In message , at 12:55:07 on
Wed, 17 Sep 2014, Paul Corfield remarked:
Based on anecdotal feedback it seems the card / reader txn time for
CPCs is marginally longer and if there is significant transfer to CPCs
that could slow down gate throughput. If the subsequent conversion of
Oyster is also slower than current Oyster then that's not going to be
wonderful.

Southern and the DfT have been launching the "Travelcard on ITSO"
functionality for the Southern "The Key" today. I saw something on
Twitter but no press releases were around earlier.

I hadn't noticed that, thanks. Apparently it went operational (some
would call that a 'soft-launch') about three weeks ago.

Apparently ITSO card read times are not quick either

Even slower than CPC I'm pretty sure. Not that this matters on much of
National Rail with really slow 'clockwork' barriers.

so we face the prospect of gate throughputs falling.

Indeed, although if they started to mark some gates as "Oyster only"
(even if it's a bluff) that might keep the throughput up for people in
the know.

This is in the face of rising patronage and slow
gate throughput means you need more gates for a given throughput which
could have serious implications, if TfL change their standards, for
reconstructing stations.

Another option would be to redefine the ITSO use paradigm, and make it
more like CPC with a "read only" and hence shorter transaction time at
selected gates with selected products (such as TfL/Travelcards), with
the results being reconciled overnight (like CPC) with some sort of
centralised auto-topup purse.

There are a lot of "ifs" there but I hope
someone is paying attention to the effect of changing the blend of
card technologies and read times.

On the other hand it may just be another instance of Hutber's Law, with
a so-called improvement actually giving worse/slower service to the end
user.

Who would have predicted when they decided to phase out slam-door trains
that one of the results would that instead of being able to exit the
train from about minus-two seconds before it stops, you always have to
wait until about fifteen seconds afterwards. Manual ticket buying has
only got difficult since the industry changed from issuing Edmondsons
for cash (about 5 seconds all-up) to the current offering which have to
be picked from a crt, take ages to print, and even longer to pay for by
credit card.
--
Roland Perry