On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 06:41:12PM +0000, Paul Terry wrote:

I could be wrong, but I thought pink readers were all within gated
areas, making it impossible to use them to start a journey without
touching in on a yellow reader to enter the system, or to end a journey
without touching out on a yellow reader to exit the barriers.

The trivial way to do that would be to enter using a proper ticket (eg a
travelcard issued at a railway station) and then continue a journey
beyond the travelcard's validity using Oyster.

My understanding is that that's exactly what the pink things were for.
Not that I've ever seen one.

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In message , David
Cantrell writes

The trivial way to do that would be to enter using a proper ticket (eg a
travelcard issued at a railway station) and then continue a journey
beyond the travelcard's validity using Oyster.

My understanding is that that's exactly what the pink things were for.

Not according to TfL:

"You must still touch in on a yellow card reader at the start of your
journey and touch out at the end to ensure you pay the appropriate
Oyster single fare and avoid paying a maximum Oyster fare. You can't
touch in on a pink card reader to record the start or end of a journey."

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/12421.aspx

--
Paul Terry

On Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 03:10:45PM +0000, Paul Terry wrote:
In message , David
Cantrell writes
The trivial way to do that would be to enter using a proper ticket (eg a
travelcard issued at a railway station) and then continue a journey
beyond the travelcard's validity using Oyster.
My understanding is that that's exactly what the pink things were for.
Not according to TfL:
"You must still touch in on a yellow card reader at the start of your
journey

But if I were to do that, I'd pay PAYG rates for the whole journey
instead of using my Travelcard.

and touch out at the end to ensure you pay the appropriate
Oyster single fare and avoid paying a maximum Oyster fare. You can't
touch in on a pink card reader to record the start or end of a journey."

Which is not what I'd be doing. I'd be touching the pink thing to
tell the system that I was switching from travelcard to PAYG halfway
through my journey, not telling it that I was starting a journey.

So, what *are* the pink things for then?

--
David Cantrell | Godless Liberal Elitist

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In message , David
Cantrell writes

On Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 03:10:45PM +0000, Paul Terry wrote:

Not according to TfL:
"You must still touch in on a yellow card reader at the start of your
journey

But if I were to do that, I'd pay PAYG rates for the whole journey
instead of using my Travelcard.

I think TfL is referring to the start of your *Oyster* journey. If you
use a paper travelcard for the first leg, they are saying that you need
to touch in on a yellow reader when the Oyster part of your journey
begins.

and touch out at the end to ensure you pay the appropriate
Oyster single fare and avoid paying a maximum Oyster fare. You can't
touch in on a pink card reader to record the start or end of a journey."

Which is not what I'd be doing. I'd be touching the pink thing to
tell the system that I was switching from travelcard to PAYG halfway
through my journey, not telling it that I was starting a journey.

As far as Oyster is concerned, it is the start of a journey. Oyster has
no knowledge of how you got to the pink reader unless the previous leg
of the journey was also on Oyster.

So, what *are* the pink things for then?

To identify that a PAYG journey has been made via a route that avoids
Zone 1, thus allowing a cheaper fare to be levied, as I understand it.

--
Paul Terry

On Feb 2, 12:16*pm, Paul Terry wrote:

In message , David
Cantrell writes

On Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 03:10:45PM +0000, Paul Terry wrote:
Not according to TfL:
"You must still touch in on a yellow card reader at the start of your
journey

But if I were to do that, I'd pay PAYG rates for the whole journey
instead of using my Travelcard.

I think TfL is referring to the start of your *Oyster* journey. If you
use a paper travelcard for the first leg, they are saying that you need
to touch in on a yellow reader when the Oyster part of your journey
begins.

and touch out at the end to ensure you pay the appropriate
Oyster single fare and avoid paying a maximum Oyster fare. You can't
touch in on a pink card reader to record the start or end of a journey.."

Which is not what I'd be doing. *I'd be touching the pink thing to
tell the system that I was switching from travelcard to PAYG halfway
through my journey, not telling it that I was starting a journey.

As far as Oyster is concerned, it is the start of a journey. Oyster has
no knowledge of how you got to the pink reader unless the previous leg
of the journey was also on Oyster.

I concur with your explanations above.


So, what *are* the pink things for then?

To identify that a PAYG journey has been made via a route that avoids
Zone 1, thus allowing a cheaper fare to be levied, as I understand it.

Yes - they are "Oyster route validators", and their operation is
described under that heading on this page (scroll down):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/12421.aspx

(Whether or not they can actually be used to start or end an Oyster
PAYG journey is the subject of some discussion in this thread - the
instructions say no, but some of us suspect yes.)