Mizter T wrote:


I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm pretty sure that I managed to break
three Oyster cards because I kept them in my back trouser pocket all
the time - force of habit meant that's where I had kept my tickets all
the years. I might have had my suspicions after the second, but was
only sure of this after the third! AIUI basically what happens is that
the tiny antennae in the card break when the card gets bent enough -
and that's exactly what I was subjecting mine to day after day after
day!


I think something similar must've happened to my Oyster Card when I had
one. It just stopped working for no obvious reason.

I decided to give up and stick with proper tickets untuil the technology
gets more reliable. IMHO it's worth paying the little bit extra for the
reassurance.

On 19 Feb, 11:26, "solar penguin"
wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm pretty sure that I managed to break
three Oyster cards because I kept them in my back trouser pocket all
the time - force of habit meant that's where I had kept my tickets all
the years. I might have had my suspicions after the second, but was
only sure of this after the third! AIUI basically what happens is that
the tiny antennae in the card break when the card gets bent enough -
and that's exactly what I was subjecting mine to day after day after
day!

I think something similar must've happened to my Oyster Card when I had
one. It just stopped working for no obvious reason.

I decided to give up and stick with proper tickets until the technology
gets more reliable. IMHO it's worth paying the little bit extra for the
reassurance.


I think the technology is pretty reliable - I know people who are
still using their original Oyster card that they got back in 2003,
having been using it on a near daily basis ever since.

I certainly ain't going to start paying £3 or £4 for a single
Underground journey, or pay £2 for a bus fare just for the sake of
'reassurance', because I don't think anyone really needs to worry
about that. If I did buy paper tickets I'd end up paying well over the
odds all the time, buying Day Travelcards for a few journeys around
town which I would have paid significantly less for using Oyster -
quite often I never reaching any daily cap anyway. If I have a season
Travelcard on Oyster then again I'll save in comparison to having it
on paper when it comes to getting ticket extensions for journeys
outside my zones (at least on the Underground and DLR).

No doubt I'm sure incremental improvements are possible to the system
and any such improvements are of course most welcome (whether it be to
the cards themselves or to the validator equipment) - indeed perhaps
more recent Oyster cards have already been improved in comparison to
the first generation ones, though I've no idea if that has happened at
all yet. Plus there is always the possibility of a dodgy batch of
cards, though maybe that was more likely in the early years.

I was annoyed when my card broke, and yet more annoyed when it
happened again - it was a fuss going to get them replaced, especially
as this happened early on and not all the Tube ticket office staff
were that clued up as to the proceedure for replacements. However I
understand that things have improved very significantly in that
department as staff have become familiar with the system.

But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it.

On Feb 19, 12:25*pm, Mizter T wrote:
On 19 Feb, 11:26, "solar *penguin"
wrote:





Mizter T wrote:

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I'm pretty sure that I managed to break
three Oyster cards because I kept them in my back trouser pocket all
the time - force of habit meant that's where I had kept my tickets all
the years. I might have had my suspicions after the second, but was
only sure of this after the third! AIUI basically what happens is that
the tiny antennae in the card break when the card gets bent enough -
and that's exactly what I was subjecting mine to day after day after
day!

I think something similar must've happened to my Oyster Card when I had
one. *It just stopped working for no obvious reason.

I decided to give up and stick with proper tickets until the technology
gets more reliable. *IMHO it's worth paying the little bit extra for the
reassurance.

I think the technology is pretty reliable - I know people who are
still using their original Oyster card that they got back in 2003,
having been using it on a near daily basis ever since.

I certainly ain't going to start paying £3 or £4 for a single
Underground journey, or pay £2 for a bus fare just for the sake of
'reassurance', because I don't think anyone really needs to worry
about that. If I did buy paper tickets I'd end up paying well over the
odds all the time, buying Day Travelcards for a few journeys around
town which I would have paid significantly less for using Oyster -
quite often I never reaching any daily cap anyway. If I have a season
Travelcard on Oyster then again I'll save in comparison to having it
on paper when it comes to getting ticket extensions for journeys
outside my zones (at least on the Underground and DLR).

No doubt I'm sure incremental improvements are possible to the system
and any such improvements are of course most welcome (whether it be to
the cards themselves or to the validator equipment) - indeed perhaps
more recent Oyster cards have already been improved in comparison to
the first generation ones, though I've no idea if that has happened at
all yet. Plus there is always the possibility of a dodgy batch of
cards, though maybe that was more likely in the early years.

I was annoyed when my card broke, and yet more annoyed when it
happened again - it was a fuss going to get them replaced, especially
as this happened early on and not all the Tube ticket office staff
were that clued up as to the proceedure for replacements. However I
understand that things have improved very significantly in that
department as staff have become familiar with the system.

But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it

A question that springs to mind: if your balance/travelcard expiry
could be ascertained from quoting the ID of the card (perhaps
unregistered), did you have to get a new Oyster and register it and
make a journey via a specified station before you could be reimbursed/
valid again?

It occurs to me that there are issues with transferring balances
between different cards, particularly if you can't prove that you are
the same person. Can't get my head round what they all are for the
minute ...

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:49:14 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

A question that springs to mind: if your balance/travelcard expiry
could be ascertained from quoting the ID of the card (perhaps
unregistered), did you have to get a new Oyster and register it and
make a journey via a specified station before you could be reimbursed/
valid again?

