On Mon, 14 May 2012 21:46:10 +0100, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Mon, 14 May 2012 18:09:37 +0200, Jarle H Knudsen
wrote:

Can touching out from a station and touching in at the same station after a
short while result in incomplete journeys when using Oyster?

Not usually in that direction. You can get an excess charge if
*entering* and then *exiting" at the same station. This is explained
on the TfL website. However it only applies if you are solely using
PAYG.

Last time I was in London I got charged for one or more incomplete journeys
when going from Walthamstow Central to West Croydon, with a break at
Kensington (Olympia) where I left the station for a few minutes touching
out and then in again. (I was catching the 10:02 parliamentary to
Wandsworth Road). When I noticed an unexpectedly low balance later in the
day, I got a printout from a ticket office, and my suspicion was confirmed.
I got a refund, but unfortunately the clerk retained the printout. I had a
7 day zone 1?X3 travelcard + payg loaded.

This doesn't really make a lot of sense. Am I correct in interpreting
your ticket as a 7 day Z1 to 3 Travelcard on Oyster and then PAYG for
any trips beyond Z3?

Yes. (The lady at the ticket office at Tottenham hale needed a bit of
persuation to let me have both a 7 day zone 1-3 and £10 of pre pay.)

The only thing I can think has happened is that for some reason the
system has applied the max journey time rule and joined together your
Walthamstow to Olympia and then Olympia to West Croydon journeys and
then concluded you've taken too long. However that should only be
applied to journeys *entirely* on PAYG as I understand the
machinations of Oyster.

What exactly happened, we shall never know. It most certainly took more
than 130 minutes from Walthamstow to Croydon. The journey involved five
trains. The parliamentary was being held for long periods at two signals
(the guard actually apologised for this in person), and then a long wait at
Battersea Park due to a delayed train.

I'm contemplating visiting all stations on the Metropolitan in a day, and
with my other plans I figure a 7 day zone 1-3 + payg will be the cheapest
option, unless I'm only going to get unresolved journeys.

I agree with Colin and would recommend you get a One Day Travelcard
for Z1-9 as this does not impose journey time limits. You need to
consider that frequencies are somewhat lower on the far reaches on the
Met and inter station run times are somewhat longer.

Is 10 minutes on average per station on the whole of the Met too
optimistic? This should include waiting, running time and exiting the
station to snap a few photos.

It's only north of Moor Park the frequencies drop below 8 tph, isn't it?

If you are going
to get out at each station to take a look you will spend a fortune on
individual PAYG fares assuming you exit and then re-enter at each
station.
If you just want to rove around then please pay out the money
for the One Day Travelcard and just accept you've got some overlap
with your 7 day ticket. If you need any further encouragement also
bear in mind that ticket offices on the Met have very limited opening
hours these days so if you need to adjust your Oyster you might not be
able to do it out in the wilds of North West London and Herts / Bucks.

I figured the £11.60 zone 4-9 cap would be applied. A zone 1-9 day off-peak
travelcard costs the same, so going paper is not a problem.

Can one day paper travelcards still be bought from TfL ticket machines and
offices?

You need to be quick if you want to see the A Stock. They're on their
way out and going fast.

I've used the A stock a few times on previouos visits. It's a very bumpy
ride on some parts of the line. Is the new stock better in this regard? As
I understand it the new seats have less padding.

--
jhk