On Jul 13, 12:52*am, Tim Woodall wrote:

On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:50:34 -0700 (PDT),
* * Mizter T wrote:

One last thing - the devious amongst you will be wondering what
prevents one starting from Watford High Street and going north to
Watford Jn, before reversing direction and travelling south on a fast
LM train to Euston. The answer is... I don't know! I'm sure LM don't
want you to do that, and I suspect it might fall under the category of
'irregular travel', but whether an LM ticket inspector would pick up
on this I don't know. I don't recall any specific instructions at
Watford Jn as to what to do in this situation. I suppose that if you
were to touch on one of the 'interchange validators' *within* Watford
Jn station then that might ensure you paid the full fare - that said,

I'd strongly recommend that you don't touch on the interchange
validators, at least not the ones in the subway. They are setup for
Entry and Exit, therefore, IIRC your journey will be closed at WJ and
then you'll be travelling ticketless.

Crumbs, yes, I remember, the whole issue came up in a thread quite
recently - in fact I think you started it off after an incident you'd
had. Thanks for the heads up. (I'm guessing that the Oyster validators
at the ends of the DC Line platforms behave in the same way... but
maybe not.)

I wonder if they're actually purposefully set up like this so to
prevent people from benefiting from starting at Watford High Street?
And if so under what basis, with regards to the underlying principles
of the Oyster system. Hmm. Given the lack of any specific instructions
at Watford Jn that cover this situation (at least as far as I am
aware) , I think one would have a very good case against any penalty
fare that might be levied. I also think one would have a very good
argument for getting a refund from Oyster customer services with
regards to any subsequent charges levied.

I suppose that actually, this problem might be solved when "route
based validation" (as explained in recent threads by Paul C) comes
into effect in September. After that happens, the subway validators
could be configured as 'interchange validators', and therefore any pax
transferring from LO (DC Line) onto fast LM services could touch on
one of these validators and the system would joyously ensure that the
correct, more expensive fare (via Watford Jn) was deducted! (All the
related discussion on that issue has thus far solely focussed on being
charged the cheaper fare for going the cheaper route!)

Just as a quick comparison of this apparent situation at Watford Jn
with elsewhere - at Stratford, one can merrily go round and touch each
and every one of the standalone Oyster validators - which are all set
up in 'interchange mode' - with no ill effect whatsoever, and
regardless of whether one is starting, finishing or merely
interchanging there!


(Of course, AFAIAA there are no ticket inspectors on LM trains that have
machines that can actually read an oyster card. I've only ever shown
them mine. One day, however, I'm sure this will change.)

I read somewhere that a lot of the ones given to TOCs by TfL have been
lost. I've no idea if that's true.