatically be topped
up whenever it falls below £5 and you touch it on any card reader
(Tube, bus, DLR or tram) but not a ticket machine.
-----


[1] specific answer page
http://tinyurl.com/jpefq

[2] oyster help website front page
https://transportforlondon.custhelp.com/

Oyster cards on buses
 

Graham J wrote:

(snip)

When you validate your Oyster on entry to that station your PAYG balance
will be topped up by an amount you nominate when you order auto top-up (you
have to buy some 'manual' top-up at the same time as ordering auto top-up
for some reason) and your Oyster card will be programmed with the auto
top-up instruction. From then on auto top-up will work for you.

You have to buy some 'manual' top-up when you sign up for auto top-up
as TfL needs to ensure that the credit/debit card details you've given
them are legit - the best way to do this is to put through an initial
transaction on your nominated card, which then establishes it as
trustworthy (to an extent at least).

(p.s. I like the phrase "'manual' top-up", as opposed to auto top-up,
I'll use it in the future!).


The gotcha is, of course, that if you aren't intending to make a tube, DLR
or tram journey using Oyster then you can't get the auto top-up on your
existing card. I had this problem but because I was using the tube now and
again, only with a paper travelcard, I was able to make a short journey
using the Oyster card and get it programmed (and because there was a free
£10 top-up promotion at the time it didn't actually cost me anything).
Another option I know quite a few people use is to touch in at their
nominated station so the card gets programmed and then go straight to the
ticket office and get the journey cancelled.

This is a bit of a messy 'workaround' in my mind, and it does presume
that the ticket office staff will both understand and be compliant in
your endeavour. I'd advise just making an Underground journey instead -
perhaps take a different route home from work/wherever that takes in a
Tube journey. After all a two zone Tube journey *outside of zone 1*
costs £1 at any time. One could argue that it's a small cost for
having the convenience of auto top-up.


I seem to remember that TfL belatedly realised this is a bit of a stopper
and that you can now order Oyster cards online with the auto top-up already
enabled. So it might be easiest to just get a new one. Unless of course I
was just dreaming that bit.

You're not dreaming it - you can now buy an Oyster online with auto
top-up already configured from the word go.

Oyster cards on buses
 

Richard wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:57:15 GMT, "Graham J"
wrote:

I'm just looking at adding an auto top up on my PAYG, but it asks for
which station do I want to use. As I don't have a tube near me, I will
only be using buses. Should I just put a default station e.g. Waterloo?

Except that you can't at Waterloo. There's nothing on the web site to
explain why to I emailed TfL who replied to say that it was to do with
the Waterloo and City closure and some ongoing work on the gates,
IIRC. Irrelevant in your case, but you did mention Waterloo!

Your Oyster card needs to be tweaked so that it is recognised as having auto
top-up enabled. [...[

I decided that Auto Top-Up was so useful that I'd plan ahead a bit and
wait until I needed the underground. I didn't expect the walk to
Southwark, but did find two nice pubs and a street of restaurants (at
Southwark) along the way so it wasn't a waste of time...

I guess you walked down the The Cut. There is some lovely dining to be
had down there at say the Anchor and Hope or one of the restaurants.
There's a couple of really nice pubs just north of there on some great
old-London-Town side streets - the Kings Arms on Roupell Street and the
White Hart on Cornwall Road.


[...]
I seem to remember that TfL belatedly realised this is a bit of a stopper
and that you can now order Oyster cards online with the auto top-up already
enabled. So it might be easiest to just get a new one. Unless of course I
was just dreaming that bit.

I ordered mine around the time that the rules changed and you could
top-up on buses. The help pages and the normal text were inconsistent
so I emailed - again - and was told that I'd still have to visit a
station. I *think* this was incorrect advice. Perhaps if you ask
now, they've got their story straight.

Have you got an approxomate date for that at all? I may, if I'm stupid
enough, attempt to write some kind of Oyster FAQ and if so it'd be
useful to have a timeline of Oyster developments to hand.

Oyster cards on buses
 

Barry Salter wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:33:25 +0100, Courtney Cong
wrote:

(snip)

I only use oyster on the buses - so what happens when my funds run out?

You get a double bleep from the reader when you try to "touch in", and
the driver *should* call you back and ask you to buy a ticket.



