sweek wrote:

This is only true for the first time, to activate auto-top-up. After
that the card will top up at any gate you enter through.

I know - but I can rarely predict in advance (i.e. more than a couple
of minutes in advance) what my next Tube journey will be. I mostly end
up pre-paying on buses.

Why can't you get the setup "signal" from one of the ticket machines, I
wonder, or at a ticket office?

Neil