contactless cards

RG2015

macman wrote: »

He retired in 1992, long before contactless cards were even thought of, let alone online banking...
OP, he will either have to use PAYG Oyster, or use cash fares-and pay considerably more if the latter. And, without Oyster or contactless, he won't be able to use London buses at all.

I was speaking in general terms about bankers not specifically contactless or online. I am sure that they have been ripping us off since well before 1992!

Gers

Does a contactless card not work through a plastic wallet?

I must have a go as I've never tried! My old biddy bus pass does but I imagine that the plastic would block transmission - not geeky so I am assuming that.

May have a go tomorrow when I pay for some goods, my local supermarket staff are friendly enough and won't mind me trying it out.

trailingspouse

Many thanks for all the replies. Yes, appealing to his pocket is the way to go - he'll be very pleased to hear that it's cheaper to go contactless (he's from Yorkshire...).

My Mum is much more on-the-button - she's noticed that one of their cards isn't contactless, has decided which of her contactless cards she will use, has put it somewhere that is easier for her to reach than buried in her purse at the bottom of her handbag (but still secure), and is aware that they need to get their cards out before they reach the barrier so that they're not holding people up. Not bad at 86. Dad, on the other hand...

I think they have Oyster cards from a previous visit, but I agree the queues to top up are horrendous - and the ticket machines aren't easy for the infrequent user. Contactless is just so simple. And cheap! I'll call them tonight and pass that on.

Re Mum using her contactless card and letting Dad get on with it - he has suggested (jokingly) that he could just walk instead. As they're heading from St Pancras to Ealing, that could take a while!!

lr1277

EachPenny wrote: »

The main issue for me, as mentioned by IR1277 too, is that keeping your contactless card safe is difficult on a public transport system if you have to keep on getting it out. Keeping your cards safely zipped away conflicts with the need for speedy access.

You put it so much better than me.

In response to the other poster about using the card whilst it is still in your wallet (sorry I haven't learnt how to do multiple quotes), I have many contactless cards in my wallet. So I don't which one would be picked up by the system. Also on the tube you have to keep using the same contactless card for all your journeys in a day, so if the barrier picks a different card every time you go through, that would be a very expensive day.

alanq

I too am wary of contactless. I have a prepayment card which I use contactlessly which I find convenient. I am willing to take the risk for the small amount on the card but would not use my main credit / debit cards in that way.

The advantages of contactless / Oyster can be overstated for train fares.

For me, travelling from a National Rail station, if travelling at weekends or in the middle of the day two Oyster singles will cost less than a paper return. However, if making the outward journey off-peak and return during the evening peak period a paper cheap day return is cheaper.

Also as my local station has no gates I have on a couple of occasions left without touching out and incurred a penalty. This can be reclaimed for occasional lapses
but it took about 20 mins on the phone last time I did so.

trailingspouse

oo, I never realised that there was a penalty for not touching the card at the end of the journey. Maybe all the stations I used last time I was down there had barriers, because I haven't been charged a penalty.

Will flag that up to the parents.

Katiehound

trailingspouse wrote: »

oo, I never realised that there was a penalty for not touching the card at the end of the journey. Maybe all the stations I used last time I was down there had barriers, because I haven't been charged a penalty.

Will flag that up to the parents.

Remember that was the scheme some commuter used to swindle can't-remember-how-much from the system a couple / few years ago. Think it was £Ks . He just didn't touch the card at the end of the journey - plus some other avoidance techniques!!

EachPenny

Gers wrote: »

Does a contactless card not work through a plastic wallet?

Yes, and that's part of the problem. If you have more than one card in your wallet then the contactless system doesn't know which one to use, so the charge will be applied randomly to one of the cards - maybe not the one you intended. As per IR's comment, if you are doing this on the Oyster system it can get very expensive. If the different touch-in touch-outs are recorded to different cards you end up with lots of incomplete journeys.

trailingspouse wrote: »

I think they have Oyster cards from a previous visit, but I agree the queues to top up are horrendous...

If they have, and don't intend to use them again then they should return them to get back any credit plus the deposit for the card - it could add up to quite a bit. Alternatively, using the cards would overcome the concern about contactless security

If you set up an online account you can add credit to the cards at home before you travel. Multiple cards can be managed on one account, so it really is quite simple. Alternatively, try to top up at quieter stations - Ealing should have less queues than St Pancras for example.

trailingspouse wrote: »

I never realised that there was a penalty for not touching the card at the end of the journey.

It isn't a penalty as such, if you don't touch out then the system doesn't know where you travelled to, it might have been one stop, it could be to the end of the line. So the system applies a 'maximum cash fare' to stop people failing to touch out to evade a fare.

You can be charged a penalty if you fail to touch in though - this is considered to be ticketless travel and the revenue protection officers have equipment to check you have touched in with at least one card.

If you have genuinely forgotten to touch out and been charged a maximum fare then it is possible to use the online facility to put in the correct touch-out details. This will then compute the correct fare for the journey and put a refund on the card. Obviously you need to put the correct touch out location into the system - our public transport network is well equipped with CCTV so if you claim to have exited at station 'x' when you really went to station 'y' it is possible for them to check and catch you out. Not that your parents are likely to be attempting to evade their fares of course

EachPenny

Katiehound wrote: »

He just didn't touch the card at the end of the journey - plus some other avoidance techniques!!

I think it was the other way round - he touched in and out, but not necessarily at the station he started and finished his day at.

If you regularly fail to touch out you will be paying multiple maximum fares and no doubt will flag up in the system that you aren't using it correctly. The advantage for TfL is the data generated by the Oyster system means they know where to wait for you if they know you are up to no good

lr1277

If you do set up an Oyster account online to top it up, please remember that the credit won't be applied till the next day. And you have to nominate a station you are definitely travelling to. Also you need to have enough credits to get you to that station in the first place.
But other than that, simples.