I got my first oyster card - mainly because I can't be bothered to keep
getting my paper ticket out of my wallet on every bus and tube I use,
although avoiding the weekly sloooow queue at the train station is a
nice bonus.

I travel from Zone 6 to Paddington then get a bus, so I chose
Paddington as my recharge point - purely because there aren't any
Oyster recharge points near me. But I was puzzled, because I get a bus
from Paddington, and I'm not aware of any points in Paddington where I
can recharge without opening the barriers. So it would appear that
I'll have to open the ticket barrier then walk away, and out of the
station and onto the bus, leaving the barriers open. I just phoned the
helpline number given on the email I received when I ordered the second
set of 7 days and the person I spoke to confirmed what I've just put as
being the only way to recharge my card.

The conversation was along the lines of:
"But won't I get puzzled looks from, or be challenged by, the guys on
the ticket barrier, who'll want to know why I'm leaving the gate open
for people without tickets/drunks etc onto the tube system?"
"Probably - just tell them you're recharging your Oyster card".
"What, and go through that every week?"
"Yes."

I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

Poldie wrote:

I travel from Zone 6 to Paddington then get a bus, so I chose
Paddington as my recharge point - purely because there aren't any
Oyster recharge points near me. But I was puzzled, because I get a bus
from Paddington, and I'm not aware of any points in Paddington where I
can recharge without opening the barriers. So it would appear that
I'll have to open the ticket barrier then walk away, and out of the
station and onto the bus, leaving the barriers open. I just phoned the
helpline number given on the email I received when I ordered the second
set of 7 days and the person I spoke to confirmed what I've just put as
being the only way to recharge my card.

The conversation was along the lines of:
"But won't I get puzzled looks from, or be challenged by, the guys on
the ticket barrier, who'll want to know why I'm leaving the gate open
for people without tickets/drunks etc onto the tube system?"
"Probably - just tell them you're recharging your Oyster card".
"What, and go through that every week?"
"Yes."

I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

The other option is to just renew your ticket in advance at an Oyster
Ticket Stop (which you can search for on the TfL website [1]) or
Underground Station. You don't *have* to renew on the day.

HTH,

Barry

[1] http://www.tfl-ticketlocator.co.uk/postcode-search.asp

Barry Salter wrote:
Poldie wrote:
I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

The other option is to just renew your ticket in advance at an Oyster
Ticket Stop (which you can search for on the TfL website [1]) or
Underground Station. You don't *have* to renew on the day.

Thanks. But that would involve queing up once a week. If I was happy
with that, I could just queue for a paper ticket!

It looks like, if there's no recharge point at Paddington other than on
a ticket gate, that I'll be leaving a gate open once a week. It's what
I've been told to do on the phone and via email (when I ordered the
recharge):
-----

The products you ordered through Oyster online are now ready to be
uploaded onto your Oyster card as you walk through and touch your
Oyster card on any ticket gate at: Paddington station.

To validate the cash balance or Travelcards you ordered through Oyster
online to your Oyster card, simply touch your Oyster card on the yellow
reader as you enter your nominated Tube station, and watch for the
flashing green lights. This indicates that the validation has been
successful.

I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

Not at all. It remains one of the irritations of the Oyster system that
unless you can nominate a tube, DLR or tram stop that you know you will be
passing through then you can't pick up tickets ordered online. I don't
really know the layout of Paddington station but you might find they have a
manned barrier (for those with luggage etc) with a validator that you can
reach and it might make you feel more comfortable to use that instead of the
automatic gates. Just a thought.

G.

"Graham J" wrote in message
...
I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

Not at all. It remains one of the irritations of the Oyster system that
unless you can nominate a tube, DLR or tram stop that you know you will be
passing through then you can't pick up tickets ordered online. I don't
really know the layout of Paddington station but you might find they have
a
manned barrier (for those with luggage etc) with a validator that you can
reach and it might make you feel more comfortable to use that instead of
the
automatic gates. Just a thought.

I think a few years ago when Oyster was being rolled out, there was a
validator by suburban platforms 13/14, and possibly one along the
northwestern end of P12 but I don't use Oyster (and hence don't go looking
for such things) so I can't be certain.

Neil Watson wrote:
"Graham J" wrote in message
...
I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

Not at all. It remains one of the irritations of the Oyster system that
unless you can nominate a tube, DLR or tram stop that you know you will be
passing through then you can't pick up tickets ordered online. I don't
really know the layout of Paddington station but you might find they have
a
manned barrier (for those with luggage etc) with a validator that you can
reach and it might make you feel more comfortable to use that instead of
the
automatic gates. Just a thought.

I think a few years ago when Oyster was being rolled out, there was a
validator by suburban platforms 13/14, and possibly one along the
northwestern end of P12 but I don't use Oyster (and hence don't go looking
for such things) so I can't be certain.

