On 10/10/2014 01:05, Theo Markettos wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Something that can help one out of a 'not enough money on my Oyster' fix
is the new 'one more journey' feature of Oyster (introduced shortly
before buses went cashless) - basically you can make one more journey
even if you don't have enough money on your Oyster (so currently £1.45),
you just need a positive balance or a zero balance:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses#on-this-page-1

That is useful. Do Bad Things happen if I don't clear my negative balance
for 6 months (my next trip to London, for instance)?

No, Bad Things will not happen if a card is left with a negative balance
(apart from you being annoyed that you used your 'get out of jail free'
card last time, when perhaps you were counting on it again!).


Coming back to the earlier point of this thread, I agree with you that
auto-topup means one can neatly sidestep all such top-up worries. The
only point to make is that it's not for everyone - for instance, some
people's finances are incredibly finely balanced, and £20 being taken
from their bank account at an inopportune moment can lead to all sorts
of problems.

I agree, and I don't actually do autotopup because it's too much hassle for
an occasional visitor, and I find it more useful to say to people 'oh,
you're visiting London? Borrow my Oystercard' without risking anything more
than the balance on my card.

Auto top-up is a bit of a faff to set up, and cancelling it (should one
wish to) needs you to do the same as setting it up - nominate a station
and make a journey starting or ending there within the next 8 (I think)
days.

Also I think it's possible to end up in a bit of a pickle should one get
a new debit/credit card having had the previous one lost or stolen, and
not update TfL with the details of the new one - if you use the Oyster
and it gets auto topped-up, and thus owe TfL money, they're very keen on
you giving them the new credit/debit card details pronto (within 3 days
I think), else they'll hotlist the Oyster card (which results in it
being permanently nuked if an attempt is made to use it).