Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:20:11 +0100, Dave Arquati wrote:

TKD wrote:
So, what happens if the Bus card-reader is broken, and the driver
waves you on - happens a couple of times per month on the routes that
I use (308, 678). Take it I should insist on paying cash?
You can add the 8, 277 & 15 to that list and countless more probably.

The official TfL position is that you should pay the cash fare and request
a refund of the price difference from them...

Unless you were capped that day in which case you would be entitled to
a full refund.

Or if that journey was the last one that day and took you past a cap then
you would get a refund of any extra you paid in total beyond the cap.

Not a very elegant solution.
Surely since they advertise that Oyster Prepay is an accepted form of
payment, and given that you have enough credit to pay, it's totally
their problem...?

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.

In Hong Kong it is easy - if the reader is defective they place a
special "bag" over it explaining the situation and requiring the
passenger to pay cash. The reader is a fully separate unit and is not
stuck on the side of a ticket machine (as they don't have such things in
HK just cash boxes). However it is extremely rare to ever encounter this
problem unlike in London where reliability seems to be hopeless and
there is no clear way of dealing with the problem.
(snip)

I wonder what stops London Buses requiring that an Oyster check is
carried out before the bus leaves the depot - and if the reader fails,
then a temporary reader should be provided (with the failed reader's pad
being covered up as you say they do in HK).

Presumably those ticket machines can be removed and plugged into a
computer. Surely temporary pads can be provided and connected to the
ticket machine?

Or maybe they could just address the apparent unreliability of the readers.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London