On Feb 16, 9:33 pm, "John" wrote:
As the poster of the original message in this thread, I'm not only pleased
at the amount of comment it has produced, grateful for all the information
and opinions provided by the various contributors, but also appalled at
the confusion and uncertainty this system produces even among the
knowledgeable people who post here. As I no longer live in the GLA area, I
don't keep up to date with all the arguments and changes, but I gather the
system is to be introduced to all NR stations in that area in January
2009. Thank goodness for that. All this confusion merely confirms my
belief this should never have been introduced for part of London's
transport, but delayed until all modes were included. This is only my
humble opinion - no doubt plenty will agree and plenty will disagree.

If you ring up the oyster helpdesk they'll probably refund the extra
charge when you explain what has happened.


Finally may I ask one more question. My PAYG card now has only £3.80 left
following what I believe to be my earlier double charging. Will the
barrier open when I next touch in at Zone 1 station as I'd expect it to
and if so what will happen if I touch out at a Zone 6 station?

You'll get a negative balance.

There are extreme cases where it's possible to go more negative than
the deposit needed for a PAYG card but for the most part any negative
balance will be covered by the deposit you paid for the card. If you
have a season ticket as well on oyster then you cannot use the season
ticket while your PAYG balance is negative but I don't think you pay a
deposit for the card.

Tim.