Platform Tickets
 

I bought a platform ticket yesterday. The ticket man was rather
surprised that this was what I wanted. (I'd arranged to meet a friend
mid-commute to hand him some books.)

I thought it would be easiest to ask a Real Human™ for one but wonder:

Could I have bought it from the touch screen machine?
(I wasn't going to faff about to find that the machine didn't do them)

Would I have upset my Oyster if I'd tried to use it to open the barriers?
It's a Bus Pass with PrePay.
(I didn't try because I didn't want the Seek Assistance business.)

Does anyone here know the answers?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:49:19 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
I bought a platform ticket yesterday. The ticket man was rather
surprised that this was what I wanted. (I'd arranged to meet a friend
mid-commute to hand him some books.)

I thought it would be easiest to ask a Real Human™ for one but wonder:

Could I have bought it from the touch screen machine?
(I wasn't going to faff about to find that the machine didn't do them)

Don't think you can.

Would I have upset my Oyster if I'd tried to use it to open the barriers?
It's a Bus Pass with PrePay.
(I didn't try because I didn't want the Seek Assistance business.)

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.

David

Platform Tickets
 

"David Walters" wrote in message
...

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK

Platform Tickets
 

"Edward Cowling" wrote the following
in:


"David Walters" wrote in message
...

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same
station wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even
cancel the soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you
touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

You have misunderstood, because an oyster card will allow you to enter
and exit at the same station without charging you or creating any
problems, provided the station was within the zones covered by the
travelcard on it.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

I've never seen anything like that! I have occasionally seen confused
people trying to use paper tickets on the oyster readers, which
obviously doesn't work.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Yes, I find it extremely convenient. It's easier to get through with
one hand holding something (just put your ticket holder on the yellow
circle, no need to fiddle about taking a ticket out and putting it back
in) and prepay has been very good for times when I've needed to travel
outside the zones on my ticket.

--
message by Robin May-Silk and his close friend, Robert Kilroy-Kotton
"GIVE IN! IT'S TIME TO GO!" - The NHS offers a high standard of care.

Would you take the office of relief?:
http://robinmay.fotopic.net/p4600200.html

Platform Tickets
 

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK




I think they're great (as the tiger says). As someone who only very
occasionally finds myself using buses or The Tube, not having to worry about
carrying cash (or the right change) or multiple tickets is really useful.
I'm also very pleased to be able to bypass the Underground's ticket offices
which are usually packed.

Platform Tickets
 

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 at 12:56:13, Edward Cowling
wrote:


"David Walters" wrote in message
.. .

The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

This is true whether it is paper-based or Oyster-based. If you put any
sort of Travelcard on your Oyster, it treats it exactly as an ordinary
Travelcard. The difficulty arises with Pre-Pay, which is useful, but
not yet as useful as it might be.
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 6 June 2004

Platform Tickets
 

"Edward Cowling" typed


Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Actually I'm quite happy, sort of...

Armed with my encyclopaedic knowledge of fares for 2004, I can get 2003
fares on the Tube during the week and even cheaper Tube fares at
weekends.

I still end up buying paper tickets, especially weekday ODTCs (and
yesterday's platform ticket) but I like not fumbling with change and
like entering King's Cross Underground from the rail station, which only
ticket holders can do.


I like not having change available for those who beg for it (I keep a £1
for a supermarket trolley and 20p for a loo, with my Oyster) and having
my purse out of reach.

It's a shame I need to have a mind fit for an anorak to get the best
fares though. I also have to advise my partner how to work the system...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

JB wrote:

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

--
Edward Cowling - London - UK





I think they're great (as the tiger says). As someone who only very
occasionally finds myself using buses or The Tube, not having to worry about
carrying cash (or the right change) or multiple tickets is really useful.
I'm also very pleased to be able to bypass the Underground's ticket offices
which are usually packed.

And so say all of us.

With the added advantage that, it seems, many bus readers seem
temporarily broken so if you wave your pre-pay at it, the driver is just
as likely to just wave you straight on.

Platform Tickets
 

On 14 Jul 2004 13:00:44 GMT, Robin May
wrote:

You have misunderstood, because an oyster card will allow you to enter
and exit at the same station without charging you or creating any
problems, provided the station was within the zones covered by the
travelcard on it.

I heart my oyster but I think that's not exactly true. One Fri
lunchtime I breezed in at Chancery Lane only to encounter a "westbound
not running" sign at the escalator; no info before that point and I
was one of many who entered, read and did a u-turn. We all had to
queue up at the manual gate for release since the O reader shone red
lights at us and urged us to Seek Assistance.

Similar sad tale at Hol Pk where the station staff explicitly told O
holders to tread their weary way to the tix counter for cancellation.
All of this on monthly tix.

