David Howdon wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

I think it's fair enough for the system designers to assume that with
this example the route taken would be via zone 1 on the Central Line. I
guess if you did want to go via Rayner's Lane then you can ensure you
don't pay for zone 1 by exiting and re-entering the station via the
gates - thus ensuring the system knows what you're doing.

Actually I think that might cause problems as well. I've done this
(admittedly within my season ticket zones) when I was feeling a bit
grotty on one of the trains and decided to get some fresh air. So I
existed a station for about one or two minutes and then tried to
re-enter. This caused an error message and when I went to the gateline
staff they told me it was because I had just left.

I suppose that makes sense as exiting and then re-entering immediately
is rather odd behaviour and may indicate someone passing their card to
someone else.


Now you say it that issue does sound familiar, I think I've encountered
that.

In terms of exiting and re-rentering being a pain in the arse and you
as the passenger getting funny looks then that is a problem - you just
need to be let back in through the manual gates with the staff querying
your card using a handheld reader (if they can be bothered - or they
could always use a Oyster ticket machine to check your Oyster, I've
seen Tube staff do this). However it wouldn't be a problem in terms of
messing up your journey on the Oyster system. As this previous poster
explains [1]...

"Oyster can cope with an entry followed by two exits, as it just
extends the journey. However two entries followed by one exit will lead
to an unresolved journey."

....so you can go in (once), out (once), be let back in through the
manual gates and out (a second time). Being let back in at the gates
wouldn't count on your Oyster card.


[1] Link to Google Group archive of message:
http://tinyurl.com/pnybd