wrote:
I never queue for top-ups because I mainly use Oyster Ticket Stops. But then
I spend well under £20 a year on Oyster. Would anyone visiting 2 or 3 times
a year spend even that?

It's not hard to burn through a tenner (my standard topup) in a couple of
visits, particularly if they're multi-day (eg passing through, out Friday
back Sunday). It's not just the topup, but leaving enough remaining to make
another journey without topping up.

It's particularly the issue for buses, where there are no topup facilities.
I'm often getting off a train, walking to X, doing thing, then wanting to
get a bus to Y, at which point you don't want to find the nearest tube to
topup (I suspect few non-Londoners use Ticket Stops or would know where to
find the nearest). Or getting National Express in, where I don't pass
through a mainline station. And it's handy to have credit when you land at
Heathrow and want to take a bus - is there still no Oyster facility at the
bus station?

I've not used contactless, so this could be less of an issue due to that.

Theo

through a mainline station. And it's handy to have credit when you land at
Heathrow and want to take a bus - is there still no Oyster facility at the
bus station?

No, but it is after all directly above the T123 Underground station.

I suppose it might be slightly more if an issue if you're going
directly from T4 or T5 on a bus.

In article ,
(Theo Markettos) wrote:

wrote:
I never queue for top-ups because I mainly use Oyster Ticket Stops.
But then I spend well under £20 a year on Oyster. Would anyone
visiting 2 or 3 times a year spend even that?

It's not hard to burn through a tenner (my standard topup) in a couple of
visits, particularly if they're multi-day (eg passing through, out Friday
back Sunday). It's not just the topup, but leaving enough remaining to
make another journey without topping up.

I don't think I've ever got close but then almost all my tube journeys are
within Zones 1 & 2 (the Putney stations are in Zones 2 and 3) and I tend
just to make an out and back pair of journeys.

It's particularly the issue for buses, where there are no topup
facilities. I'm often getting off a train, walking to X, doing thing,
then wanting to get a bus to Y, at which point you don't want to find the
nearest tube to topup (I suspect few non-Londoners use Ticket Stops or
would know where to find the nearest). Or getting National Express in,
where I don't pass through a mainline station. And it's handy to have
credit when you land at Heathrow and want to take a bus - is there still
no Oyster facility at the bus station?

Sir wants to find more ticket stops.

I've not used contactless, so this could be less of an issue due to that.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Tue, Oct 07, 2014 at 10:36:00PM +0100, Theo Markettos wrote:

I suspect few non-Londoners use Ticket Stops or would know where to
find the nearest.

I'm a Londoner and I don't know where the nearest Ticket Stop is either.

A few years back, when people here were incorrectly claiming that Oyster
was great despite it not really being available south of the river (and
note that it's *still* not fully available), I had a look on TfL's
web****e, and IIRC of the few they listed close to home, one didn't
exist and one was in the wrong place. Also - and this was back in the
day when you couldn't top up at National Rail stations, so you couldn't
top up at pretty much any station south of the river - there were none
visible from the station, and none open late in the evening.

Lemme go and check again ...

[pause]

Haha, http://ticketstoplocator.tfl.gov.uk/LocationLocator/ says that
there are no ticket stops anywhere near where I live (CR7 8JH) or work
(E1 6QL) or near Victoria station (SW1E 5ND). If TfL can't find the
damned things, god help any tourist foolish enough to try to use one.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

Anyone willing to give up a little fun for tolerance deserves neither

On 2014-10-08 10:43:02 +0000, David Cantrell said:

CR7 8JH

Thornton Heath station ticket machine? And in the other case Victoria station?

I thought the point was to provide them where the railway/Tube doesn't.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

In article ,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

CR7 8JH

Thornton Heath station ticket machine? And in the other case
Victoria station?

I thought the point was to provide them where the railway/Tube
doesn't.

Not exactly. The Ticket Stop I've used most often recently is on the East
Putney station forecourt. Not in a parade at all.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Wed, Oct 08, 2014 at 11:55:00AM +0100, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2014-10-08 10:43:02 +0000, David Cantrell said:
CR7 8JH
Thornton Heath station ticket machine? And in the other case Victoria station?
I thought the point was to provide them where the railway/Tube doesn't.

The railway doesn't provide them. AFAIK ticket machines won't sell you a
new Oyster card, but Ticket Stops are supposed to. And anyway, if having
a station nearby was good enough, then surely ticket stops would have
never existed near any tube station.

--
David Cantrell | semi-evolved ape-thing

"IMO, the primary historical significance of Unix is that it marks the
time in computer history where CPUs became so cheap that it was possible
to build an operating system without adult supervision."
-- Russ Holsclaw in a.f.c

On 10/10/2014 12:07, David Cantrell wrote:

On Wed, Oct 08, 2014 at 11:55:00AM +0100, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2014-10-08 10:43:02 +0000, David Cantrell said:
CR7 8JH
Thornton Heath station ticket machine? And in the other case Victoria station?
I thought the point was to provide them where the railway/Tube doesn't.

The railway doesn't provide them. AFAIK ticket machines won't sell you a
new Oyster card, but Ticket Stops are supposed to. And anyway, if having
a station nearby was good enough, then surely ticket stops would have
never existed near any tube station.


FWIW, Tube TVMs are now equipped to 'sell' Oyster cards.

The commission that the TOCs must have missed out on by not being able
to do top-ups at ticket offices must be significant.

On 2014-10-10 11:07:29 +0000, David Cantrell said:

The railway doesn't provide them. AFAIK ticket machines won't sell you a
new Oyster card, but Ticket Stops are supposed to. And anyway, if having
a station nearby was good enough, then surely ticket stops would have
never existed near any tube station.

I think they're driven more by newsagents wanting to provide a service
and considering it profitable than TfL approaching newsagents asking
them to offer it. So there will be some duplication and gaps.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 08/10/2014 11:43, David Cantrell wrote:
On Tue, Oct 07, 2014 at 10:36:00PM +0100, Theo Markettos wrote:

I suspect few non-Londoners use Ticket Stops or would know where to
find the nearest.


Lemme go and check again ...

[pause]

Haha, http://ticketstoplocator.tfl.gov.uk/LocationLocator/ says that
there are no ticket stops anywhere near where I live (CR7 8JH) or work
(E1 6QL) or near Victoria station (SW1E 5ND). If TfL can't find the
damned things, god help any tourist foolish enough to try to use one.

Yeah - it appears to be broken, go here and try again:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/maps/oyster-ti....5217056274414

(Google still picks up the website you indicated, but navigating the
"new" TfL website takes you to the link I've supplied)