On Aug 21, 9:39 am, Uncle Dave wrote:
1. I assume I can only validate my top up at one of the machines in
Waterloo as there none on the list for the bus stops outside?

If you buy credit online you can only collect it by touching in at a
tube, DLR or tram stop, and there's no way to do it without also
starting a journey. If you're starting a bus journey at Waterloo,
either have credit already or buy some at the tube station ticket
machines.

You might also like to investigate auto top-up, which allows you to
top up on buses, though not at will:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/5469.aspx

2. The TFL site says you have to pay for the bendy bus before you
get on, so how does that actually work with the Oyster card? Is there
a validator on the bus or at the stop or what? (In any case, it's
forty years since I was last on a London Bus - always used the tube
before - and things have probably changed a bit since then ;-)

Having an Oyster card with credit on it counts as having bought a
ticket. Touch it against the reader on the driver's ticket machine, or
on a bendy you're allowed to board through the rear doors, which have
their own validators on the poles inside. You only need to validate
when you get on, not when you get off.

U

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