TKD wrote:
Perhaps Oyster readers at some stations are programmed to charge the
full whack, whilst others are more leniant?

If you only touch your Oyster Card at the start or end of a journey you
are always charged the minumum fare from that station at that time.
However, it will not count towards any price capping calculation.

So if you have been capped at Zone1-6 and make a further journey
where you only touch at one end, you will pay more than you need to.

Getting charged the minimum fare is what I've experienced. However in
another post in this thread from Paul Weaver [1] he states that he got
charged £3.xx (he wasn't sure of the exact amount) when he only
touched out, which is why I wondered if the programming of the Oyster
readers might vary from station to station.

It makes sense that price capping requires you to touch in and touch
out in order to make an accurate calculation.

However if someone is just using their Oyster card for one or two trips
on the tube on one day there just isn't any incentive to touch out if
they can avoid doing so, i.e. at stations where the barriers are open
or there are no barriers, just Oyster readers (such as at Kensington
Olympia). If they were to touch out they'd end up paying more.


[1]
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....cf502f0?hl=en&