Oyster Grief

[Dulwich Dad]

I left the house this morning for work, feeling in a rather excellent mood. It was Friday, the sun was shining and Steve Reich?s 3 Movements was on the iPod, soothing me into the day me as I sauntered down to the bus stop. Hopping onto the Number 40 as usual, I introduced my oyster card to the touch pad to be greeted not with the welcoming green light and single beep, but with the horror of a red light and double beep ? my oyster card had expired! Thankfully bus driver didn?t care and waved me on. This still presented me with a problem however. Oyster cards cannot be purchased or topped up at either East Dulwich or Denmark Hill stations, which meant I either had to perform the turnstile shuffle at London Bridge or purchase a ludicrously over priced travel card at (?6.60). Now, I realise that this situation was completely my own doing ? I should have renewed my card in time - however our local stations (East Dulwich, Denmark Hill, Herne Hill) need to get with the oyster programme ? this will both make life easier for the daily commuter, plus alleviate the entirely unnecessary and ridiculous rush-hour bottle neck caused by inspectors checking everyone?s oyster card manually at Herne Hill and Denmark Hill station.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Have to agree about the stations getting with the programme but aren't there about 3 newsagents within 20 yards of the station of which at least 2 top up oysters?

[Jason]

I agree. If you are travelling to the West End you have to purchase return tickets to the mainline station then also use the Oyster on the tube.

Another transport rip off I'm afraid and I imagine there will be no rush to change the situation.

[capt_birdseye]

I thought I'd heard that the train companies were finally about to buy-in to Oyster. Think it was in the Evening Standard a month or so ago...

[mockney piers]

Yep indeed they will.

Big refit will take a bit of time though

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6316245.stm

[Ted Max]

Hey, you got a free bus ride. Result.

[Michael Palaeologus]

You can renew your Oystercard in the newsagents next to the hardware store opposite the garden centre at East Dulwich station - "Mark & Sons". The advantage here is that you can do this by credit card and not get charged an extra credit card fee that the other newsagents seem to charge.

[ratty]

Yep - charge the fooker at Marks!

[Mark]

>... do this by credit card and not get charged an extra credit card fee

Top tip Mikewbate, thanks

[bawdy-nan]

I thought you could only renew travelcards at a tube station... maybe thats changed.

The really rubbish thing is that the rail system in south east London is an integral part of the transport system and yet is excluded from the charging system. If you travel by bus you'll eventually clock up the price of a bus pass and then not be charged any more. If you include a tube journey you stop paying once you reach the price of a travelcard. But if you live in southeast London you nearly always get charged more because you're likely to include a train journey which can't be included in the tallying up of fares.

Boo hiss.

I'd heard that the train companies were considering coming on board but seem to be dragging their heels.

[Huguenot]

Quite true, you can get them at newsagents...

However!!!

Has anyone tried the online renewal? After staggering through their clunky system, it informed me that what I'd bought wouldn't 'appear' on the card until I'd been through a gate at a tube station.

However, not one to enjoy being informed I didn't bother reading it. So, I took my usual journey via London Bridge overground, and then got clobbered for a penalty fare.

Fug that. Never again.

[jim_the_chin]

i'm new to this Oyster card mullarky and popped into town, i wasn't sure whether i could use it on the overland so i asked at ED if you could use an Oyster card and was told yes, at the LB turnstiles they said i couldn't because it was a prepay, so i went over to the ticket booth to buy a ticket whereby i was nabbed by 2 security people standing in front of it and given a ?20 fine.

I complained and was told that it was the passengers responsibility so ensure their ticket is valid prior to travel and that no further correspondance would be entered into. So, like ensuring your ticket is valid by ASKING THE TRAIN COMPANY EMPLOYEE IF THE FUNNING TICKET WAS VALID??

Clearly, after asking the train company employee i should have gone home and checked on the intenet under the terms and conditions of the Oyster card AND the train company that i could travel. silly old me, eh?

[Chartwell]

I now understand that you can top up the oyster card on the bus if you sign up to the service on-line. I attempted to do this and was told that I had to choose a tube station at which to swipe my card in order to activate the card. I called their customer services to tell them that I don't take the tube and was there some other way to activate it.

I was told there wasn't - so basically I would have to incur the cost of a tube fare in order to be able to use the pre pay top up service on the bus! When I asked why it wasn't possible to activate it at the local newsagent or some other way I was told I would need to speak to a superviser. I therefore still go to my local newsagent to top up my oyster that way.

[Jeremy]

Yep, the on-line topup is a waste of time... I've been caught out by this before. If you need to take it to a tube station anyway to activate it, there is clearly no advantage of paying online!

jim_the_chin - I would have refused to accept the fine!

[James]

Jim - another example of a law-abiding person being nabbed by the idiots at London Bridge, while a blind eye is turned to the thugs jumping the barriers. The staff are generaly imbeciles.

