this whole place is a joke

[dieselboy]

Oysters are activated by you touching in at your nominated station. If you have a reader at your station, you just need to nominate that, not Victoria, and touch in there to activate your card. If not, you just need to plan it so that the first journey you make on the ticket is from Victoria.

my station doesnt have a reader. so i planned it so that the first jeourney would be from victoria. but i had to get to victoria first.

if you dont buy a tax disc for your car, and you buy it up to 14 days into the next month, it back dates to the 1st of that month. just how i could not have activate the card all day and then touched it tonight and it would have been activated for the whole day.

It's not all that hard and you were lucky they let you off the fine because you were travelling on a ticket that wasn't valid because you hadn't activated it.

well as i pointed out, it was for me. i live half an hour from victoria, so i still need to get there. cant drive, cant walk it, cant cycle it.. i need to use the service im paying for.

Personally, I like Ken (who is still the Mayor) knowing where I travel. The whole point of Oysters, other than getting rid of costs for handling money - which is why they're cheaper, is that they monitor who uses what services so they can make them more efficient i.e. more buses/trains on the routes where they're needed and less where they're not.

[Sancho]

You could always nominate another station to activate your card. Or go to work on a card that expires that day, top it up to renew it and touch in at Victoria on your way home to activate it. You must have done that in the first place, so you're not actually paying for any more journeys that way.

The point I'm making (and that TfL will make if you phone them up to rant at them) is that you have actually been treated more than fairly and been given a free journey on the train. I would be pleased with that result myself.

I think you would be better off phoning TfL and asking for advice on how to activate your Oyster when your main station doesn't have a reader than you would be phoning them up and having a go at them.

[dieselboy]

You could always nominate another station to activate your card. Or go to work on a card that expires that day, top it up to renew it and touch in at Victoria on your way home to activate it. You must have done that in the first place, so you're not actually paying for any more journeys that way.

The point I'm making (and that TfL will make if you phone them up to rant at them) is that you have actually been treated more than fairly and been given a free journey on the train. I would be pleased with that result myself.

I think you would be better off phoning TfL and asking for advice on how to activate your Oyster when your main station doesn't have a reader than you would be phoning them up and having a go at them.

the thing is though, i havnt got a free train ride. i bought a travel card, and i bought it yesterday.
ive never got a new oyster card, but i topped up the old one. it expired yesterday (well this morning at 4am if thats still what they do), so i selected the start date as today the 22nd.

i understand what your saying, and i did think about selecting the start date as the same day it expires, but then im loosing a day each month, and i cant do that.

to top up my oyster card, it would mean getting a train to a station that i could exit from without touching in or out, then walking to another station to swipe in and activate it, then getting a 2nd train to victoria before continuing my journey on the underground and DLR services.. it already takes me an hour and half to get to the main office.
it would be easier for me to sign up as a new user every month to get a fresh oyster card because i didnt have this problem when i first bought it. so why do i now?

there is clearly an issue here. and its not my fault.

[dieselboy]

You could always nominate another station to activate your card. Or go to work on a card that expires that day, top it up to renew it and touch in at Victoria on your way home to activate it. You must have done that in the first place, so you're not actually paying for any more journeys that way.

ah you must have thought i had pay as you go! sorry i dont have thatr - its monthly travel card zones 1-5

sorry, do u see y i am annoyed now?

[captain_chaos]

Personally, I like Ken (who is still the Mayor) knowing where I travel. The whole point of Oysters, other than getting rid of costs for handling money - which is why they're cheaper, is that they monitor who uses what services so they can make them more efficient i.e. more buses/trains on the routes where they're needed and less where they're not.

The oyster has its advantages, but why does Ken need to know the names and addresses of people using public transport. All that needs to be logged is how many people get a bus, tube or train from one place to another.

[Sancho]

The oyster has its advantages, but why does Ken need to know the names and addresses of people using public transport. All that needs to be logged is how many people get a bus, tube or train from one place to another.

They need the details to charge your credit card.

[captain_chaos]

They need the details to charge your credit card.

oh, mine's just a pay as you go one

[dieselboy]

i called tfl and spoke to the woman there.

i explained my situation a couple of times until she understood.

she said the only thing i can do is to touch in at the underground station i select from the list.
so if i select victoria i need to touch in there. but then i asked how do i get there and she said get the train. lol
she said if i explained to the people working there that they should understand and let me through to activate it. (they wouldnt without an arguement today :/)
so i live miles from the nearest touch in point, looks like i will have to print a reciept each month and wave that on my way through.

she had no other info for me other than i need to touch in..
the prob i have is i need to touch out to touch in, which wont work...