On 14 May 2006 03:53:48 -0700, "
wrote:

Hi,

I asked the oystercard people if it was possible to set the top up
threshold higher than £5. I mainly use buses, live a mile from a tube
station and the local newsagent charges 80p for an Oyster top up.

I agree, the £5 is too low. I too normally get the bus. Why can't they
let people set their own lower limit, even if it is only a choice from
a few fixed options like £5, £10, £20. And if doing that "should I
recharge?" lookup is too much to do at the tube gate, then they should
simply do a run every night at 2am or something and top up any card
that is under it's lower limit then. Then download the list of cards
with new balances to apply to all ticket gates *and bus machines*
ready for start of service.

It's just another example of how the basic Oyster idea was good, but,
speaking as an IT Programme Manager, the implementation has been
shocking.

I am still amazed that it's not possible to examine one's trip details
on the website.

What they should have done was look at the billing systems that the
mobile phone operators use. These can make instant decisions as to
whether phones have enough credit to make a call, and can read your
prepay balance back to you after a call, and can make itemised call
lists available online; so it ought to have been dead easy for Oyster
to be similarly dynamic. So it might have meant that tube stations and
buses needed a permanent data link back to some central billing
computer, so what, bandwidth including mobile bandwidth is dirt cheap
these days.

And I still think you should raise an enquiry/complaint with TfL about
the newsagent charging 80p for a top-up even if they do claim it is to
cover card transaction fees. The shop either wants the extra business
that being a ticket agent brings (people buying cola etc at the same
time), or they don't; and they need to factor their fees of providing
the service into whether they offer it or not.