I've regularly had to endure the Spanish Inquisition at London Bridge. Q: "Why are you travelling without a ticket?" A: "Because your staff appear to have pulled a sickie and all your machines are broken. Again." Cue looks of suspicion and grudging "OK, I'll let you off this time..." Let me off what? How the f*** else are you supposed to get a ticket!?

[jim_the_chin]

yes, the staff stand nice and safe next to the ticket booth nicking people who are honest enough to go and try and buy a ticket. the one's who aren't going to cause them trouble.

something similar struck me recently, that the police these days don't patrol areas at certain times of day if they're a bit dangerous. why do we want police / law enforcement staying out of the way of trouble? that's our job.

one suspects people these days just do the absolute minimum for the absolute maximum return. ho hum.

[Mark]

ok, end of day on a Friday, slightly bored and curious so I phoned Southern Trains 08451 27 29 20

If the station is unmanned and the the ticket machine is out of order then you can buy your ticket at your final destination. If a "Revenue Protection Officer" asks to see your ticket, tell them about the station and the machine and they have to let you carry on to your destination.

That's what he said.

jim_the_chin, go appeal against your fine.

[jim_the_chin]

i did appeal to the rail ombudsman or whoever it was and was told that they had satisfied their official duties and found me liable and no furtther correspondance would be entered into.

i thought about handing it to a lawyer but its 20 quid and i can't be bothered with the hassle - or wish to risk my credit rating with a ccj - which no doubt they bank on happening with law-abiding types.

[AB]

This is one of the (admittedly quite a few) things that really annoys me. Even worse - have you tried to buy a ticket at London Bridge to get to ED - I was queueing for 15 minutes at the ridiculous machines and missed two trains trying to spend my ?2.10. If only I could oyster I'd get home twenty minutes earlier. Southern should be ashamed of themselves.

[professordingo]

everything one does is like that these days (goodness it makes me feel like an old fogey) - it DEFINITELY did not used to be like this! every single day this week i've had unreasonable if not outrageous demands for money that i shouldn't owe popping through my letterbox (whoops bad syntactic construction but it's friday). you so much as breathe in the wrong place and you're fined for it. thank god for my bike - this commute is one thing i manage to avoid.

the only possible conclusion is that it's all part of the great conspiracy to keep us minions a) busy, and b) broke... Discuss. (at the risk of being lounged :) )

[SeanMacGabhann]

On Topic: I'm not a lover of the whole Oyster "thing" anyway. It removes another level of humanity from everyday discourse not to mention confusion for many (I would LOVE to be a non-English speaking tourist who just wants to get on a bus and needs to have the whole concept explained to them should they not wish to take out a second mortgage when they get home). And don't get me started on the privacy aspect

As for other fines Professordingo - I read and hear this a lot from people but I honestly don't see how (with the possible exception of the Oyester fiasco) anyone gets fined for going about daily business? I never get any....

[OutOfFocus]

jim_the_chin Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> i did appeal to the rail ombudsman or whoever it

> was and was told that they had satisfied their

> official duties and found me liable and no

> furtther correspondance would be entered into.

Whilst I think it not worth getting legalistic over 20 GBP, the company really ought to be making sure their staff don't give naff advice.

Have you tried http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk. The following looks similar to what happened to you

Ms J, a teenager, bought a one-day off-peak child travelcard from the

ticket machine at Beckenham Junction station, at a cost of two pounds. The

ticket machine screen presented her with a request to choose zonal options

and she chose 1- 4 as it was the most prominent. However, Ms J travelled

to Bromley South station in zone 5, receiving a penalty fare. Ms J went to

the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals Service (IPFAS), who rejected the

case on the basis that the complainant was at fault for selecting the

wrong ticket. We appealed to IPFAS pointing out the child one-day off-peak

travelcard automatically covers zones 1 - 6 and should be sold in this way.

IPFAS accepted our argument and refunded ?20 for the penalty fare.

Southeastern has now accepted the ticket machine should default to zones 1

- 6 and will make the necessary software change to reflect this.

[monyvibescu]

This isn't particularly an East Dulwich thing, but if you sign up for Auto Top-Up on Oyster, it automatically charges your card up with ?20 (or ?30 or ?40 or ?100 or whatever you like) from your credit card every time your Oyster is below a certain level (I have it set to a fiver, but you choose whatever is best for you). It does it whether you're on a bus or a Tube and it means you never have to think about whether it needs topping up again (though it also means there's a direct line from your credit card account into Ken Livingstone's pocket...) It's saved me a lot of frustration of the type described above. Not sure if it tops up weekly or monthly travel cards in the same way.

[OutOfFocus]

But I think the whole point is that this sort of thing only applies to prepay and prepay doesnt work on National rail.

Not sure if it tops up weekly or monthly travel cards in the same way.

I don't see how it can do - if you make one journey on Monday, does it know whetehr you are intending to travel all week, all month...

My anoyance is at the TOC's tardy response to Prepay, not to shooting the messenger monyvibescu.