Hi,

I decided to top up my Oyster card online last month. I usually only use the
bus but had to touch in at a station to activate my topup, so I chose East
Croydon tram stop, and the green light duly flashed 3 times. Then I went
round the corner and caught the bus. Looking at my history, I see:-

8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Top-up Fare £50.00 Balance £57.40
8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Entry Fa £1.00 Balance £56.40

Then again entry fare of £1.00 for my bus at 8:57. Given that I usually only
use the bus (except when I used the tram to Wimbledon yesterday, as a result
of a response that I got to my earlier "Oyster Question" thread about
travelling to the Science Museum), how should I handle my top-up next time,
in order to avoid the unwanted extra "Entry" charge?

Regards,

Demiurge.

On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 21:00:16 +0100, "Demiurge" wrote:

Hi,

I decided to top up my Oyster card online last month. I usually only use the
bus but had to touch in at a station to activate my topup, so I chose East
Croydon tram stop, and the green light duly flashed 3 times. Then I went
round the corner and caught the bus. Looking at my history, I see:-

8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Top-up Fare £50.00 Balance £57.40
8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Entry Fa £1.00 Balance £56.40

Then again entry fare of £1.00 for my bus at 8:57. Given that I usually only
use the bus (except when I used the tram to Wimbledon yesterday, as a result
of a response that I got to my earlier "Oyster Question" thread about
travelling to the Science Museum), how should I handle my top-up next time,
in order to avoid the unwanted extra "Entry" charge?

In this case I assume you did not use the tram after the £1 charge? If
so I would call the Oyster helpdesk and ask them to credit you the £1.

I understand you can now have an Oyster card that is encoded to work
with Auto Top Up on buses. This means that whenever your balance falls
below £5 after a charge has been deducted that the next time your card
is presented on a reader a pre-set amount of value is loaded
automatically to your card. Therefore you would make a normal bus trip
and get a top up at the same time - no wasted charge.

You may need to get a new Oyster card which has the special encoding to
work with buses rather than leaving you with having to use a nominated
station or tram stop. Apparently (according to Ask Oyster) you can
arrange for this new card via the Oyster website.

All this assumes you are only using Pre-Pay on your Oyster card and not
a Travelcard (weekly or longer).
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote in
:


I understand you can now have an Oyster card that is encoded to work
with Auto Top Up on buses....


I was very surpised to get an e-mail at the end of August saying that my
Oyster card had been topped up "on bus route 76". I set the card up for
auto Top Up when it first came out and haven't done anything since so I
suspect that once you have auto top up setup it now works on buses (as well
as tubes).

In this case I assume you did not use the tram after the £1 charge?
That's right, I just used it to top up.

so I would call the Oyster helpdesk and ask them to credit you the £1.
Yes, I'll give them a ring sometime and also ask then how best to go on in
future.

Thanks, Paul.

Regards,

Demiurge.

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 21:00:16 +0100, "Demiurge" wrote:

Hi,

I decided to top up my Oyster card online last month. I usually only use
the
bus but had to touch in at a station to activate my topup, so I chose
East
Croydon tram stop, and the green light duly flashed 3 times. Then I went
round the corner and caught the bus. Looking at my history, I see:-

8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Top-up Fare £50.00 Balance £57.40
8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Entry Fa £1.00 Balance
£56.40

Then again entry fare of £1.00 for my bus at 8:57. Given that I usually
only
use the bus (except when I used the tram to Wimbledon yesterday, as a
result
of a response that I got to my earlier "Oyster Question" thread about
travelling to the Science Museum), how should I handle my top-up next
time,
in order to avoid the unwanted extra "Entry" charge?

In this case I assume you did not use the tram after the £1 charge? If
so I would call the Oyster helpdesk and ask them to credit you the £1.

I understand you can now have an Oyster card that is encoded to work
with Auto Top Up on buses. This means that whenever your balance falls
below £5 after a charge has been deducted that the next time your card
is presented on a reader a pre-set amount of value is loaded
automatically to your card. Therefore you would make a normal bus trip
and get a top up at the same time - no wasted charge.

You may need to get a new Oyster card which has the special encoding to
work with buses rather than leaving you with having to use a nominated
station or tram stop. Apparently (according to Ask Oyster) you can
arrange for this new card via the Oyster website.

All this assumes you are only using Pre-Pay on your Oyster card and not
a Travelcard (weekly or longer).
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

"David Jackman" wrote in message
. 109.145...
Paul Corfield wrote in
:


I understand you can now have an Oyster card that is encoded to work
with Auto Top Up on buses....


I was very surpised to get an e-mail at the end of August saying that my
Oyster card had been topped up "on bus route 76". I set the card up for
auto Top Up when it first came out and haven't done anything since so I
suspect that once you have auto top up setup it now works on buses (as
well
as tubes).

