Free travel on buses today!
 

Paul Corfield wrote in
:

All the buses I used this morning had "defective" card readers. One
driver had put a piece of paper over the reader saying "free day" and
happily telling everyone that it was a "special offer day" on the tube
and buses.

I thought for a minute it was the new mayor of London attempting to make
himself popular...

Richard

Free travel on buses today!
 

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:02:42 GMT, Richard Dixon
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote in
:

All the buses I used this morning had "defective" card readers. One
driver had put a piece of paper over the reader saying "free day" and
happily telling everyone that it was a "special offer day" on the tube
and buses.

I thought for a minute it was the new mayor of London attempting to make
himself popular...

It will be interesting to see what the reaction from Team Boris is.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Free travel on buses today!
 

On 13 Jul, 02:30, chunky munky wrote:
The problem with the software was that any card touched on a bit of
Oyster kit was hotlisted and permenantly disabled. Anyone affected by
this will have to get a brand new card.

Yet another PFI cock up, albeit only one day, not long after a few
weeks ago when they were updating software on the LU Radios which they
didnt realise was causing them not to work, until alphabetically it
got to D for District! (At least the W&C would be pleased)

Please explain how public sector ownership would have prevented this;
you may use any data you have available on the relative customer
service, IT and project management competence of public sector and
private sector management.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Free travel on buses today!
 

Steve Dulieu wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message
,
at 18:30:18 on Sat, 12 Jul 2008, chunky munky
remarked:

The problem with the software was that any card touched on a bit of
Oyster kit was hotlisted and permenantly disabled. Anyone affected
by this will have to get a brand new card.

Really? Have there been any press reports of this. You'd think people
would have noticed. And what about folks with combined Barclaycard/
Oyster, do you think they'll need a new one too?

If this was the case, how did people manage to "touch out" later in
the day, having attempted to "touch in" earlier?

According to a staff bulletin put out Saturday morning, a "corrupted
electronic file" uploaded overnight meant that any oyster used before
09:30 was hotlisted and permanently disabled.

In what sense are they "permanently" disabled? Does it just mean that the
Oyster people can't be bothered to do the necessary reprogramming over the
weekend to undo the 'disabled' setting? Was anything written to the cards
themselves, or have they just been entered on a central list?
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Free travel on buses today!
 

In message , at 10:36:33
on Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Steve Dulieu
remarked:
According to a staff bulletin put out Saturday morning, a "corrupted
electronic file" uploaded overnight meant that any oyster used before
09:30 was hotlisted and permanently disabled. The figure on the
bulletin that I saw said that it could be as many as 100,000 cards that
had been killed. The, admittedly few, stations I went through yesterday
all had their gates set open, so no-one would need to touch in or out
to access the system or leave

Interesting. The media is mainly covering the aspect (which sounds from
your information like a hoax) that people only-touching-out, later in
the day, will pay penalty fares. If no-one is touching out at all (and
indeed 100k people couldn't touch out anyway) this sounds improbable.

TFL is compounding the situation by saying that these penalty fares will
be cancelled automatically in a special operation.
--
Roland Perry

Free travel on buses today!
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...

TFL is compounding the situation by saying that these penalty fares will
be cancelled automatically in a special operation.

Er.. 'maximum cash fares' to be accurate...

Paul S

Free travel on buses today!
 

In message , at 13:42:39 on
Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Paul Scott remarked:
TFL is compounding the situation by saying that these penalty fares will
be cancelled automatically in a special operation.

Er.. 'maximum cash fares' to be accurate...

Normally I might agree with you, but this time it's a penalty for TFL's
cockup :)
--
Roland Perry

Free travel on buses today!
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:36:33
on Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Steve Dulieu
remarked:
According to a staff bulletin put out Saturday morning, a "corrupted
electronic file" uploaded overnight meant that any oyster used before
09:30 was hotlisted and permanently disabled. The figure on the bulletin
that I saw said that it could be as many as 100,000 cards that had been
killed. The, admittedly few, stations I went through yesterday all had
their gates set open, so no-one would need to touch in or out to access
the system or leave

Interesting. The media is mainly covering the aspect (which sounds from
your information like a hoax) that people only-touching-out, later in the
day, will pay penalty fares. If no-one is touching out at all (and indeed
100k people couldn't touch out anyway) this sounds improbable.

TFL is compounding the situation by saying that these penalty fares will
be cancelled automatically in a special operation.

A further bulletin has set out the procedure for cards that have been
disabled...

"Customers who present disabled cards should be referred to the ticket
office. If the ticket office is closed or the queue very long then customers
with disabled cards should be permitted to travel and invited to visit the
ticket office at their destination if possible.
Presented cards should be checked via the TOM to see if it can be read, if
it can then follow normal procedure.
If a card cannot be read, then the normal failed card procedure should be
used.
Where a customer advises that the disabled card held either less than £10 of
PAYG value or any weekly travelcard then a replacement can be issued
immediately with no further checks necessary. The amount or remaining days
of the weekly indicated by the customer should be loaded on the card.
If the customer advises that the card held a higher PAYG value than £10 or a
longer period travel card, you should call the CSC on auto XXXX to validate
their details prior to issue. If you cannot get through, advise the customer
that they can travel using their oyster card for visual inspection only and
should return to the ticket office later.
If the card is of a type that cannot be replaced at a ticket office - eg a
freedom pass - then the customer should be advised to follow the usual
replacement procedure. Freedom pass holders should be advised to contact the
council of issue. Child photocard holders should apply for a replacement by
using the number on the back of the card."

Apparently extra supplies of oyster blanks and gateline passes are being
distributed to busy stations, as well as RCIs being deployed at key
locations to provide support.
The same bulletin also says that customers who were within the system before
09:30 "may" have been charged a maximum fare on exit. It says that this will
be addressed automatically via gatelines on Tuesday morning.

Hope this goes some way towards helping people understand what's going on.
--
Cheers, Steve.
Change jealous to sad to reply.

Free travel on buses today!
 

In message , at
16:04:04 on Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Steve Dulieu
remarked:
If the card is of a type that cannot be replaced at a ticket office -
eg a freedom pass - then the customer should be advised to follow the
usual replacement procedure. Freedom pass holders should be advised to
contact the council of issue. Child photocard holders should apply for
a replacement by using the number on the back of the card."

And people with a Barclaycard/Oyster??
--
Roland Perry

Free travel on buses today!
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 16:04:04
on Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Steve Dulieu
remarked:
If the card is of a type that cannot be replaced at a ticket office - eg a
freedom pass - then the customer should be advised to follow the usual
replacement procedure. Freedom pass holders should be advised to contact
the council of issue. Child photocard holders should apply for a
replacement by using the number on the back of the card."

And people with a Barclaycard/Oyster??

Doesn't mention them at all. At a guess, and having never seen a Barclay
card oyster, I suspect they have to contact the card issuer.
--
Cheers, Steve.
Change jealous to sad to reply.