Shirley (SCMS) the big O could allow immediate exit after entering?


--
New ant-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com

Platform Tickets
 

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:56:13 GMT, "Edward Cowling"
wrote:


"David Walters" wrote in message
.. .

Yes, you would have ended up with an unresolved journey. Oyster
can't deal with entering a station and then leaving that same station
wihtout going anywhere. The station staff can't even cancel the
soon to be unresolved journey until 2 hours after you touched in.


The more I hear about Oyster, the more I hope they
keep weekly tickets going. At least three times in
the last 5 years I can remember having to come
back out of Bounds Green Station after entering.
Of course the good old weekly ticket doesn't mind
where you go.

If you have a travelcard it does not matter provided the zones are
correct. And 3 times in 5 years? - not a lot of reason for wishing to
retain paper tickets.

Plus I still seem to see crowds of annoyed people
thumping their wallets against the top of the barrier
and getting nowhere.

Do you? - you must live in a very angry part of London as I cannot
recall people doing this at all. In fact I see more people using Oyster
with apparent ease than people with paper tickets having ticket rejects
or other problems with using the equipment.

Anyone anything good to say about Oyster ?

Well I am biased but I am pleasantly surprised at how well people seem
to have adapted to the technology - even our older citizens with their
permits. Yes there are still issues over equipment reliability which I
think are unacceptable but I can guess what my old friends at the
manufacturer would say about that.

I know there have been a lot of "learning curve" issues with web site
access, on line renewals, "illogical" use by passengers and
disappointment over the delays with Pre-Pay and Capping but for now it
seems to have calmed down somewhat. I expect there will be a surge in
short term problems when capping starts because that is an enormously
complex issue where passenger expectations may not match reality in some
cases. This may be due to system problems, passengers not understanding
the commercial rules applied to the concept or the rules not allowing
certain things that people can "get away with" today. However once
people build familiarity and more importantly confidence then I think
the system will prove to be enormously successful.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Platform Tickets
 

Colum Mylod typed


I heart my oyster but I think that's not exactly true. One Fri
lunchtime I breezed in at Chancery Lane only to encounter a "westbound
not running" sign at the escalator; no info before that point and I
was one of many who entered, read and did a u-turn. We all had to
queue up at the manual gate for release since the O reader shone red
lights at us and urged us to Seek Assistance.

I had a very similar experience when I touched my Oyster (PrePay) in at
Burnt Oak to meet a chap writing on the whiteboard on the other side of
the gateline. He was writing that there were no Northern Line services
north of Colindale, so I did a U-Turn and touched out my Oyster, the
barrier then told me to Seek Assistance. It took the chap a while to
sort out my card; I think he had to add £1 to its balance to do this ;-)

Similar sad tale at Hol Pk where the station staff explicitly told O
holders to tread their weary way to the tix counter for cancellation.
All of this on monthly tix.

Shirley (SCMS) the big O could allow immediate exit after entering?

So you'd think.
I'm glad I waited and bought a paper platform ticket yesterday...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:49:19 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

I bought a platform ticket yesterday. The ticket man was rather
surprised that this was what I wanted. (I'd arranged to meet a friend
mid-commute to hand him some books.)

I thought it would be easiest to ask a Real Human™ for one but wonder:

Could I have bought it from the touch screen machine?

Yes, from the Multifare machines, but only if the ticket office
machines are all closed.
--
Stuart Johnson in Peterhead, Scotland

Remove FILTER to reply by e-mail

Platform Tickets
 

Stuart Johnson typed


Yes, from the Multifare machines, but only if the ticket office
machines are all closed.

Umm, why so?
The ticket office was open in this case anyway.
Surely the Multifare should offer the same tickets whether the ticket
office is open or closed???

If the ticket office had been closed, the gateline would have been open
and I might have chance going without a platform ticket...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 11:57:43 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

Stuart Johnson typed


Yes, from the Multifare machines, but only if the ticket office
machines are all closed.

Umm, why so?

Not sure what LUs thinking is on this one, perhaps they prefer to
'vet' prospective Platform Ticket purchasers like me!

The ticket office was open in this case anyway.
Surely the Multifare should offer the same tickets whether the ticket
office is open or closed???

It does, except the Platform option is missing if any of the TOMs are
on shift.

If the ticket office had been closed, the gateline would have been open
and I might have chance going without a platform ticket...

No, the gateline would only be open if there were no staff on the
gateline, irrespective of the status of the ticket office.

I witnessed exactly this situation recently at Canary Wharf, ticket
office closed, machines on, gateline closed.



--
Stuart Johnson in Peterhead, Scotland

Remove FILTER to reply by e-mail

Platform Tickets
 

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 17:39:16 GMT, Tim wrote:

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

I still end up buying paper tickets, especially weekday ODTCs (and
yesterday's platform ticket) but I like not fumbling with change and
like entering King's Cross Underground from the rail station, which only
ticket holders can do.

