London Banter - View Single Post - London buses to offer contactless payment card option from tomorrow(12/12/12)

[email protected] · December 17th 12, 11:50 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
14:46:18 on Mon, 17 Dec 2012, remarked:
It needs fixing such that if you over-run the timeout the next touch
in, if it is at a station that is a possible part of an OSI, closes
the previous journey and opens a new one.

Unfortunately it has to close the previous touch in/out. That's why
it's non trivial to solve. But it can't be impossible

The simplest suggestion, which I mentioned long ago, would be to either
add a facility to the ticket machines to "close my journey NOW", or
simpler (but more expensive) have a "close my journey NOW" validator
somewhere on the concourse.

I see no reason why the concept of OSI needs to be such a secret and
you could have dumbed-down signs saying something like:

"Finished your journey? Touch the purple validator to ensure
you are charged the correct fare".

If you wanted the general public to avoid the problem.

How would that work with gates, by far the majority touching out method?
Any rational person would expect that exiting by a gate would close a
journey.

That's what the signs are supposed to dispel, you'd touch them after
the gate, but regulars would be drip-fed the information that it only
mattered if you were likely to be re-entering the system soon after.

If you find out only months later that it didn't TfL say "stuff you".

TfL seem to be moving into a more "online" mode - for example is the
online 'statement' for Paywave the only one you'll be able to get?

[TfL must know, but they can't be bothered to tell us].

And the online site [now] flags up unresolved journeys right away.

You can also get statements emailed to you.

Yes, it's more work for the customer, but the only way to break
through the "trust me I'm a gripper" mentality.

Not much use for infrequent travellers either.

--
Colin Rosenstiel