As you've already highlighted "should" is the all important word there.
In my experience there are quite a few people who pile on the bus
despite getting their cards getting the rejection double-beep, and many
bus drivers don't do anything about it - in fact it seems to wash right
over them.

I did initially get a bit confused as it seems there are three tones
that the Oyster readers on buses make - the high pitched acceptance
bleep, the lower rejection double bleep, and a special bleep for child
Oyster cards (perhaps also shared with student Oyster cards) - but I
now think some are using an empty Oyster to get past the driver and
evade paying the fare. For some I'd guess this isn't deliberate, but if
bus drivers don't them up on this they won't even know they're doing
it.

Indeed I recently lent a Pre-Pay Oyster card to a visiting friend along
with the explicit instruction that they needed to top it up before use.
They forgot to top it up, predominantly because they'd spent a good
portion of the evening in conversation with Bacchus, but regardless of
this omission they later got on a bus to come back without being
challenged by the driver. Perhaps thats a bad example, given that it
was late maybe the driver couldn't be bothered with the hassle.
Nontheless my observations of this happening at other times suggests it
could be a fairly widespread scam.

Oyster cards on buses
 

On 15 Aug 2006 14:43:07 -0700, Mizter T wrote:

As you've already highlighted "should" is the all important word there.
In my experience there are quite a few people who pile on the bus
despite getting their cards getting the rejection double-beep, and many
bus drivers don't do anything about it - in fact it seems to wash right
over them.

I did initially get a bit confused as it seems there are three tones
that the Oyster readers on buses make - the high pitched acceptance
bleep, the lower rejection double bleep, and a special bleep for child
Oyster cards (perhaps also shared with student Oyster cards) - but I
now think some are using an empty Oyster to get past the driver and
evade paying the fare. For some I'd guess this isn't deliberate, but if
bus drivers don't them up on this they won't even know they're doing
it.

Indeed I recently lent a Pre-Pay Oyster card to a visiting friend along
with the explicit instruction that they needed to top it up before use.
They forgot to top it up, predominantly because they'd spent a good
portion of the evening in conversation with Bacchus, but regardless of
this omission they later got on a bus to come back without being
challenged by the driver. Perhaps thats a bad example, given that it
was late maybe the driver couldn't be bothered with the hassle.
Nontheless my observations of this happening at other times suggests it
could be a fairly widespread scam.

Another one I've seen is to wave the card past the reader far too
quickly, so that it beeps with a communication error, and then walk on
into the bus.

Like you say, drivers often don't do anything about it. I sometimes
imagine them radioing ahead for a mobile ticket inspection team or BTP
to perform a swoop on the vehicle a few stops down the route, but this
never seems to actually happen - the perpetrators always get away with
it.

Oyster cards on buses
 

On 15 Aug 2006 14:00:40 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:
Richard wrote:
I decided that Auto Top-Up was so useful that I'd plan ahead a bit and
wait until I needed the underground. I didn't expect the walk to
Southwark, but did find two nice pubs and a street of restaurants (at
Southwark) along the way so it wasn't a waste of time...

I guess you walked down the The Cut. There is some lovely dining to be
had down there at say the Anchor and Hope or one of the restaurants.
There's a couple of really nice pubs just north of there on some great
old-London-Town side streets - the Kings Arms on Roupell Street and the
White Hart on Cornwall Road.

That's it... the White Hart. Mmmmmmmm... Those streets are
fascinating. I suppose there were more streets like that before WW2
and the South Bank Centre construction. And there was a brewery on
the river, I think?

I ordered mine around the time that the rules changed and you could
top-up on buses. The help pages and the normal text were inconsistent
so I emailed - again - and was told that I'd still have to visit a
station. I *think* this was incorrect advice. Perhaps if you ask
now, they've got their story straight.

Have you got an approxomate date for that at all? I may, if I'm stupid
enough, attempt to write some kind of Oyster FAQ and if so it'd be
useful to have a timeline of Oyster developments to hand.

I asked the question about Waterloo on 5/7/06, got the reply that day
and picked up the Auto Top-Up from Southwark on 9/7/06. The email
that I got to confirm the upload also failed to mention that auto
top-up works on buses and at tram stops, but by then I think it did,
for a few days. So let's say July 2006.

I tried to find you a press release at tfl.gov.uk, but no luck.

Good luck with the FAQ!

Richard.