The Kings Cross thing is the single reason I have Oyster prepay.

Forget the fact that I always need a One day travel card - easier just
to jump into the tube on prepay and get a travelcard at a station with
less than a 25 minute queue.

I know the LU ticket office queues can be awful but surely the GNER and
Great Northern ticket offices and GN ticket machines would sell you a
One Day travelcard as well?

Just wondering if you've tried that option.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Platform Tickets
 

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

I still end up buying paper tickets, especially weekday ODTCs (and
yesterday's platform ticket) but I like not fumbling with change and
like entering King's Cross Underground from the rail station, which only
ticket holders can do.

The Kings Cross thing is the single reason I have Oyster prepay.

Forget the fact that I always need a One day travel card - easier just
to jump into the tube on prepay and get a travelcard at a station with
less than a 25 minute queue.

Now, when they make capping work it will all be nice.
In the meantime, I propose 2 interim solutions:

One option would be for them to allow purchase of 1 day travel cards on
the website.
I can see that they don't want to sell 1 day travelcards individually on
the web - the card processing would eat into it. But they ought to be
able to let you buy a 1 day travelcard online using your prepay balance?

Or a second option would be if you could go to a ticket machine and ask
it to add a 1 day travelcard to your oyster - and if it could knock off
your last couple of same dayjourney's off the price. This would save
the system having to work out when to cap - you tell it. You can
just combine your days tickets and (plus or minus)


Or - they put special oyster pads in stations - you just touch them and
it loads a 1 day travel card onto your card - paid for by prepay.. Not
sure how they handle different zone options though.

Unless true - on the fly - capping is nearly ready. I hope it is soon.

Tim

Platform Tickets
 

Stuart Johnson typed


Not sure what LUs thinking is on this one, perhaps they prefer to
'vet' prospective Platform Ticket purchasers like me!

Why? Are you likely to sit in the waiting room injecting all day and
vandalise the toilets? Do you look like you will :-) ?
I can see why the sale of platform tickets might be vetted.

The ticket office was open in this case anyway.
Surely the Multifare should offer the same tickets whether the ticket
office is open or closed???

It does, except the Platform option is missing if any of the TOMs are
on shift.

Oh, I see, thanks. You learn something new every day...

If the ticket office had been closed, the gateline would have been open
and I might have chance going without a platform ticket...

No, the gateline would only be open if there were no staff on the
gateline, irrespective of the status of the ticket office.

I witnessed exactly this situation recently at Canary Wharf, ticket
office closed, machines on, gateline closed.

This might be the case at Canary Wharf, to which I've seldom been.

The stations I use most are Burnt Oak and Preston Road.
At Burnt Oak, the gateline is seldom closed, even if the ticket office
is open (which is infrequent after the morning rush.) It seems the
gateline here is closed *only* when they are blitzing fare-dodgers.
At Preston Road, the ticket office abuts the gateline. It seems closed
when there's a man in the office and open when there isn't, like in the
late evening.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

Tim typed


Paul Corfield wrote:


I know the LU ticket office queues can be awful but surely the GNER and
Great Northern ticket offices and GN ticket machines would sell you a
One Day travelcard as well?

I've not tried that. But will next time.

The sweet shops known as 'Ticket Stops' will send you ODTC in advance,
as will Tube ticket offices.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

Paul Corfield wrote:


I know the LU ticket office queues can be awful but surely the GNER and
Great Northern ticket offices and GN ticket machines would sell you a
One Day travelcard as well?

I've not tried that. But will next time.



Tim

Platform Tickets
 

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:


The sweet shops known as 'Ticket Stops' will send you ODTC in advance,
as will Tube ticket offices.

Not in Yorkshire :)

If you buy in advance, do you have to choose the day or does it just
work for the day you first use it?

Tim

Platform Tickets
 

Tim typed


Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:


The sweet shops known as 'Ticket Stops' will send you ODTC in advance,
as will Tube ticket offices.

Not in Yorkshire :)
No :(

If you buy in advance, do you have to choose the day or does it just
work for the day you first use it?

You buy for a specific date, which gets printed and encoded onto the
ticket. If it's off-peak, you tell the shop person you won't use if
before 0930 on a weekday.

You can only buy up to 4 days in advance IIRC. I suppose you could just
about get a friend/colleague in London to buy you one and post it to you
(if you trust the Royal Mail...)

Shame they haven't got 'capping' in order yet, isn't it?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

You can only buy up to 4 days in advance IIRC. I suppose you could just
about get a friend/colleague in London to buy you one and post it to you
(if you trust the Royal Mail...)

