On Apr 9, 10:18*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
Having had to try to find a validator at Stratford to record an entry
on my (priv) PAYG card while trying to use the NXEA service to T Hale
I ended up walking for nearly 8 minutes to try to find one. *There
are non on the Lea Valley platforms or on the corridors leading to
them. This strikes me as an omission. When I found one on the central
line platforms I ended just getting on the central line instead! *I
imagine most people who have given up 7 minutes before I did. *The
NXEA staff had no idea what I was talking about when I asked where
the nearest validator was.

You've reminded me that I was reading a thread in a rail forum a couple of
days ago where someone was adamant that all the platform interchange
validators had been switched off at London Bridge as soon as PAYG went live
on NR.

The main thrust of that discussion was someone asking how he should
correctly use PAYG to commence a journey, having travelled as far as 'London
Terminals' with a paper ticket from somewhere like Portsmouth.

If they really have decided to switch off platform (or paid side)
'interchange validators' as a matter of policy, such passengers from outside
the zones wishing to change to PAYG seem to have little option but to exit
using their paper ticket and re-enter using PAYG. Is this really the current
situation - and is it reasonable?

I will endeavour to swing by the through platforms at London Bridge
soon and take a look.

I suppose there might be potential worries about the possibility for
misuse/abuse of the system when it comes to interchange validators.

(Though if they've come from Portsmouth and have changed Waterloo/
Waterloo East to get to London Bridge, then they might as well touch
in when entering Waterloo East!)


My own experience is of SWT stations such as Richmond or Wimbledon having
validators on the paid side specifically to start/finish PAYG having arrived
by a mainline service, but I must admit I haven't been to either recently..
What would be worrying is if someone has decided that all interchange
between PAYG and NR has to be done at the outer boundary, eg Zone 6
(ignoring the extended areas in the NW etc for the moment)...

That doesn't really follow. If someone had a ticket for London
Terminals, then that (London Bridge, Charing X etc) is where their
ticket is valid to. The issue is that they might then need to exit and
re-enter the station if they wanted to use Oyster PAYG for onward rail
travel in London (e.g. to Forest Hill). Depending on what their travel
plans are, there might be better off - or at least not any worse off
(or possibly not much worse off) if they buy an outboundary Day
Travelcard from say Tunbridge Wells or wherever (though definitely not
so if it's just the single trip).

By the by, FWIW I successfully used a pink interchange validator to
start a journey at Highbury & Islington (post footie, so the H&I gates
were in the open position to handle the crowds, and it was when the
NLL was still running and hence the NLL platforms accessible). I think
I then went and got on the Vic line - anyhow, there was no unresolved
journey or anything like that. So, going by this the pink validators
at West Brompton can be used to start a PAYG journey at least. Whether
they can end a journey I can't say - I suspect they can, but I haven't
tested that yet. Of course, just to be clear the official TfL guidance
is that pink validators should *not* be used to start or end a journey
- so don't anyone get in trouble by following me!