The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the jounry. The validators on platforms 5/6 must be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

"Matthew" wrote in message
...
The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the jounry. The validators on platforms 5/6 must be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

That could be useful to know, if only to avoid putting my season ticket
through the gates.

Does anyone know the position with the gates/validators at Farringdon? A
typical scenario is an occasional journey Brighton to Moorgate and return:

1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City Thameslink.
2. At Farringdon I validate the prepay card on the platform (does it matter
which platform I do this on?) and then
3. Change to the Underground for Moorgate.
4. At Moorgate I the prepay card lets me out through the gates.

As far as I can see this all works as I would have expected, in both
directions. HOWEVER, I once found that the delays on the underground at
Farringdon were going to be excessive, & thus decided to leave the station
and walk - but after I had validated the prepay card. The oystercard refused
to let me through the ticket gates ...

D A Stocks

.. .
The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the journey. The validators on platforms 5/6 must be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

That could be useful to know, if only to avoid putting my season ticket
through the gates.

Frequent use may well be monitored to stop "dumb-belling".

Does anyone know the position with the gates/validators at Farringdon? A
typical scenario is an occasional journey Brighton to Moorgate and return:

1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City Thameslink.

You are travelling without a valid ticket between City Thameslink and
Farringdon. To combine a paper National Rail ticket and Oyster Prepay
you must touch in where your paper ticket ends, at City Thameslink.

2. At Farringdon I validate the prepay card on the platform (does it matter
which platform I do this on?) and then
3. Change to the Underground for Moorgate.
4. At Moorgate I the prepay card lets me out through the gates.

As far as I can see this all works as I would have expected, in both
directions. HOWEVER, I once found that the delays on the underground at
Farringdon were going to be excessive, & thus decided to leave the station
and walk - but after I had validated the prepay card. The oystercard refused
to let me through the ticket gates ...

Prepay requires a touch in and out, so your usual journey is valid
between Farringdon & Moorgate. Just touching out at Farringdon would
lead to an unresolved journey.

Matthew wrote:
.. .
The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let
you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the journey. The validators on platforms 5/6 must
be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

That could be useful to know, if only to avoid putting my season
ticket
through the gates.

Frequent use may well be monitored to stop "dumb-belling".

What does 'dumb-belling' mean?

Does anyone know the position with the gates/validators at
Farringdon? A
typical scenario is an occasional journey Brighton to Moorgate and
return:

1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City
Thameslink.

You are travelling without a valid ticket between City Thameslink and
Farringdon. To combine a paper National Rail ticket and Oyster Prepay
you must touch in where your paper ticket ends, at City Thameslink.

2. At Farringdon I validate the prepay card on the platform (does it
matter
which platform I do this on?) and then
3. Change to the Underground for Moorgate.
4. At Moorgate I the prepay card lets me out through the gates.

Prepay requires a touch in and out, so your usual journey is valid
between Farringdon & Moorgate. Just touching out at Farringdon would
lead to an unresolved journey.

Fascinating. So you'd have to get out at CT, go up to the ticket hall
to touch in, then come back down again and get on another train for the
10 second journey to Farringdon?

In that case I suppose the Farringdon validators are actually intended
for people changing *onto* Thameslink, having used Prepay to get them
there on the Tube (since otherwise you would be leaving the Tube
without passing through a gateline). In fact I can't think of any way
they could be used in the opposite direction (though I suppose someone
might *theoretically* have e.g. a Brighton - Farringdon LU season...)

In a way it's a shame, because the type of journey the OP mentioned
would be extremely useful for me (given that Tube interchange at
Elephant & Castle is such a faff!) Perhaps they should install
validators on the trains...

On a related note, has anyone ever tried using Prepay on the Kentish
Town - E&C section of Thameslink? If so, were you charged Tube fares
for doing so?

Rupert Candy wrote:
Matthew wrote:

(snip)
Does anyone know the position with the gates/validators at Farringdon? A
typical scenario is an occasional journey Brighton to Moorgate and return:

1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City Thameslink.

You are travelling without a valid ticket between City Thameslink and
Farringdon. To combine a paper National Rail ticket and Oyster Prepay
you must touch in where your paper ticket ends, at City Thameslink.


2. At Farringdon I validate the prepay card on the platform (does it matter
which platform I do this on?) and then
3. Change to the Underground for Moorgate.
4. At Moorgate I the prepay card lets me out through the gates.

Prepay requires a touch in and out, so your usual journey is valid
between Farringdon & Moorgate. Just touching out at Farringdon would
lead to an unresolved journey.


Fascinating. So you'd have to get out at CT, go up to the ticket hall
to touch in, then come back down again and get on another train for the
10 second journey to Farringdon?

In this case, yes.

In that case I suppose the Farringdon validators are actually intended
for people changing *onto* Thameslink, having used Prepay to get them
there on the Tube (since otherwise you would be leaving the Tube
without passing through a gateline). In fact I can't think of any way
they could be used in the opposite direction (though I suppose someone
might *theoretically* have e.g. a Brighton - Farringdon LU season...)

