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asdf · October 13th 06, 07:19 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On 13 Oct 2006 09:26:09 -0700, wrote:

But that assumes (wrongly, in my case) that I will only top-up when
making a Tube journey. The ONLY time I need Pay as you Go is for
travelling on a bus. One can't top up on a bus, so how other than at a
Tube station am I supposed to top up?

The other options are at an Oyster Ticket Stop, or using auto-topup.

No, I'm merely making the point that, with an Oyster card there is
NOTHING that states that I HAVE to make a journey to another station
before I leave the station by which I entered. I might change my mind
about a journey, decide to go back out for a cup of coffee etc., etc.,
or even just use the Oyster card as a free platform ticket. NONE of
this is contrary to any contract I have entered and consequently it is
simply wrong for £1 to be deducted from my Oyster card until such time
as I have made a journey to that value.

I can't comment on the legal situation, but in a couple of weeks the
penalty will increase from £1 to £4, so they don't seem too concerned.

As for whether it's wrong in the moral sense, given the potential for
fraud, I think the current arrangement is acceptable, provided that if
you decide not to travel, you can return to the assistance window and
have the journey you've just started quickly and easily "undone".

Why would the system not be able to cope with a touch-in,
touch-out situation completed say within a minute or 30 seconds of each
other resulting in a no-charge?

Because being able to open ticket gates for free creates lots of holes
in the system. Use your imagination.

Yes, I accept that. But the system created is so anomalous in the first
place. Don't forget, we have ONLY been discussing pay as you go. We
haven't even discussed the possibility of a Travelcard Oyster being
used for those purposes with impunity!

In that case you're not really opening ticket gates for "free",
because you've already paid a large sum of money for unlimited travel.
And I don't believe the same Travelcard (whether on Oyster or not) can
be used twice in succession at the same gateline, unless a certain
time period has elapsed.

I didn't think it was possible to reach across the barrier as
suggested. I'll have a better look on Monday when I next use the Tube.
If it's that easy, what's to stop someone travelling in from Zone 6 to
Zone 1 having 2 Oyster cards, one for each zone, and each time doing
what you suggest?

You wouldn't even need to, because with a Travelcard you don't need to
have a touch-in and touch-out for each journey, provided you stay
within your zones. (And the answer is that there's very little to stop
someone.)

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