Oyster card users: always touch in and out or get fined!

puritycontroller

wendy_ann1983 wrote:

Oyster does have its problems but if used properly will work out cheaper.
The initial card will cost £3, you can then put up to £90 PAYG on it (though I wouldn't suggest it). If travelling after 09:30 then £25 should be enough. If you end up not using it all, anything left over will stay on the card for you to use on your next trip.
Hope you don't want to use the bus too much on 27th, as there is a strike, Metroline drivers, approx 70 different routes, though keep an eye on the news as it may change.

Just remember to ALWAYS TOUCH IN & OUT. Oh and enjoy your trip.

PS there are 2for1 deals that you can make the most of with your Oyster, look out for the leaflet in stations.

Thank you for your advice! Especially for the bus strike info - I wasn't aware of that. And I'll look out for those 2for1 deals, as I'll be travelling with friends.
Thanks for taking the time to reply!

wendy_ann1983

Keep an eye on http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/
will deatil which services are not working

M_Thomson

wendy_ann1983 wrote:

Well after the first day of the £4 charge I am still alive. However I really do need to find a new job, I have a soul and a conscience.
A poor woman came through, she had £3.80 on her card, tapped in at a station, got to her destination and it wouldn't let her out, so we checked her card and it had taken the £4 off. Leaving her -£0.20. We couldn't work out why it had done it. So for a £1 journey she ended up paying £4, just because the card decided it didn't want to play. Another guy mad 1 journey, tapped in at A- charged £4, got to station B- got charged £4 so for the 1 journey thats £8, should have only been £1, could see no reason for the card to have done it.
So beware, to be honest if youre using pre pay to get the daily cap, you may as well spend the extra 50p and buy a paper ticket, less hassle in the long run.

You should have checked their journeys made on the ticket machine. My guess is for some reason, they didn't touch in properly.

gromituk

From "Your texts" in "Thelondonpaper" 24/11/06:

"I was charged a penalty fare on my Oystercard twice. Staff at Waterloo said it's a random fault and they are getting hundreds of complaints. The helpdesk confirmed the problem and said they were getting loads of calls from people whose cards have been emptied this way. Don't use your Oyster card till this problem is solved." - Anonymous

Of course this might be complete baloney, and the advice given is wrong: keep using your Oyster card but keep an eye on its balance. If you don't use your Oyster card you'll simply pay more, all the time (as well as be inconvenienced).

wendy_ann1983

M_Thomson wrote:

You should have checked their journeys made on the ticket machine. My guess is for some reason, they didn't touch in properly.

If it was just that they hadn't touched in/out, I wouln't have posted it. The first thing I do is to check the card usage.

We are now getting many complaints that people are being charged twice and some lucky ones are not being charged at all.

Please keep an eye on your balance using the sceern on the gates and using the touch screen machines, go to 'View Oyster Usage' this will show your last few journeys and whether you have touched in and out.

brenmcc1

I've just started readig this thread...not up on all the oystercard ways so am I correct in saying that if I travel off peak between zones 1-4 all day the maximum I will pay on my card is £4.90??!?!

wendy_ann1983

brenmcc1 wrote:

I've just started readig this thread...not up on all the oystercard ways so am I correct in saying that if I travel off peak between zones 1-4 all day the maximum I will pay on my card is £4.90??!?!

Yes, as long as you use it correctly.

brenmcc1

ah excellent, I've been buying day passes all the time at £5.50.
ah but toes it also count for busses too? because you can use the day pass on bus also...

gromituk

Read all about it on TfL's website...

wendy_ann1983

if your just travelling on buses it will cap at £3 for a bus pass, if you are travelling on bus and tube it will cap at travel card (only in zones travelled on tube, no bus zones anymore) you still cant use the PAYG on a lot of mainline services though.