On 28 May, 15:20, Mizter T wrote:
On May 28, 12:49*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10162991.stm

Average of £1.80 sits on each idle card.

An average of £1.80 (idle for more than a year) probably just indicates that
small sums of that nature are below most people's radar - it's probably a
lot less that the error you'd expect if I trying to guess the quantity of
change in your back pocket...

There's probably about £15.00 on mine, unused for two years because I always
use travelcards if just up for the day. *I just see it as a £15 note in my
wallet that I keep to one side.

Agreed - I don't think there's any big deal or problem here at all,
was just interesting to note. As the story makes clear, the unused
credit doesn't expire and can be reclaimed by surrendering the card.

(Perhaps in many years to come some sort of mechanism for dealing with
Oyster cards that have been idle for say 20 years or whatever might
become necessary, who knows...)

By then, smartcards may have replaced cash and will be more widely
accepted, certainly than £15 notes.

I don't happen to think it's a Good Thing, but it's coming. It's
probably one of the considerations behind why ID cards are being
abandoned. Registered smartcards will provide the same monitoring
opportunities soon enough.