When I ring the Oyster helpdesk, as Paul Corfield has suggested, I'll tell
them about your experience and find out if I can expect the same when I'm
next due to top up.

Thanks, David.

Regards,

Demiurge.

I was very surpised to get an e-mail at the end of August saying that my
Oyster card had been topped up "on bus route 76". I set the card up for
auto Top Up when it first came out and haven't done anything since so I
suspect that once you have auto top up setup it now works on buses (as
well
as tubes).

Indeed it does. It was launched a few months back without an awful lot of
publicity which slightly surprised me as it was a big step forward for
Oyster. At the same time it officially started working at tram stops too
having already been working for a month or two previously. It also then
became possible to nominate a tram stop to collect online top-ups and auto
top-up instructions as well as tubes and DLR.

G.

In message , Graham J
writes

I was very surpised to get an e-mail at the end of August saying that my
Oyster card had been topped up "on bus route 76". I set the card up for
auto Top Up when it first came out and haven't done anything since so I
suspect that once you have auto top up setup it now works on buses (as
well
as tubes).

Indeed it does. It was launched a few months back without an awful lot of
publicity which slightly surprised me as it was a big step forward for
Oyster. At the same time it officially started working at tram stops too
having already been working for a month or two previously. It also then
became possible to nominate a tram stop to collect online top-ups and auto
top-up instructions as well as tubes and DLR.

G.



But with auto-top up the minimum amount is £20.00
--
martyn dawe

Demiurge wrote:
In this case I assume you did not use the tram after the £1 charge?
That's right, I just used it to top up.

so I would call the Oyster helpdesk and ask them to credit you the £1.
Yes, I'll give them a ring sometime and also ask then how best to go on in
future.

Thanks, Paul.

Regards,

Demiurge.

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 21:00:16 +0100, "Demiurge" wrote:

Hi,

I decided to top up my Oyster card online last month. I usually only use
the
bus but had to touch in at a station to activate my topup, so I chose
East
Croydon tram stop, and the green light duly flashed 3 times. Then I went
round the corner and caught the bus. Looking at my history, I see:-

8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Top-up Fare £50.00 Balance £57.40
8:48 East Croydon tram stop Action: Entry Fa £1.00 Balance
£56.40

Then again entry fare of £1.00 for my bus at 8:57. Given that I usually
only
use the bus (except when I used the tram to Wimbledon yesterday, as a
result
of a response that I got to my earlier "Oyster Question" thread about
travelling to the Science Museum), how should I handle my top-up next
time,
in order to avoid the unwanted extra "Entry" charge?

In this case I assume you did not use the tram after the £1 charge? If
so I would call the Oyster helpdesk and ask them to credit you the £1.

I understand you can now have an Oyster card that is encoded to work
with Auto Top Up on buses. This means that whenever your balance falls
below £5 after a charge has been deducted that the next time your card
is presented on a reader a pre-set amount of value is loaded
automatically to your card. Therefore you would make a normal bus trip
and get a top up at the same time - no wasted charge.

You may need to get a new Oyster card which has the special encoding to
work with buses rather than leaving you with having to use a nominated
station or tram stop. Apparently (according to Ask Oyster) you can
arrange for this new card via the Oyster website.

All this assumes you are only using Pre-Pay on your Oyster card and not
a Travelcard (weekly or longer).
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!


So why, when using ordinary top-up (i,e. not Auto top up) do I still
have to nominate the Tube station for this to be activated? Why can I
not top-up my non-automatic top-up on a bus, instead of making a
special journey to a Tube station to do so?

If the technology is available for one type of top-up on a bus, why not
for both types?

Moreover, why can't I renew my Travelcard by a similar method. On
Monday, I will have to spend £1 of my Pay-as-you-go Oyster on a bus to
get to my Tube station, and then at the Tube station I will have to
top-up 2 cards, separately - my weekly Travelcard and then the
Pay-as-ypu go card. I am just waiting to see if it actually works, and
whether anyone questions me about this.

Furthermore, I fear that I may be charged twice - firstly the "£5"
that is automatically debited to a pay-as-you go card on entry to a
Tube station, and then, of course, my first day of a Travelcard which I
am renewing.

Is there some sensible way to avoid this nonsense, without Auto top-up?
I'm damned if I'm giving carte blance to T.f.L. to charge my credit
card at their whim!

Marc.

" wrote in
oups.com:


So why, when using ordinary top-up (i,e. not Auto top up) do I still
have to nominate the Tube station for this to be activated? Why can I
not top-up my non-automatic top-up on a bus, instead of making a
special journey to a Tube station to do so?

...

Is there some sensible way to avoid this nonsense, without Auto
top-up? I'm damned if I'm giving carte blance to T.f.L. to charge my
credit card at their whim!


I'd suggest that you bite the bullet on this one and do auto top-up. It
does exactly what is says on the tin - if it doesn't work for you then
you can always switch it off.