It is seven days for the one day and weekend travelcards, the four days is
for weeklys and longer. So even more time.

I would have thought the FastTicket machines at Kings Cross do one day
travelcards though and there must be about eight of them in the booking
hall.

Platform Tickets
 

"Graham J" typed


You can only buy up to 4 days in advance IIRC. I suppose you could just
about get a friend/colleague in London to buy you one and post it to you
(if you trust the Royal Mail...)

It is seven days for the one day and weekend travelcards, the four days is
for weeklys and longer. So even more time.

I would have thought the FastTicket machines at Kings Cross do one day
travelcards though and there must be about eight of them in the booking
hall.

Yebbut the entrance to the Underground closest to the rail station is
now for ticket holders only, isn't it? If Tim's come from Yorkshire, he
might not want a long detour to a big queue.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

Colum Mylod wrote in
:

Shirley (SCMS) the big O could allow immediate exit after entering?

I assume it's some kind of revenue protection thing along the lines of a
paper ticket not working entry barriers at the same station twice within
15 minutes. That was obviously designed to stop people passing their
ticket over the barrier to a friend waiting outside, so the problems with
Oyster working properly on immediate exit at the entry station would seem
to be of a similar nature.

Iain

Platform Tickets
 

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 05:28:17 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

"Graham J" typed


You can only buy up to 4 days in advance IIRC. I suppose you could just
about get a friend/colleague in London to buy you one and post it to you
(if you trust the Royal Mail...)

It is seven days for the one day and weekend travelcards, the four days is
for weeklys and longer. So even more time.

I would have thought the FastTicket machines at Kings Cross do one day
travelcards though and there must be about eight of them in the booking
hall.

Yebbut the entrance to the Underground closest to the rail station is
now for ticket holders only, isn't it? If Tim's come from Yorkshire, he
might not want a long detour to a big queue.

but it doesn't matter - there is a GNER ticket office, there was
certainly a Great Northern window to one side in the old days but it may
now be by platforms 9-11. There are also passenger operated machines. If
the LU windows were really bad there are machines and a ticket office at
Kings Cross Thameslink which has direct links to the Vic, Picc and
Northern Lines.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Platform Tickets
 

Paul Corfield typed



Yebbut the entrance to the Underground closest to the rail station is
now for ticket holders only, isn't it? If Tim's come from Yorkshire, he
might not want a long detour to a big queue.

but it doesn't matter - there is a GNER ticket office, there was
certainly a Great Northern window to one side in the old days but it may
now be by platforms 9-11. There are also passenger operated machines. If
the LU windows were really bad there are machines and a ticket office at
Kings Cross Thameslink which has direct links to the Vic, Picc and
Northern Lines.

Umm... have you walked round Kings Cross stat^^^building site recently?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Platform Tickets
 

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
Paul Corfield typed



Yebbut the entrance to the Underground closest to the rail station is
now for ticket holders only, isn't it?

As there's no easily accessable ticket office from the stairs down from
inside the mainline station, yes.

If Tim's come from Yorkshire, he
might not want a long detour to a big queue.


Not exactly a long detour, just outside the mainline station itself. There
are also three banks of ticket machines that can sell tickets, especially if
people are prepared and bring some change with them.

but it doesn't matter - there is a GNER ticket office, there was
certainly a Great Northern window to one side in the old days but it may
now be by platforms 9-11. There are also passenger operated machines. If
the LU windows were really bad there are machines and a ticket office at
Kings Cross Thameslink which has direct links to the Vic, Picc and
Northern Lines.


Personally, I'd never advise people to use the Thameslink ticket hall
because of the roads they have to cross.

Umm... have you walked round Kings Cross stat^^^building site recently?


Be fair Helen, the building work is hardly affecting the operation of the
station, at present. Wait until September when the Thameslink blockade and
WAGN services unable to run into Moorgate in October for the real 'fun' to
start. The reflooring of the passage between the Met and Tube ticket halls
is going to be interesting too!

Platform Tickets
 

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 17:29:01 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

Paul Corfield typed



Yebbut the entrance to the Underground closest to the rail station is
now for ticket holders only, isn't it? If Tim's come from Yorkshire, he
might not want a long detour to a big queue.

but it doesn't matter - there is a GNER ticket office, there was
certainly a Great Northern window to one side in the old days but it may
now be by platforms 9-11. There are also passenger operated machines. If
the LU windows were really bad there are machines and a ticket office at
Kings Cross Thameslink which has direct links to the Vic, Picc and
Northern Lines.

Umm... have you walked round Kings Cross stat^^^building site recently?

Not all of it no. I'm not aware that the inside of the main line station
is being torn to pieces at present and that is really what I am talking
about. I know the tube station and subways are subject to lots of
alterations.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!