London Banter - View Single Post

d · July 5th 06, 09:03 PM posted to uk.transport.london

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
(MIG) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:

I used my Oyster card to enter the tube the other evening by
mistake. I had a national rail paper ticket for the journey I was
making but in my hurry forgot to use it. I exited at the other end
using the paper ticket but was unable to clear the unresolved
journey because the ticket office at East Putney was closed and I
couldn't find a member of staff to talk to. As I was being met by my
mother in a waiting car I didn't have time to check for the staff
more thorough I assumed I could sort it out the next morning.

However when I came back the next morning the machine appeared to
show the journey as completed, certainly no unresolved journey. As
the ticket office was again closed the member of staff on the barrier
suggested I sort it at the other end. That seemed logical as it was
St James's Park, LU HQ.

However, the ticket office there confirmed that the journey showed
as resolved despite my lack of touching out (or other Oyster use)
since entering the system the previous evening. They could only
refer me to the helpline who did sort me out, thankfully.

So how did the journey get resolved?

I can't help answer that, but I've got another question which maybe
someone can answer at the same time.

If you bleep in (somewhere ungated like the DLR or a bendy bus) and it
tells you that you haven't got enough money, does it assume that you
are starting a journey or not? Given the possibility of negative
credit, maybe it would.

So if, having got the message, you then got a paper ticket (because it
was the DLR, say, and you had no time to find a shop) and went where
you were going, would you be left with an unresolved journey and
negative credit, or assumed to have travelled without a ticket or
what?

I don't think so. I thought I could go into the red and thereby avoid
the queues at the ludicrously inadequate temporary booking office at
King's Cross and top up at the other end. However it stopped me at the
gate without changing the balance so I had to waste time getting Oyster
credit in a most laborious manner.

Why don't the machines allow you to specify how much credit you want to
add and e.g. give change from cash? To add £6 to my Oyster to cover my
journeys on Tuesday/Wednesday I had to do a £5 credit card transaction
and then put a £1 coin in. If I'd have put a £10 note in, the smallest I
had on me, it would have insisted on adding it all the Oyster. In the
end I didn't even need the whole £6 so I now have some credit I probably
won't use for months.

You could select "Top-up pre-pay", then select enter amount, then enter £6,
put in £10, and get £4 change. I've even seen American tourists do it, so
it can't be that hard. (joke).

--
Colin Rosenstiel