London Banter - View Single Post

David Walters · August 30th 17, 09:10 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:11:29 -0500, wrote:
In article ,
(David Walters) wrote:

On Sat, 26 Aug 2017 20:27:25 +0200, Jarle Hammen Knudsen
wrote:
On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:42:42 +0100, David Walters
wrote:

On Mon, 07 Aug 2017 12:43:30 -0500,
wrote:
I thought when the Mayor wanted to extend Oyster to National Rail
route in London ATOC insisted that railcards had to be recognised and
discounts given. So the system to register railcards on Oyster cards
was somewhat haphazardly introduced. For example you couldn't check
railcard registration status at a ticket machine. It was only when
they decided to close all the ticket offices that they had to make it
possible as it now is.

But for people living outside London who aren't regular visitors
contactless became a much better option when introduced unless you are
a railcard holder because, although Oyster cards have to be registered
to get railcard discounts, they have not enabled railcard discounts
against Contactless travel.

Perhaps because there is no way for an on-board ticket inspection to
confirm the person using the contactless card is the owner, and in
possession, of the relevant railcard? In theory a ticket check of an
Oyster card can flag the railcard which the ticket inspector would then
ask to see.

I don't see the problem. The railcard must still be brought along for
the journey.

How would the ticket inspector know to ask to see a railcard if a
contactless card was used?

From the back office database. Don't they already access that when checking
contactless these days? Recent Oyster & Contactless developments rely on a
degree of connectivity that was but a dream less than a decade ago.

Not in real time as far as I can tell, no. Contactless ticket checks
show on the journey history but take some hours to appear, it seems to
be updated after the event. Gate entry/exits take a few seconds to appear.

There are also lots of places without data where tickets are checked
such as tunnels so you can't ask the back office.