Oyster Card - weird

Thomask

Hi

Can anyone explain the following:

I have an Adult Oyster card with a Young Person's railcard loaded against it (no relevance as journey was not started in off peak but strange scenario so thought I'd mention it).

I took a trip today during peak time (about 9:05am) from Angel (zone 1) to Uxbridge (zone 6). It was correctly charged at £3.50. I then took a bus about lunchtime and was charged 90p, again correct. At about 4.45pm today I took a trip from Uxbridge to Kings Cross and was only charged £3.30 and the Oyster card then capped! Great for me, just bizzare. So it's capped at £7.70. The only mention anywhere in the TFL booklet of a '£7.70' price is the daily cap for zones 1 - 9 (not 1 - 6) when started in OFF peak time!

Any thoughts?

silvercar

Presumably you arrived at Uxbridge after 9.30am. Maybe it took some of your Angel to Uxbridge journey towards the daily cap?

Keith

I have to buy and use an Oyster card tomorrow for the first time, and to be honest it baffles me!

Thomask

the cap was based on when you start the journey ie. touch in ?

isasmurf

Thomask wrote: »

I have an Adult Oyster card with a Young Person's railcard loaded against it (no relevance as journey was not started in off peak but strange scenario so thought I'd mention it).

It's very relevant.

To work out what's happened here, you need to go backwards.

Your evening journey from Uxbridge - Kings Cross PAYG cost £3.5
Your bus journey cost 90p
Total so far £4.40
Check against Z1-6 travelcard (with YP Railcard discount) cap £4.20
You've paid more then the cap so your Oyster is now capped at an Off-Peak Z1-6 travelcard fare.

Add on the peak morning fare of £3.50 to your off-peak cap of £4.20

Total £7.70

Keith

I did it today, even though I was advised by London Underground to buy a travelcard! £7.70 or something it was, so I asked about prepay, which cost me £3 plus the £3 deposit!

oioiyoyo

If you buy a travelcard on Oyster then its an ok system. However, if you wish to make sporadic journeys in London i.e. top up (which I do when I can't cycle into work), then it is totally flawed so I thought I warn anyone I can just so they are aware of what they are getting into.

First and foremost, even if you diligently swipe in and out, some stations don't register it and you spend your life ringing oyster getting refunds (at least you can save money by ringing 02072277886 rather than the 0870 number).

Secondly and most importantly, Oyster top up can only really work if you stick to tubes and this is why... If you are a bus user (i.e. your nearest tube is a bus journey away or for instance, like many Londoners, you decide to stay out at the weekend after last tube and get the bus home late at night) then its a totally flawed system in three ways:

Capping: this will ONLY occur if you only use tubes, bus journeys are in addition not included when it comes to capping. So when you think you can only possibly spend a maximum amount a day, you end up using up all your money on your card and getting caught out when you step onto a bus, which leads me to...

Topping up: the only place you can top up is at a tube station, so if its late at night and you get onto a bus and you have only at this point found you have no money on your card, there is no way and no where to top up so you end up having to put £2 instead of 90p for your journey. That's if you have any change on you at the time...

Auto top up: Again is a pointless system as you can sort this all out online only to get to the final payment stage to discover once again, you need to go all the way to a tube station to swipe your card in order for your auto-top up to be initially registered and re-topped up thereafter. It does not top up on buses as they aren't linked to the central system. So, in fact, its not automatic at all. Plus you have to nominate one station only to get your refund.

Rant over, but hopefully these points will come in useful next time you want to use Oyster...

chuckley

oioiyoyo wrote: »

If you buy a travelcard on Oyster then its an ok system. However, if you wish to make sporadic journeys in London i.e. top up (which I do when I can't cycle into work), then it is totally flawed so I thought I warn anyone I can just so they are aware of what they are getting into.

First and foremost, even if you diligently swipe in and out, some stations don't register it and you spend your life ringing oyster getting refunds (at least you can save money by ringing 02072277886 rather than the 0870 number).

and did it beep once and turn green?

Secondly and most importantly, Oyster top up can only really work if you stick to tubes and this is why... If you are a bus user (i.e. your nearest tube is a bus journey away or for instance, like many Londoners, you decide to stay out at the weekend after last tube and get the bus home late at night) then its a totally flawed system in three ways:

Capping: this will ONLY occur if you only use tubes, bus journeys are in addition not included when it comes to capping. So when you think you can only possibly spend a maximum amount a day, you end up using up all your money on your card and getting caught out when you step onto a bus, which leads me to...

if u mix tubes, bus n trams it caps at 50p less than daily travel card. it doesnt cap at different rates. so u must be doin summat wrong...