Not really... you could have any National Rail ticket valid to
Farringdon (e.g. a single from Luton to Farringdon) and then you would
touch in on the validators with an Oyster in order to continue your
journey on the Tube (e.g. to Whitechapel).

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
Rupert Candy wrote:
In that case I suppose the Farringdon validators are actually
intended
for people changing *onto* Thameslink, having used Prepay to get
them
there on the Tube (since otherwise you would be leaving the Tube
without passing through a gateline). In fact I can't think of any
way
they could be used in the opposite direction (though I suppose
someone
might *theoretically* have e.g. a Brighton - Farringdon LU
season...)

Not really... you could have any National Rail ticket valid to
Farringdon (e.g. a single from Luton to Farringdon) and then you
would
touch in on the validators with an Oyster in order to continue your
journey on the Tube (e.g. to Whitechapel).

I suppose so, but I wonder how many people in e.g. Luton realise that
if they buy a ticket to "London" it won't be valid at Farringdon, so
they have to buy a ticket to "Farringdon LU"? In other words, how many
people would *correctly* use the validators for the journey you
describe? (Obviously a rhetorical question.)

IMHO the status of Farringdon as a non-London Terminal is a ridiculous
anomaly that catches out large numbers of people who believe themselves
to be holding a valid ticket. It's ridiculous that with my particular
season ticket I can get off the train at City Thameslink or KXT (a good
deal further on than Farringdon and no more of a "terminal" under
non-blockade circumstances), but if I dare to get off at the station
between them I risk a £10 penalty fare. Grr.

On 25 Mar 2005 01:13:00 -0800, "Rupert Candy"
wrote:


Matthew wrote:
.. .
The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let
you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the journey. The validators on platforms 5/6 must
be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

That could be useful to know, if only to avoid putting my season
ticket
through the gates.

Frequent use may well be monitored to stop "dumb-belling".

What does 'dumb-belling' mean?


"Dumb-belling" or short ticket fraud is where somebody uses passes
valid solely at each end of a long journey to pass through gatelines.
For example holding a Z1 travelcard and a Z6 travelcard, and making
regular Z1-6 journeys. Gates can be set to monitor this with paper
tickets, and I imagine on Oystercards too.

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 01:13:00 -0800, Rupert Candy wrote:
In that case I suppose the Farringdon validators are actually intended
for people changing *onto* Thameslink, having used Prepay to get them
there on the Tube (since otherwise you would be leaving the Tube
without passing through a gateline). In fact I can't think of any way
they could be used in the opposite direction (though I suppose someone
might *theoretically* have e.g. a Brighton - Farringdon LU season...)

Or a ticket from the north - Bedford - Farrington etc. Why is this such a
strange thing?

--
Everything I write here is my personal opinion, and should not be taken as fact.

On 25 Mar 2005 01:13:00 -0800, "Rupert Candy"
wrote:


Matthew wrote:
.. .
The gates at London Bridge on the National Rail platforms will let
you
through with only prepay on an oystercard, but will not deduct any
fare or resolve the journey. The validators on platforms 5/6 must
be
used even if you have already touched in or out there.

That could be useful to know, if only to avoid putting my season
ticket
through the gates.

Frequent use may well be monitored to stop "dumb-belling".

What does 'dumb-belling' mean?

Does anyone know the position with the gates/validators at
Farringdon? A
typical scenario is an occasional journey Brighton to Moorgate and
return:

1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City
Thameslink.

You are travelling without a valid ticket between City Thameslink and
Farringdon. To combine a paper National Rail ticket and Oyster Prepay
you must touch in where your paper ticket ends, at City Thameslink.

2. At Farringdon I validate the prepay card on the platform (does it
matter
which platform I do this on?) and then
3. Change to the Underground for Moorgate.
4. At Moorgate I the prepay card lets me out through the gates.

Prepay requires a touch in and out, so your usual journey is valid
between Farringdon & Moorgate. Just touching out at Farringdon would
lead to an unresolved journey.

On a related note, has anyone ever tried using Prepay on the Kentish
Town - E&C section of Thameslink? If so, were you charged Tube fares
for doing so?

Prepay is not valid travelling south from Kentish Town at the moment
as there are no validators at St. Pancras and touching in again at
Kings Cross Thameslink will lead to an unresolved journey.

"Matthew" wrote in message
...
1. I use my National Rail season which is valid as far as City
Thameslink.

You are travelling without a valid ticket between City Thameslink and
Farringdon. To combine a paper National Rail ticket and Oyster Prepay
you must touch in where your paper ticket ends, at City Thameslink.

I suspected as much. So what happens in the (very unlikely) event that a
gripper asks to see my ticket during the 30 seconds between City Thameslink
and Farringdon? Do they carry Oyster readers? I think it's daft that I
should have to break my journey at Blackfriars or City Thameslink, although
there is probably enough time to leap off the train at London Bridge, use
the platform validator, and then get back on - but this would carry the risk
of losing one's seat.

They can hardly claim that I'm trying to avoid paying the fare ...

David Stocks