Can a train company force me to do a minimum payment on card?

macman

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

You can now pay bus fare on any London bus (which is £1.35) by contactless card (tapping it against the Oyster reader). It is as quick and as cheap as using an Oyster card. If TfL can still turn a profit after the processing fees on £1.35, why can't the UK's TOCs?

Using Contactless cards on the Tube and daily price caps are coming soon.

tfl.gov.uk/contactless

It's going to be VERY useful for someone like me, who goes to London occasionally and uses Oyster. If I'm going from Paddington to Kings Cross on the bus, I'd much rather pay £1.35 from my debit card then go through the hassle of topping up my Oyster at the station or getting cash out.

Or you could just use auto top-up?

giraffe69

Using cards for so many small payments only increases the cost of products at the till.

I'm not so sure about that. There is a cost for holding cash, keeping it safe, transporting it to the bank, insuring to allow for holding it etc etc. Cash is very useful to businesses that don't want to be straight forward about VAT and other tax issues but fore the rest of us contactless cards are the coming thing not that this will stop the Luddites practising their mantra realting to inalienable rights and always having done it that way.

mttylad

In some countries such as Germany it is the norm to use cash and not cards. There is an aversion to debt in Germany.

Debit cards do not create debt, you can only spend what you have with them.

Stompa

barbarawright wrote: »

It's surely common practise for shops to refuse card payments for transactions less than a fiver or so...

That's not my experience. I'm not sure I ever recall having a sub £5 payment refused.

photome

vikingaero wrote: »

In some countries such as Germany it is the norm to use cash and not cards. There is an aversion to debt in Germany.

I take out £200 per week from the cashpoint. I can look into my wallet and see instantly how much I have left. With cards and NFC it isn't that easy to remember and add up credit/debit card slips and because of that people can spend inappropriately and buy things they shouldn't have.

Using cards for so many small payments only increases the cost of products at the till.

Debit cards dont inrease debt as you can only spend what you have.

Cash costs big businesses (like major supermarkets) a fortune as they have to pay someone to count it, thats why they like to give cashback as it reduces their costs

BobQ

I am sure there are costs involved in processing a debit caard so why is a minimum charge not acceptable.

I have always been fed up with people paying by card and wasting my time (not so much of a problem on a train!). Carrying enough money for your forseeable needs is not a big issue especially for a trivial sum like this.

RobertoMoir

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

............these are the same people who seem to be happy that over 30,000 of their fellow Americans die by firearms every year..................

Well that's certainly a cogent argument as to the validity of one payment system over another. Bravo.

phillai

For me, I don't like to carry cash around (I've been mugged before and its not a nice experience).

Why should I have to bring cash if I see that I won't need to have cash during that day. It's not that I am being irresponsible as I've still taking my visa debit card with me.

And I disagree with people saying I am wasting their time using my debit card - I am saving them time as they don't need to fumble for any change.

Why do you think supermarkets are starting to have more self service tills?

Anyway, I know some people agree and some people disagree but are they any experts that genuinely know where I stand if they did ask me to make a minimum payment on card?

melbell

You say the NRCoC say there is no provision for minimum spend but they require you to either have a ticket or permit to travel before you board so go figure

callum9999

barbarawright wrote: »

Yes because I'm British. When Americans have a decent rail network, I'll take my lead from them on how to buy a ticket. It's surely common practise for shops to refuse card payments for transactions less than a fiver or so, why would it be different on a train?

Is it? I hardly think so. The only example I can come up with is Aldi. It's not remotely common practise for shops (that operate on a comparable scale to a train operating company) to place a minimum amount on card payments.

As to the idea that it's embarrassing to pay for small amounts on a card, that is one of the most moronic things I've ever heard... I always buy my £2.30 ticket with a credit card (though before I board the train, as you are meant to!) - what on earth is wrong with that... It's virtually the same speed as paying with cash, I get 3% of it back (not much no, but it adds up to around £10 across the year) and I don't have to carry around a pocket full of jangling coins for the rest of the day.