Oyster cards on buses
 

Mizter T wrote:


I did initially get a bit confused as it seems there are three tones
that the Oyster readers on buses make - the high pitched acceptance
bleep, the lower rejection double bleep, and a special bleep for child
Oyster cards (perhaps also shared with student Oyster cards)

Nope, the student card makes the normal beep, presumably because it
charges the normal amount (whereas children will be free, and it's
supposed to alert the driver if an adult gets three beeps)

Oyster cards on buses
 

asdf wrote:

On 15 Aug 2006 14:43:07 -0700, Mizter T wrote:

As you've already highlighted "should" is the all important word there.
In my experience there are quite a few people who pile on the bus
despite getting their cards getting the rejection double-beep, and many
bus drivers don't do anything about it - in fact it seems to wash right
over them.

(snip)

Another one I've seen is to wave the card past the reader far too
quickly, so that it beeps with a communication error, and then walk on
into the bus.

I think that much of the time when that happens it could be put down to
accidental misuse as opposed to an intent to avoid paying, but perhaps
I'm being too generous there. Whatever the users intent though, the bus
driver should call them back and get them to reswipe their Oyster card
(and if said card is empty the passenger should pay by cash or alight
the bus).


Like you say, drivers often don't do anything about it. I sometimes
imagine them radioing ahead for a mobile ticket inspection team or BTP
to perform a swoop on the vehicle a few stops down the route, but this
never seems to actually happen - the perpetrators always get away with
it.

A pedantic point about policing - the British Transport Police, despite
their name (a result of the formation of the force under the auspices
of the then new British Transport Commission when many transport
operations were nationalised in 1948), they only police the railways -
as well as National Rail they also police some other systems such as
London Underground and Midland Metro, though others such as the Tyne &
Wear Metro are policed by the local force.

They don't police buses, airports, seaports or anything else. The
policing of bus services comes under the remit of the local police
force. In London policing of London bus services is done by the Met
Police's Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU), which was set up in
2002 [1].The TOCU also polices Taxis & minicabs as well as the Red
Routes.

Anyway whilst I have seen inspectors checking tickets on services other
than bendy buses, it seems to be a relatively infrequent occurance -
the emphasis distincly appears to be on bendy bus routes. And I haven't
yet seen an inspector on a 'regular' bus accompanied by a police
officer - at least not a uniformed officer.

Oyster cards on buses
 

I did initially get a bit confused as it seems there are three tones
that the Oyster readers on buses make - the high pitched acceptance
bleep, the lower rejection double bleep, and a special bleep for child
Oyster cards (perhaps also shared with student Oyster cards)

The student cards make the normal beep on buses.

Oyster cards on buses
 

I did initially get a bit confused as it seems there are three tones
that the Oyster readers on buses make - the high pitched acceptance
bleep, the lower rejection double bleep, and a special bleep for child
Oyster cards (perhaps also shared with student Oyster cards) - but I
now think some are using an empty Oyster to get past the driver and
evade paying the fare. For some I'd guess this isn't deliberate, but if
bus drivers don't them up on this they won't even know they're doing
it.

I am lucky in that I have only ever had one problem with my Oyster cards on
a bus. My card was being rejected with the error being something like 'out
of zone' despite it being a PAYG only card. Fortunately the driver decided
to believe me and let me on anyway. All I could think was that the reader
hadn't been programmed to understand auto top-up instructions on cards and
was getting confused (it was on a 410 but not one of the usual fleet making
me wonder if was an engineering spare).

G.

Oyster cards on buses
 

Mizter T wrote:


What specifically has never worked for you - the auto-topup?


No. Topping up a specific sum online. I've not tried auto-topup yet
because if adding a specific sum doesn't work, I don't expect the
auto-topup to, though it would be useful.

If so have you actually signed up for auto-topup via your online Oyster
account? Once you've done this you need to make a journey that either
starts of finishes at your nominated station within the next 7 days.
Once you've done that auto-topup will be configured on your Oyster
card, and from then on each time your Oyster Pre-Pay balance goes below
£5 it'll be credited with either £20 or £40 (whichever you chose
when you signed up for auto-topup) when you travel by Tube or by bus.

Yes, I *do* understand all that. Oyster is so rubbish at this part of
things, I have no confidence in it. I had a very annoying experience in
which I tried to renew my season ticket online - again it completely
failed to register and I had to go via a very pleasant person at
Finsbury Park, who spent several hours trying to sort it out. They
advised me to avoid buying tickets online.

Francis