It occurs to me that there are issues with transferring balances
between different cards, particularly if you can't prove that you are
the same person. Can't get my head round what they all are for the
minute ...

I can't see what the issues would be. I don't believe anyone has an
entitlement to access details from the Oyster central system / help desk
relating to the balance or validity of a card if it is unregistered.

Sure the holder of a card can check it at a ticket machine but why would
this be given out over the phone?

I don't see any issue with a transfer from a registered card to another
registered one. This must be possible to deal with the hotlisting of
stolen cards and issue of replacements / processing of refunds.

I'm not up to speed with all of the detailed procedures but the lack of
registration of a card does result in some facilities like card
hotlisting not being possible.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Feb 19, 8:36*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:49:14 -0800 (PST), MIG

wrote:
A question that springs to mind: if your balance/travelcard expiry
could be ascertained from quoting the ID of the card (perhaps
unregistered), did you have to get a new Oyster and register it and
make a journey via a specified station before you could be reimbursed/
valid again?

It occurs to me that there are issues with transferring balances
between different cards, particularly if you can't prove that you are
the same person. *Can't get my head round what they all are for the
minute ...

I can't see what the issues would be. *I don't believe anyone has an
entitlement to access details from the Oyster central system / help desk
relating to the balance or validity of a card if it is unregistered.

Sure the holder of a card can check it at a ticket machine but why would
this be given out over the phone?

I'm assuming that the card is broken and so you can't read it at a
machine, so the only way to find the balance on it would be to check
the computer by (someone) visually reading the ID off the card.

I think you'd have to do it face to face with both cards, but can a
ticket office authorise it? If you phoned up and quoted the ID of a
supposedly broken card (hoping it would turn out to be unregistered)
and asked for the balance to be transferred to a different card, there
could be a laborious scam in there somewhere.


I don't see any issue with a transfer from a registered card to another
registered one. This must be possible to deal with the hotlisting of
stolen cards and issue of replacements / processing of refunds.

I'm not up to speed with all of the detailed procedures but the lack of
registration of a card does result in some facilities like card
hotlisting not being possible.
--
Paul C

Admits to working for London Underground!

Mizter T wrote:

But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it.

For what it's worth, I've had mine in my back pocket (and there's been
an awful lot of sitting on floors, sitting down, etc), since I first got
it in 2003.

On 20 Feb, 00:38, Dave Newt wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it.

For what it's worth, I've had mine in my back pocket (and there's been
an awful lot of sitting on floors, sitting down, etc), since I first got
it in 2003.


Perhaps one of us simply has a more substantial derriere, and that
person isn't you...

Perhaps I should learn the bobaraba...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7233565.stm

Mizter T wrote:
On 20 Feb, 00:38, Dave Newt wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it.
For what it's worth, I've had mine in my back pocket (and there's been
an awful lot of sitting on floors, sitting down, etc), since I first got
it in 2003.


Perhaps one of us simply has a more substantial derriere, and that
person isn't you...


Well, I do have a little padding...

Perhaps I should learn the bobaraba...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7233565.stm

LOL! Not that much though.

Mizter T wrote:

On 19 Feb, 11:26, "solar penguin"
wrote:

I decided to give up and stick with proper tickets until the
technology gets more reliable. IMHO it's worth paying the little
bit extra for the reassurance.


I think the technology is pretty reliable - I know people who are
still using their original Oyster card that they got back in 2003,
having been using it on a near daily basis ever since.

I certainly ain't going to start paying £3 or £4 for a single
Underground journey, or pay £2 for a bus fare just for the sake of
'reassurance', because I don't think anyone really needs to worry
about that. If I did buy paper tickets I'd end up paying well over the
odds all the time, buying Day Travelcards for a few journeys around
town which I would have paid significantly less for using Oyster -
quite often I never reaching any daily cap anyway.

I live in South London, and most of my journeys involve trains, so I
have to get Day Travelcards anyway. I only ever needed to use Oyster
once or twice a year. (In fact I thought it was the lack of use that
caused the card to seize up!)

I was annoyed when my card broke, and yet more annoyed when it
happened again - it was a fuss going to get them replaced, especially
as this happened early on and not all the Tube ticket office staff
were that clued up as to the proceedure for replacements. However I
understand that things have improved very significantly in that
department as staff have become familiar with the system.


I'm nowhere near a tube ticket office, but woman in the newsagents was
certain that the broken card couldn't be replaced if it was my fault
that I'd broken it. I'd have to buy a new one. And there was no chance
of getting back the money stored on the old card, because if she
couldn't even read it in the first place, there was no way she could
know how much money there was.

Are you saying that she was wrong? Or that tube station staff have
better facilities for dealing with faulty cards?

But since I figured out that keeping my Oyster card in my back pocket
was a bad idea and stopped doing so I've had no problems at all. So
that's my basic bit of advice - by all means get and use an Oyster
card, just don't sit on it.

Maybe I'll think about it if PAYG ever gets inflicted on the stations
round here. But until then, I'll stick with what's most reliable, even
if it does mean paying a quid or two more each year.

In message , at 08:32:53 on
Wed, 20 Feb 2008, solar penguin
remarked:
And there was no chance of getting back the money stored on the old
card, because if she couldn't even read it in the first place, there
was no way she could know how much money there was.

The amount of money on the card is held on the central database too,
surely?
--
Roland Perry