In message , Paul Corfield
writes
I have not seen any rules that advise on what to do if the Oyster card
or equipment is defective. It wasn't in the last Oyster or Fares booklet
that I've seen. Something has to be sorted out to explain how the whole
set up works because it is becoming overly complicated. Drivers and
passengers cannot be expected to comprehend all of the complexity and it
gets a whole pile worse come the January fares changes.
Following a job I did in London recently there was a short exchange here
about explaining the complexities of using London's bus network to
visitors, which included contributions from myself and Paul.

Further to this, I've just done another weekend where the passengers had
about four and a half hours free, having been dropped in Park Lane. So
I decided - as an experiment - to try explaining how Oyster worked to
people. As I feared, it put a lot of people off even using buses. I
could see people's faces just glazing over and I also dread next year
when people will be faced with very high cash fares.

Because I had so much free time, I took myself out to the open weekend
at Acton Depot. (Which I thoroughly enjoyed by the way.)

I set up Auto Top up and - when I returned later to Bond Street - I
checked at a machine that everything was in order. To my surprise,
although Auto Top Up had worked, I found that I had an unresolved
journey. The Bond Street ticket office put that right (and charged me
£1.70 instead of what I think should have been £2.00). However, the
ticket clerk said that it had occurred because I hadn't swiped in at
Acton. Now I *had* (the barriers were in use and obviously opened), so
I wonder what could have gone wrong? This is my first "hiccup" with
Oyster, though.

Goodness knows how on earth London is going to go completely cash*less*
when it cannot cope with cash in the first place. Does anyone think
this is going to work based solely on Oyster cards and a limited
scattering of roadside machines?
Yes, despite what I wrote above, I find that the need to buy tickets
from roadside machines concerns and confuses my people much more than
Oyster.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk