Toby: I actually have a season ticket to cover my journey but I
wondered if I was being charged extra for coming in and out of the
same Oyster barriers.

MIG: So are you saying for specific stations you don't get penalised
for entering and leaving the same barriers but for others you would?

Route which hopefully has no charge: Ealing Broadway FGW to Burnham
(no Oyster) Come back to Ealing Broadway and exit barriers.

Route which might have a charge: West Kensington Ealing Broadway
(don't touch Oyster tower on arrival) FGW to Burnham Arrive back
at Ealing Broadway but don't only use Oyster when exiting West
Kensington.

On Dec 19, 11:19 pm, Mark S wrote:
Toby: I actually have a season ticket to cover my journey but I
wondered if I was being charged extra for coming in and out of the
same Oyster barriers.

MIG: So are you saying for specific stations you don't get penalised
for entering and leaving the same barriers but for others you would?

You never get penalised if you are using a travelcard, on paper or
Oyster. The question was about the time limit that stops you turning
round and going immediately back through the same gateline (with a
travelcard).

When the travelcard is on Oyster, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
When the travelcared is on paper, there is a time limit. You aren't
penalised; it simply won't open the gate for a while.

I've never been able to work out any possible scam that would involve
putting a ticket through the gate twice (as opposed to just passing it
to someone) so I can't understand this restriction. For travelcards
on Oyster, common sense seems to apply and this restriction hasn't
been programmed in.

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:29:22 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

On Dec 19, 11:19 pm, Mark S wrote:
Toby: I actually have a season ticket to cover my journey but I
wondered if I was being charged extra for coming in and out of the
same Oyster barriers.

MIG: So are you saying for specific stations you don't get penalised
for entering and leaving the same barriers but for others you would?

You never get penalised if you are using a travelcard, on paper or
Oyster. The question was about the time limit that stops you turning
round and going immediately back through the same gateline (with a
travelcard).

When the travelcard is on Oyster, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
When the travelcared is on paper, there is a time limit. You aren't
penalised; it simply won't open the gate for a while.

I've never been able to work out any possible scam that would involve
putting a ticket through the gate twice (as opposed to just passing it
to someone) so I can't understand this restriction. For travelcards
on Oyster, common sense seems to apply and this restriction hasn't
been programmed in.

The frauds are either "pass back over" or "pass back through". Entering
and then handing your ticket back over the gate to someone to attempt
two entries in a row is an obvious fraud. The second variant is to try
to be clever and enter, pass the ticket through the exit gate but not
actually exit and then get someone else to try to enter. This is also a
fraud if it is attempted in immediate succession.

I am not familiar with the ticket logic that is used for Oyster but I
was very familiar with that for magnetic tickets. It may well be that
because Oyster is tracked and has the ability to check up to 10
transactions stored on the card that the pass back through check has
been relaxed. If there was a persistent pattern of this type of
behaviour on the card then I imagine it would get highlighted in the
tracking system and then other action might be taken. Magnetic tickets
are overwritten each time there is a valid transaction so there is no
ability to go back several transactions in the checking process used by
the gate.

For the OP in this mini thread there is no issue with validation at one
end and not the other for a Travelcard ticket on an Oyster card. You
made reference to a West Kensington journey - if you started this trip
outside your zonal validity and were aiming to use PAYG for the
extension then I would strongly suggest you validate on exit from LU at
a platform validator at Ealing on the route between the tube and FGW
platforms. Otherwise you will have a £4 deduction from your PAYG and an
unresolved journey.

If your Travelcard is valid in Zone 2 for West Ken (plus out to zone 6
and beyond on FGW for the rest of your travel) then no issue whatsoever.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!