The oyster-only tube
 

Ran out of credit on my prepay oyster this morning, so I was faced with
a 10 minute queue to one of 2 machines that can do topups at Oxford
Circus. Almost everyone else in the queue was topping up.

There were 8 unused cash ticket machines. What a waste of space, why
haven't the majority (or all) of these been converted to card/oyster
machines? Is it a deliberate decision to raise more money from those in
a rush?

The oyster-only tube
 

Ran out of credit on my prepay oyster this morning, so I was faced with
a 10 minute queue to one of 2 machines that can do topups at Oxford
Circus. Almost everyone else in the queue was topping up.

There were 8 unused cash ticket machines. What a waste of space, why
haven't the majority (or all) of these been converted to card/oyster
machines? Is it a deliberate decision to raise more money from those in
a rush?

Or is it a deliberate decision to encourage you to sign up for auto top up?

The oyster-only tube
 

On 29 Aug 2006 11:02:55 -0700, "Paul Weaver"
wrote:

Ran out of credit on my prepay oyster this morning, so I was faced with
a 10 minute queue to one of 2 machines that can do topups at Oxford
Circus. Almost everyone else in the queue was topping up.

There were 8 unused cash ticket machines. What a waste of space, why
haven't the majority (or all) of these been converted to card/oyster
machines? Is it a deliberate decision to raise more money from those in
a rush?

They did announce a new type of ticket machine a few weeks ago that
will fit into many of these spaces. You expect them to do it
overnight?

Why don't you just register for auto-topup and avoid the problem
altogether?

The oyster-only tube
 

Peter Frimberley wrote:
On 29 Aug 2006 11:02:55 -0700, "Paul Weaver"
wrote:

Ran out of credit on my prepay oyster this morning, so I was faced with
a 10 minute queue to one of 2 machines that can do topups at Oxford
Circus. Almost everyone else in the queue was topping up.

There were 8 unused cash ticket machines. What a waste of space, why
haven't the majority (or all) of these been converted to card/oyster
machines? Is it a deliberate decision to raise more money from those in
a rush?

They did announce a new type of ticket machine a few weeks ago that
will fit into many of these spaces. You expect them to do it
overnight?

Oyster was launched in 2003, and the ridiculous cash prices were
launched 8 months ago. It's either malaice or incompetence. They should
have known that once prices were half-price on oyster, hardly anyone
would buy cash tickets, and have had drop in machines designed and
ready to slowly take over.

Why don't you just register for auto-topup and avoid the problem
altogether?

Because that involves registering my oyster and tying it with a credit
card, rather than anonymous cash top-ups.

The oyster-only tube
 

Peter Frimberley wrote:


Why don't you just register for auto-topup and avoid the problem
altogether?

I don't believe it works. I've tried various online things so far
(buying a new ticket, buying new credit...) and none of them have
worked. Station staff have told me they often don't and not to bother
with Oyster online.

It sounds like a really rubbish system with little thought gone into
it.

Francis

The oyster-only tube
 

The oyster-only tube
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

I don't believe it works.

Believe! It works fine - never had a problem.

I've tried various online things so far
(buying a new ticket, buying new credit...) and none of them have
worked.

You must be doing it wrong.

Station staff have told me they often don't and not to bother
with Oyster online.

They are idiots.

Ian

The oyster-only tube
 

On 31 Aug 2006 01:16:01 -0700, wrote:


Peter Frimberley wrote:


Why don't you just register for auto-topup and avoid the problem
altogether?

I don't believe it works. I've tried various online things so far
(buying a new ticket, buying new credit...) and none of them have
worked. Station staff have told me they often don't and not to bother
with Oyster online.

It sounds like a really rubbish system with little thought gone into
it.

Francis

It's only rubbish in that you have to go down to £5 to trigger the
next top up, which used to be a problem for me since I get a lot of
buses rather than tubes. But I *think* I read that it works on buses
as well now, so the low threshold should no longer be a problem for
me.

Besides the low threshold it works perfectly. It even emails to say
that you got topped up successfully.

The oyster-only tube
 

Ian F. wrote:


You must be doing it wrong.



How on earth do you know that? No system is infallible.

This is what I did: my Oyster card is registered. I used the Oyster
website and asked it to add some credit to my card. I selected my local
station. All this was confirmed. After the usual period (something like
a week) when I had swiped the card at my station twice every day, I
received the email from Oyster that says that for some reason the
increase in credit failed to take effect.

I cannot see what I *could* have done wrong. I followed the
instructions to the letter and the system failed me.

My suspicion is that either (a) it can't cope with the fact that I am
using a season ticket and for some reason doesn't understand that it
needs to credit me; or (b) there is some problem with the fact that my
card is a replacement (after the old card stopped working).

I have also tried buying a new season ticket online and had the same
experience (it failed to be added). It took me ages to get it sorted
out and a refund.

I can try again if you like, but really don't expect it to work. Can
you suggest anything I might have done wrong?

Francis

The oyster-only tube
 

In message .com,
writes
I cannot see what I *could* have done wrong. I followed the
instructions to the letter and the system failed me.

My suspicion is that either (a) it can't cope with the fact that I am
using a season ticket and for some reason doesn't understand that it
needs to credit me; or (b) there is some problem with the fact that my
card is a replacement (after the old card stopped working).

Now Paul C might be able to shed more light on this but I suspect you
are still trying to put credit on the old card and not the new one
that's been issued. I think I saw (hereabouts?) that you need to
re-register the replacement card and have the Oyster helpdesk 'unlink'
the old one from your account.

If you blindly attempt to put money/travelcards onto a cancelled card,
it's not surprising if it won't work.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)