In message , Martin Rich
writes
So far, I haven't been doing this at Finsbury Park, and I've done 5
journeys starting or finishing at Finsbury Park so far this week. The
posters at Finsbury Park imply that it's only essential to use the
readers there if you're on pre-pay.

That's why I remain slightly puzzled by the problems with using a
paper extension ticket. If I buy a paper extension, my Oyster record
looks just the same whether I've travelled from a zone 1 station to a
zone 3 station, and presented my extension at the zone3 station, or
I've travelled from zone 1 to Finsbury Park and just walked out of the
station at Finsbury Park. (As it happens I usually travel to or from
Finsbury Park by W3 or W7 bus, so it should be easy enough to deduce
where I've been from the complete record, but I don't think the system
is that clever).

I have Finsbury Park listed as a Continuation Exit. This means, I think,
that if you validate there and carry on your journey, you'll only be
charged for one journey and not two because the system *knows*

At the other end, if the paper extension won't open
the gate, what would I do if I still had a paper season ticket? The
extension ticket and the gate at the zone 3 station don't know what
type of Travelcard I have.

But someone would have to look at your extension ticket and your
magnetic season ticket to allow you into the system in Zone 1; at the
other end of your journey, your season ticket would let you out.
But supposing you had Zone 1 - 2 and wanted to travel from 3 to 3 across
Zones 1/2. You would then need to show the extension at the start and
finish of your journey to be let in and out.
An Oyster with Pre Pay simplifies all this by doing the whole thing
automatically.

Sorry. I've rambled on for much too long about one obscure case.

No problem; it's interesting and I'm learning a lot.

We are having a lot of problems with people (with Zones 2/3) using the
NR service from say Highbury and Islington to Mile End via Stratford.
Their Oysters are assuming that they've come across Zone 1 via OXO and
so charging them £1.60. There should be validators on the NR platforms
at Stratford, if so, I'll advise people to make sure they validate there
before getting on the Central Line and hopefully that will solve the
problem.
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.