Oyster Renewal
 

On 7 Sep, 17:08, Walter Briscoe wrote:
In message of Mon, 7 Sep 2009 14:50:40
in uk.transport.london, David A Stocks writes





"neverwas" wrote in message news:yX1pm.76443$OO7.
...
No, I accept that. For the odd one-off transaction the inconvenience
is just about acceptable; the last time I collected anything at a
ticket gate was when I set up auto top-up. What I'm particularly
interested in is anyone who prefers online over manual top ups for
putting PAYG value on their Oyster on a regular basis.

Are you looking for script ideas for a variation on "what did the
Romans *ever do for us?".
No, just interested in who uses the facility and why. So far the the
only reasons given have been

o * *physical security, unsatisfactory siting of machine (so use a
machine elsewhere?)
o * *ticket machines don't take Amex (they do).

That's it.

I use auto top up and have done so for a couple of years without many
problems. The reason I do so is convenience. I generally don't have to
monitor the balance and it works.

OTOH, I had a card fail once and it did not actually top up. TfL is not
very interested in explaining Oyster failure and issued me another card.

You have to touch in at a nominated station to set it up for the first
time. If you don't intend to make a journey, staff can cancel the
charge.

I have not seen anybody mention collecting refunds, which is also done
at your nominated station.

The OP actually asked the question why refunds could be added at
Watford Junction but not PAYG top-ups ;) A fair proportion of the
thread has been about this difference and why people want to do on-
line top-up.

I did recently use it for another reason, my auto top-up adds £20.00,
but as I don't use PAYG very much as I have a Zone 1-5 annual
Travelcard, I made an on-line top up of £5 before making a trip to
Upminster for the Open Day on the Bank Holiday (the balance was £6.40
beforehand)

Oyster Renewal
 

On 2 Sep, 11:22, Daniel Barlow wrote:
Do tell. *My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be interested
to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

I do, as an occasional visitor to London who can't be ar*ed getting
embroiled in the general melee that always seems to exist at ticket
machines at King's Cross. In the few years of having an Oyster card
and using on-line top-ups I've never had a problem (until yesterday
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....cde82373?hl=en
). The only down-side is the bizarre requirement to nominate where to
collect the top-up, especially where a station such as King's Cross
has multiple options.

Oyster Renewal
 

In article
,
(obel15k) wrote:

On 2 Sep, 11:22, Daniel Barlow wrote:
Do tell. *My experience echoes Mr Stocks', so I would also be
interested to hear from people who do get use out of the service.

I do, as an occasional visitor to London who can't be ar*ed getting
embroiled in the general melee that always seems to exist at ticket
machines at King's Cross. In the few years of having an Oyster card
and using on-line top-ups I've never had a problem (until yesterday

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....44e8cde82373?h
l=en ). The only down-side is the bizarre requirement to nominate
where to collect the top-up, especially where a station such as
King's Cross has multiple options.

As King's Cross is also my point of arrival (from Cambridge) and because I
rarely use Oyster because I use my bike if I can and because I need
receipts when I do top up which match the usage I need to claim for, I
ensure my Oyster always has the minimum Zone 1 fare's credit on so I can
top up at the station I exit from.

Wherever that it, it is invariably, IME, *much* easier to top up at than
at King's Cross. Even if I have enough change to do so at a machine even
they always seem to have queues.

I think my selections are slightly fortunate and could founder if the East
Putney ticket office closes, though.

--
Colin Rosenstiel