London Banter - View Single Post

Gareth Davis · January 27th 04, 11:51 PM posted to uk.transport.london

(Matt Ashby) wrote in message . com...
Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

I've saved a small fortune out of zone recently because the gates at
stations are open and the Oyster readers don't do anything (no noise,
no LED, nothing recorded on the card) when you touch your card on
them.

There's no point in these endless "remember to touch your card on the
reader even if the gates are open" messages and posters if the readers
are all switched off!

This has happened to me at London Bridge, Morden, South Wimbledon and
Vauxhall (NR) in the past two weeks - I want to give TfL my money but
apparently they don't want it!

As I mentioned in another thread the Vauxhall NR reader do not seem to
update the status of the card as you pass through. I often take
Vauxhall NR - Waterloo - Bank - Shadwell DLR (SWT and the Drain is
usually quicker than underground via Oxford Circus) but if I use the
Oyster to enter at Vauxhall NR then use the validators on exit at
Shadwell DLR the screens at Shadwell show 'Enter' rather than 'Exit'
and I get an unresolved journey, even though it is all within my
Travelcard zones. Vauxhall NR also does not show up on the journey
record on the large ticket machines - although the DLR also shows up
as blanks come to think of it.

I guess there must be more journeys like this where it is better to
ignore the advice to always validate on enter/exit. Although if I
enter inside the underground and don't validate at Shadwell then I
also get an unresolved journey. Besides, the DLR signs clearly say
only pre-pay customers need to validate - so is it because I have
some credit on my oyster card that I get unresolved journeys or am I
just reading the signs/posters wrong?

--
Gareth Davis