London Banter - View Single Post - Oyster: still an unreliable rip-off

Recliner[_2_] · April 25th 14, 12:20 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
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(Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
In article

,
(Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
In article
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(Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
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(Recliner) wrote:

David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 02:50:13PM +0100, Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
David Cantrell wrote:
Tue 15 Apr
09:15 - 10:14 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:49 - 19:56 Aldgate East - Thornton Heath: GBP 5.30

The Aldgate East - Victoria Fare is 2.20 peak/offpeak.
The Victoria - Thornton Heath fare is 3.70 peak, 2.60 offpeak.
Off peak starts in the evening at 19:00.
So there are _four_ possible fares for the journey home:
as a "two leg" trip, with both legs peak: 5.90.
as a "single leg" trip at peak time: 5.30.
as a "two leg trip", with the Vic - Thornton leg offpeak: 4.80
as a "single leg" trip at offpeak: 4.10

That means that if I leave Aldgate East at 18:49 I should be
charged a total of 4.80, because I won't go through the NR
barriers at Victoria until after 19:00. But I'm actually charged
5.30.

That looks correct -- the fare is based on when you entered, not
left, the system. So a journey starting at 18:49 is charged at peak
prices.

The difference is if the journey is split into two. I am not clear
why this journey might or might not be so split, given that touch
out and in at Victoria must happen.

Presumably it's an OSI, so it would be treated as one peak journey.

Indeed, but one example given in this thread managed to notice the
possibility of splitting and did so to minimise the fare.

You'd need to spend long enough in Victoria to exceed the OSI limit for
it to be treated as two journeys.

Look back up the thread:

Explain this:

Tue 15 Apr
09:15 - 10:14 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:49 - 19:56 Aldgate East - Thornton Heath: GBP 5.30
Total: GBP10.60

OK, that looks sane. Same amount in both directions.

Thu 17 Apr
09:07 - 10:16 Thornton Heath - Aldgate East: GBP 5.30
18:41 - 19:01 Aldgate East - Victoria : GBP 2.20
19:50 - 20:26 Victoria - Thornton Heath : GBP 2.60
Total: GBP10.10

Are you saying the cheaper fare on 17 April was only charged
because of the 49 minute gap at Victoria exceeding the OSI limit?

It looks like it, as it made the last journey off-peak.

As would the 15 April journey I expect if split at Victoria.

Yes, it's one of the mysteries of OSI, which was designed to benefit users,
but sometimes costs them for reasons that aren't instantly obvious. I
hadn't come across this variant before; more commonly, it attempts to
combine two fairly lengthy but legit journeys to create one that breaks
journey time limits, thus creating two (expensive) unresolved journeys. I
really think the algorithm in that case should be smarter, and it should
abort the attempted combination of multiple OSI journeys if it would lead
to unresolved compound journeys.