London Banter - View Single Post - Consequences of ticket office closures, part 94

Recliner[_3_] · October 28th 15, 11:31 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 28/10/2015 19:36, wrote:

In article , (Peter Smyth)
wrote:

wrote:

While I was at Liverpool St on Tuesday I was concerned not to enter
the tube before 9:30 so as not to be charged peak fares.

So I sought out a staff member near the ticket machines (the ticket
office closed 19th October) to find out how I could be sure that the
gates thought it was 9:30 before I touched in. They don't display the
time which would answer my question. The one staff member supposedly
helping passengers could only advise me to use my watch.

I'm not sure how a ticket office would have been any more help with
your query?

In practice the gates go to off-peak mode at 0928 or so if your watch
says 0930 you are safe unless your watch is very unreliable.

Thanks. I would have expected well trained staff to have told me
something like that. It's a pity that gate displays just don't show the
time.

I don't think it'd be a great idea to advertise the 'window of
forgiveness', as it'd rather lose its meaning if so.

Using a watch or mobile - many of which will take the time from the
network - is fair enough, if you want to avail of the cheaper fares.
I imagine there may well be a clock somewhere in the ticket hall - if
not, the time is displayed on the main concourse at Liverpool St.

I was not confident that the clock used by the gateline was correct. I must
obviously be more suspicious than you.

I don't think the gateline has its own clock. The system uses an accurate
clock, presumably synced to an Internet clock. It's noticeable that most
station clocks are accurate to the second these days, just like
radio-controlled watches.