On 2016-02-05 01:07:41 +0000, John Levine said:

It probably doesn't. Keep in mind that the goal isn't necessarily to
have £0.00 in lost revenue, it's to get as much net revenue as
possible. The savings in not having to sell and manage zillions of
Oyster cards likely would pay for a fair amount of contactless
shenanigans.

Indeed. The aim is the maximum income to the business. It can for
example be that there is no point pursuing certain lost revenue because
pursuing it is more expensive than the actual revenue. It seems clear
that London Midland have taken this approach for late evening journeys
on the WCML not involving London - there is no attempt at revenue
protection whatsoever. I know a few people who refer to late night
MKC-BLY as "the free train", and in practice they are not wrong (even
though I'm well behaved and pay).

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.