On 12 Dec, 14:55, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:40:01 -0800 (PST), MIG





wrote:
On 12 Dec, 14:26, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:17:42 -0800 (PST), John B
What is not clear is whether the modified TOC vending machines will
retail PAYG *and* also set OEPs as part of their upgraded functionality.
If that is the case then it avoids people having to seek out TfL
ticketing facilities to set OEPs before they travel out of zone -
assuming a start in TOC territory and within the validity of a
Travelcard.

Just on that machines point, some machines at Euston, which are pretty
standard NR machines (can't remember the names of different machine
types) already have Oyster functionality, presumably because of LO.

Therefore, for all TOCs who use that kind of machine at least, the
work is already done without further redesign, presumably.

Yes but I don't know if those machines can set OEPs. LUL machines have
the functionality already so I am told - I have not personally tried as
my staff pass can't have OEPs set on it. *In a piece of great irony (for
you) if I wish to take advantage of privilege PAYG on NR I will need a
separate Oyster card which has to be registered and will play all the
tunes that normal PAYG plays. *I also end up with some interesting
conundrums about what to do where my TfL staff pass validity runs out
and PAYG would take over. *I either overpay by validating PAYG within
the area of my staff pass, get off at the boundary and wait for the next
train or (risking my pass altogether) don't validate at all and suffer a
maximum fare deduction by validating on exit with my PAYG. *All good
stuff :-)

I think I will start a campaign to have validators installed on trains
so I don't have to get off at the boundary point (one of your big
complaints!). *Thought you might find that a little amusing.
--
Paul C

Yeah, your staff pass ends up effectively the same as a less-than-all-
zones paper travelcard on LU in that sense. Now that I am usually
outboundary, the issue only affects me on the Metropolitan beyond zone
6.

I suspect that validators in trains now would be hugely expensive,
after so much has been invested in barriers and standalones, and won't
happen, but it seems a bit short sighted (or perhaps lacking in
confidence about expansion and the number of exceptions that will
continue to arise) that it wasn't part of the plan from the
beginning. There will always be some kind of boundary till Oyster
covers the whole country (and then there's Europe ...).