Okay, so having to get my next monthly travelcard via Oyster is now a
foregone concslusion, but I want to clarify a couple of points that
the web-site is characteristically vague about.

Up until now, I've always renewed my monthly travelcard at Bounds
Green, but will often not immediately renew if I don't need to travel
on the days after the expirity. For example, if it ran out on a
Friday or a Saturday, I usually wouldn't renew it to start again until
the following Monday. Taking into account various weekends, bank
holidays, being out of town, etc., it usually mean not having to buy a
full 12 monthly TCs over the course of a year (e.g. 11 months and a
couple of weeklies), thereby saving money. Is it possible to have
gaps like this using Oyster.

Example: My monthly TC's worth runs out on, say, the 5th of the month
and I renew it either at a Tube station or via the web-site on that
day or the 6th or 7th, but don't actually use the card for a journey
until the 8th. Will the start date of the new month be the 8th, to
expire on the next 7th, or will it be counted as a consecutive with
the previous month, starting on the 6th and expiring again on the next
5th?

Secondly, all the literature states that the card gets "re-charged"
when you next use it at your nominated station (or whatever). So what
happens in the above example if I need to make my first journey on the
8th via _another_ station or even by bus? Previously, because it was
possible to get a card renewed to start in a few days time, that sort
of flexibility was possible - you could get the new card, already
valid to use by any appropriate route, before the old one ran out, and
even if there was a day or two's gap between the two.

Oyster seems a great idea in principle, but at the moment it seems far
less flexible than the "old" system.

On 3 Oct 2003 03:19:24 -0700, Nick Cooper 625 wrote:
Up until now, I've always renewed my monthly travelcard at Bounds
Green, but will often not immediately renew if I don't need to travel
on the days after the expirity.
snip
Is it possible to have
gaps like this using Oyster.

Yes.

Example: My monthly TC's worth runs out on, say, the 5th of the month
and I renew it either at a Tube station or via the web-site on that
day or the 6th or 7th, but don't actually use the card for a journey
until the 8th. Will the start date of the new month be the 8th, to
expire on the next 7th, or will it be counted as a consecutive with
the previous month, starting on the 6th and expiring again on the next
5th?

What ever you choose, but you won't be able to renew it via the
website on the 6th or 7th to start on the 8th. If you want to renew
on the website you need to do so a few days in advance. The website
will tell you what the earlise start date is (I'm getting the Sunday
5th at the moment). I don't think you can buy a pass from the touch
screen machines that starts in the future but since you couldn't
buy passes from them anyway that's not a loss.

Secondly, all the literature states that the card gets "re-charged"
when you next use it at your nominated station (or whatever). So what
happens in the above example if I need to make my first journey on the
8th via _another_ station or even by bus? Previously, because it was
possible to get a card renewed to start in a few days time, that sort
of flexibility was possible - you could get the new card, already
valid to use by any appropriate route, before the old one ran out, and
even if there was a day or two's gap between the two.

An Oystercard can hold something like 3 tickets so you can do exactly
what you did with paper tickets.

David

"Nick Cooper 625" wrote in message
om...
Okay, so having to get my next monthly travelcard via Oyster is now a
foregone concslusion, but I want to clarify a couple of points that
the web-site is characteristically vague about.


[snip]

i had asked exactly the same two questions that you have just now when i got
mine a few months ago. ive found that, since you can renew them at machines
and over the counter, im using them exactly as i would paper tickets, which
is a shame really. i thought oysters would allow me to renew and use them on
a bus that same morning. now, im doing the same thing that i was with
paper - walking to the station the day i want to renew my ticket. internet
renewals are a bit silly if you dont know which station youll be travelling
from for sure, or if you dont know when your start date will be.

i wonder if bus conductors allow you to board their bus if its clear you
will renew at the station?

On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 14:38:26 +0100, spammy wrote:
i had asked exactly the same two questions that you have just now when i got
mine a few months ago. ive found that, since you can renew them at machines
and over the counter, im using them exactly as i would paper tickets, which
is a shame really. i thought oysters would allow me to renew and use them on
a bus that same morning. now, im doing the same thing that i was with
paper - walking to the station the day i want to renew my ticket. internet
renewals are a bit silly if you dont know which station youll be travelling
from for sure, or if you dont know when your start date will be.

Can't you renew your ticket at a pass agent somewhere? I belive
they have Oyster capable machines and the extra functionality is
about to be enabled.

David

"David Walters" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 14:38:26 +0100, spammy wrote:
i had asked exactly the same two questions that you have just now when i
got
mine a few months ago. ive found that, since you can renew them at
machines
and over the counter, im using them exactly as i would paper tickets,
which
is a shame really. i thought oysters would allow me to renew and use
them on
a bus that same morning. now, im doing the same thing that i was with
paper - walking to the station the day i want to renew my ticket.
internet
renewals are a bit silly if you dont know which station youll be
travelling
from for sure, or if you dont know when your start date will be.

Can't you renew your ticket at a pass agent somewhere? I belive
they have Oyster capable machines and the extra functionality is
about to be enabled.

David


Apparently you can only "load" your tickets onto your card at the stations
in the dropdown menu on the sales site, ie. tube stations I believe. This is
a bitch for me since I live in Greenwich and therefore I have to either
travel without a ticket to a compatible station or buy a single ticket to
there and (as I was advised on the Oyster helpline) claim a refund back for
the single ticket.

I mean really, what a palaver, as if I can be arsed to claim back that
single ticket!!

This is a true case of users having to work round a system's inadequacies
rather than the system meeting needs in the first place.

In Rob wrote:

Apparently you can only "load" your tickets onto your card at the
stations in the dropdown menu on the sales site, ie. tube stations I
believe. This is a bitch for me since I live in Greenwich and
therefore I have to either travel without a ticket to a compatible
station or buy a single ticket to there and (as I was advised on the
Oyster helpline) claim a refund back for the single ticket.

I'm also looking at this problem, as I live in Lewisham. I'm on my first
Oyster monthly at the moment. If I buy my next monthly well in advance,
will it load onto my card at my selected station (probably London Bridge)
before my old season expires, or does it wait until the first day of my
new season?

I know the Oyster cards can store more than one ticket (up to three?),
so it would make sense to me to have both my current season and my next
one stored on there at the same time to get a smooth changeover. But
whether they're doing this or not I don't know.


Mark

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 08:23:08 GMT, Mark Etherington wrote:
I'm also looking at this problem, as I live in Lewisham. I'm on my first
Oyster monthly at the moment. If I buy my next monthly well in advance,
will it load onto my card at my selected station (probably London Bridge)
before my old season expires,

Yes, you get a flashing green light at the barrier to show the new
ticket has loaded.

David