Topping up: the only place you can top up is at a tube station, so if its late at night and you get onto a bus and you have only at this point found you have no money on your card, there is no way and no where to top up so you end up having to put £2 instead of 90p for your journey. That's if you have any change on you at the time...

FALSE... theres train stations, local newsagents... and some off licences. if u dont have enough on your card thats 100% your fault, unless theres been a fault with the machines.

Auto top up: Again is a pointless system as you can sort this all out online only to get to the final payment stage to discover once again, you need to go all the way to a tube station to swipe your card in order for your auto-top up to be initially registered and re-topped up thereafter. It does not top up on buses as they aren't linked to the central system. So, in fact, its not automatic at all. Plus you have to nominate one station only to get your refund.

AGAIN FALSE... can prove handy for folk that start journeys at certain train, tube and tram stations. the system clearly tells you you have to pick up at a certain station BEFORE you proceed to pay.

Rant over, but hopefully these points will come in useful next time you want to use Oyster...

I think you have had oyster problems PURELY through your own errors.

marksmith99

chuckley wrote: »

I think you have had oyster problems PURELY through your own errors.

Bit aggressive I think.

None of the SW train stations I use allow you to top up Oysters (the only exception I can think of may be Clapham Junction which is the end of this London Overground thing).

On auto top up, it is a right pain that you have to go to a tube station and go through the barriers. My wife only uses Oyster for buses and so can't auto, which means from time to time she runs out of money and has to pay the cash fare. I phoned the helpline and they said the only way to get auto to work would be to do it at a tube station then go straight to the ticket office and get a refund back onto the card as you hadn't travelled anywhere.

isasmurf

She can run down the Oyster card that she has and then apply for a new Oyster card with auto top up already included from the TfL website.

If you do not have access to a Tube station or tram stop, you can run the balance of your current card to zero and get a new Oyster card at Oyster Online. This new card will be set up with Auto top-up and can be activated by touching it on any card reader (bus, Tube, tram, DLR or London Overground). Once activated, your pay as you go balance will automatically be topped up whenever it falls below £5 and you touch it on any card reader (except ticket machines).

oioiyoyo

First of all, Mr/Mrs/Ms Chuckly – naughty naughy! don’t forget the forum etiquette: there’s no need to shout or be rude!

Secondly, here are my replies to yours (but thank you for the input)

Originally Posted by chuckley

and did it beep once and turn green?
Of course! I said I “deligently” swiped in and out.

if u mix tubes, bus n trams it caps at 50p less than daily travel card. it doesnt cap at different rates. so u must be doin summat wrong...
No I’m not – I’ve checked both my journey history and with the Oyster operator who agrees that this is the case.

FALSE... theres train stations, local newsagents... and some off licences. if u dont have enough on your card thats 100% your fault, unless theres been a fault with the machines.
Fine if you use tubes, but this particular post is for bus users, so your input is not useful here, and I’m still correct. I still use the machines at the stations/news agents/whatever, what I’m saying is, if its late at night and there’s no where to top up or you don't live near a station or newsagent and you have to take a bus, you’re stuck as buses in general can’t top up your card.

AGAIN FALSE... can prove handy for folk that start journeys at certain train, tube and tram stations. the system clearly tells you you have to pick up at a certain station BEFORE you proceed to pay.
Again, as I said in my original post, this is aimed at bus users, therefore my point was not the payment but that it’s a pain to have to go all the way to a station/newsagents (in my area anyway) just to go all the way to a bus stop again to get a bus. So again, my statement is not false.
I think you have had oyster problems PURELY through your own errors.
Thanks ever so much, but no, this is false. I’ve had many many lengthy phone calls with Oyster about his problem and they agree on all the above points. Again, may I reiterate that I have no problem with the system (as I said at the beginning of my original post) as a tube user, but now I use it purely for buses it is flawed. And no none of these problems are purely down to my errors.
NB My original post was merely to warn bus users.
Lastly – Auto top up – thanks for tip isasmurf!! – I will do that if it means it will top up my card on buses then brilliant!!!!