"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before it
is automatically topped up is changing from £5 to £8. This is to ensure
that all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough credit on
their cards for any journey they wish to make."
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote:
"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before it is
automatically topped up is changing from £5 to £8. This is to ensure that
all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough credit on their
cards for any journey they wish to make."

Slightly misleading original subject line though - this is in relation to
*Auto* top-up, and is not to be confused with the £5 minimum top-up rule at
Tube station ticket offices (which seemingly isn't always enforced).

On Nov 23, 1:08*pm, "Mizter T" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote:
"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before it is
automatically topped up is changing from 5 to 8. This is to ensure that
all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough credit on their
cards for any journey they wish to make."

Slightly misleading original subject line though - this is in relation to
*Auto* top-up, and is not to be confused with the 5 minimum top-up rule at
Tube station ticket offices (which seemingly isn't always enforced).

It might not be a bad idea though. There are regular problems on the
buses where I live (Walthamstow) where people with Oyster PAYG touch
in with insufficient credit. When the bus driver explains that they
don't have enough credit and will either have to pay cash or get off,
some of them pretend not to understand and ask the driver whether they
can travel for nothing, as it is 6am and they have to get to work.
This causes delays which tends to p**s everyone off.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this issue though.

In message , at 13:08:59 on
Tue, 23 Nov 2010, Mizter T remarked:
"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before
it is automatically topped up is changing from £5 to £8. This is to
ensure that all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough
credit on their cards for any journey they wish to make."

Slightly misleading original subject line though - this is in relation
to *Auto* top-up, and is not to be confused with the £5 minimum top-up
rule at Tube station ticket offices (which seemingly isn't always
enforced)

Yes, I unfortunately missed out a word - now included.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote:

In message , at 13:08:59 on Tue,
23 Nov 2010, Mizter T remarked:

"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before it
is automatically topped up is changing from £5 to £8. This is to ensure
that all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough credit on
their cards for any journey they wish to make."

Slightly misleading original subject line though - this is in relation to
*Auto* top-up, and is not to be confused with the £5 minimum top-up rule
at Tube station ticket offices (which seemingly isn't always enforced)

Yes, I unfortunately missed out a word - now included.


I just thought I'd clarify it quickly so as to try and avert any misplaced
red mist descending amongst our contributors!

(If I'm being a pedant I'm not sure a subject line that includes "top-up
threshold" without any mention of "auto" is necessarily that much clearer -
but pedantry aside the body of your post made clear what this was about.)

Would be interesting to know broadly what proportion of Oyster cards in
regular usage (FSVO regular usage of course!) have Auto top-up enabled on
them - it'll be a minority, but how much of a minority would be interesting
to know.

On Nov 23, 12:02*pm, Roland Perry wrote:
"From 2 January 2011, the minimum balance on your Oyster card before it
is automatically topped up is changing from £5 to £8. This is to ensure
that all customers with Auto top-up will always have enough credit on
their cards for any journey they wish to make."

Perhaps Paul (Corfield) can answer this one
(enquiring minds want to know).

Surely with Auto top-up I'll always have enough credit to make a
journey as I'll get topped up when I enter?

Or is it the scenario where I have £5.10 left and make a £7.30
journey to Watford Junction from Zone 1 that leaves me in negative
balance that makes me unable to enter the system again.

Does Auto top-up work when your balance goes negative I think is the
underlying question.

If it does, why the increase to £8, or is it to protect from a very
large
(impossible) negative balance?

Matt.

In article ,
Matthew wrote:
Or is it the scenario where I have £5.10 left and make a £7.30
journey to Watford Junction from Zone 1 that leaves me in negative
balance that makes me unable to enter the system again.

I suspect it's probably because they don't really like cards having
negative balances if they can possibly avoid it. So they'd like to
ensure that you always have enough money on the card to make that 7.30
journey *without* going overdrawn.

-roy

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:31:33 +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:
I am guessing, because the point of this thread is news to me, that with
fare levels increasing from January that they are seeking to ensure that
balances do not become exhausted in short order. This probably also
keeps the volume of auto top up transactions in the system at manageable
levels.

Changing the auto top-up threshold isn't going to change the number of
transactions. If my fares cost £20/week I'll have one top-up a week
with any threshold, just with the new one TfL will get a bit more of my
money in the bank for eternity just in case I go to Watford.

Avoiding negative balances for auto top-up customers seems reasonable
though.

David

On Nov 23, 5:54*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:16:48 -0800 (PST), Paul
wrote:

It might not be a bad idea though. There are regular problems on the
buses where I live (Walthamstow) where people with Oyster PAYG touch
in with insufficient credit. When the bus driver explains that they
don't have enough credit and will either have to pay cash or get off,
some of them pretend not to understand and ask the driver whether they
can travel for nothing, as it is 6am and they have to get to work.
This causes delays which tends to p**s everyone off.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this issue though.

The easy solution is that people stop taking the **** and make sure
there is enough value on their cards. This is a standard "dodge" that
some people play in order to get their bus rides for free. I have seen
it so many times and the weary response from drivers suggests it is a
regular routine from the same old faces.

You would also be amazed at the number of people who go to a machine and
load just enough for the journey they are about to make. I recognise
some people are on tight budgets and cashflow is everything but I was
still surprised when I saw this recently.

--
Paul C

Exactly, I can imagine the response from a New York bus driver if I
said that I had failed to top up my pay per ride Metrocard. Also, it
is amazing how many of these people suddenly lose the ability to speak
English when the bus driver tells them they have to pay, or proffer a
£20 note, and then start arguing when the bus driver says they don't
have any change. If you use a Oyster card to make a PAYG journey on a
bus, does it show you the remaining balance just as it does on the
tube?

On Nov 24, 7:49*am, Paul wrote:
On Nov 23, 5:54*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:





On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:16:48 -0800 (PST), Paul
wrote:

It might not be a bad idea though. There are regular problems on the
buses where I live (Walthamstow) where people with Oyster PAYG touch
in with insufficient credit. When the bus driver explains that they
don't have enough credit and will either have to pay cash or get off,
some of them pretend not to understand and ask the driver whether they
can travel for nothing, as it is 6am and they have to get to work.
This causes delays which tends to p**s everyone off.

I don't know if there is an easy solution to this issue though.

The easy solution is that people stop taking the **** and make sure
there is enough value on their cards. This is a standard "dodge" that
some people play in order to get their bus rides for free. I have seen
it so many times and the weary response from drivers suggests it is a
regular routine from the same old faces.

You would also be amazed at the number of people who go to a machine and
load just enough for the journey they are about to make. I recognise
some people are on tight budgets and cashflow is everything but I was
still surprised when I saw this recently.

--
Paul C

Exactly, I can imagine the response from a New York bus driver if I
said that I had failed to top up my pay per ride Metrocard. * Also, it
is amazing how many of these people suddenly lose the ability to speak
English when the bus driver tells them they have to pay, or proffer a
£20 note, and then start arguing when the bus driver says they don't
have any change. *If you use a Oyster card to make a PAYG journey on a
bus, does it show you the remaining balance just as it does on the
tube?

Why should it be surprising that some people aren't inclined to lend
any more to TfL, interest-free, than they are already forced to?

The previous journey may not have been on a bus. Many LU gates give
no information, and many more give it in a tiny window that you can't
see without holding up the queue.

Last time I got the wrong kind of bleep on a bus, it was when the card
had been overcharged uncapped without me realising, after I'd
calculated that I ought to have enough to reach the cap.

I was going to be back on a travelcard the next day, so why leave
excessive credit on the card?