At no point - in the information provided with my card, on the website,
nor during the phone call to the number provided in the email I
received when I paid for my second weekly travelcard - did I see a
reference to the word `validator`! I'll look out for them when I next
have some time to kill there. (I got a little bit of a funny look
this morning when I validated next week's travelcard but no-one said
anything.)

At no point - in the information provided with my card, on the website,
nor during the phone call to the number provided in the email I
received when I paid for my second weekly travelcard - did I see a
reference to the word `validator`! I'll look out for them when I next
have some time to kill there. (I got a little bit of a funny look
this morning when I validated next week's travelcard but no-one said
anything.)

On the plus side, if you change your mind and don't wanna renew that
particular week, you can just not validate, and in 7 days the
transaction is void.

The advice I usually give to customers is to visit any ticket office at
any convenient time that it is open, and top up then. If you avoid
peak times, even popping in on a weekend if its convenient at all, you
can just renew it then. Or use the ticket machines, again out of the
peak hours.

wrote:
At no point - in the information provided with my card, on the website,
nor during the phone call to the number provided in the email I
received when I paid for my second weekly travelcard - did I see a
reference to the word `validator`! I'll look out for them when I next
have some time to kill there. (I got a little bit of a funny look
this morning when I validated next week's travelcard but no-one said
anything.)

On the plus side, if you change your mind and don't wanna renew that
particular week, you can just not validate, and in 7 days the
transaction is void.

The advice I usually give to customers is to visit any ticket office at
any convenient time that it is open, and top up then. If you avoid
peak times, even popping in on a weekend if its convenient at all, you
can just renew it then. Or use the ticket machines, again out of the
peak hours.

Sometimes that might be handy. But i'm online now, and I might receive
a reminder to top up my travelcard (4 days before it expires), so it's
more convenient to quickly log onto the Oyster site and transfer some
funds than it is to remember to queue up some time before I actually
need to. I'm going to check and see if these rumours of
"validators" are true and that I can simply swipe my card without
opening a gate - that would seem to be the best solution.

Sometimes that might be handy. But i'm online now, and I might receive
a reminder to top up my travelcard (4 days before it expires), so it's
more convenient to quickly log onto the Oyster site and transfer some
funds than it is to remember to queue up some time before I actually
need to. I'm going to check and see if these rumours of
"validators" are true and that I can simply swipe my card without
opening a gate - that would seem to be the best solution.

The validators you mention exist, they are remote and often placed by
manual gates (the big glass gates for luggage etc). They're usually
inside the gate, so you'd have to ask a member of staff to let you in
to touch on it.

It won't be a problem for you with a season ticket, but for people
using pre-pay on Oyster and no season ticket, they'd start a journey by
doing this, and end up paying at least a minimum fare, with an
incomplete journey to sort out at the ticket office (thus they might as
well have just queued up in the first place).

Its one of the restrictions of Oyster unfortunately.

wrote:
Sometimes that might be handy. But i'm online now, and I might receive
a reminder to top up my travelcard (4 days before it expires), so it's
more convenient to quickly log onto the Oyster site and transfer some
funds than it is to remember to queue up some time before I actually
need to. I'm going to check and see if these rumours of
"validators" are true and that I can simply swipe my card without
opening a gate - that would seem to be the best solution.

The validators you mention exist, they are remote and often placed by
manual gates (the big glass gates for luggage etc). They're usually
inside the gate, so you'd have to ask a member of staff to let you in
to touch on it.

It won't be a problem for you with a season ticket, but for people
using pre-pay on Oyster and no season ticket, they'd start a journey by
doing this, and end up paying at least a minimum fare, with an
incomplete journey to sort out at the ticket office (thus they might as
well have just queued up in the first place).

Its one of the restrictions of Oyster unfortunately.

I have just experienced this last problem myself!

I added on £10 credit to my pay-as-you go card earlier this week at
Fulham BRoadway (the station I had nominated) but made no journey from
that station - and have now discovered that £1 has bee deducted from
my card!

This is outrageous. I have now queued at another station to try and
sort this out, only to be told that my card is showing an "error" and
they can't refund the £1 even though they KNOW that I made no journey
to that value, but suggested I ring the helpline. I have done so, and
am awaiting a reply (at number 30 in the queue as I write this!) from
them.

When I asked how else I could have credited my card the station
assistant at Bow Road today said that I'd best queue at the station
ticket office when I want to credit pay as you go! Just the very thing
I am trying to avoid (as others have stated)!

What a bloody ridiculous system. Why, if the system shows that I have
not "touched out" at any station, does it not refund the £1 initially
debited automatically, say after 2 hours?

Marc.