Paul Corfield wrote:

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 01:06:59 +0100, asdf
wrote:

If you don't mind Paul, could you confirm whether ticket offices won't
be able to fix incomplete journeys any more? (The OP reported it as
something of a rumour.)

I can't see any advantage whatsoever in making such a change (except
perhaps small savings in ticket office staff training, or extra money
from people phoning the 0845 helpline). On the face of it, it would
seem almost deliberately obstructive, and certainly against the spirit
of customer service (which is normally very good).

I've had a look at the training material. It is very clear that where
there is a system problem (e.g. reader is not working, card problems or
there was an emergency evacuation or something else in LU's control)
that card resetting at the ticket office will be permitted. Where
someone is simply not validating because they can't be bothered / forgot
/ whatever (i.e. in their direct control) then that will NOT be dealt
with at the ticket office. Only a call to the Oyster helpline will
suffice.

The rules relating to charges and card resetting are also changing.

If you think about why the change is being made then there is a logic to
this approach. The whole point is to get people to play by the rules and
to do what they are supposed to do. If you make it too easy to get round
the rules how will people ever learn to play by the rules? If people
keep getting charged £4 and have to go to extra effort to deal with the
helpdesk perhaps they will think twice before doing it again. Where the
problem is LU's fault then the customer is dealt with straight away -
that sounds like a decent deal to me.

I concur. This change will plug a hole in the Oyster system that was
open to abuse. The critical thing now is to make sure that all Oyster
readers and gatelines are operational at all times - if a gate is
broken it can just be closed so passengers can use another one, but if
a standalone Oyster reader is out of action it should clearly be signed
as such so passengers know to use another one, and it should be fixed
ASAP. That said I don't think I've ever seen a standalone Oyster reader
that was broken.


If I can summon up the mental stamina I might try to knock together a
summary post of the key points from this change. It is quite involved
and there are differences for Oyster card holders with Travelcards on
their cards and those purely on adult rate PAYG. Would this be
appreciated?

dons flak jacket and hides in corner

Yes, I for one would very much appreciate such a summary.


Note also that there is going to be a big publicity campaign about this
so more detail will be in the public domain shortly.

As you see elsewhere in this thread some posters displayed at stations
claim that it's already started! I hope that the publicity campaign is
comprehensive and emphasises that one has to touch-in and out at the
start and end of every journey.

I know perfectly well meaning people (definitely not fare evaders) who
having arrived at an unfamiliar and ungated station (such as Finsbury
Park) manage to walk obliviously past the Oyster readers and straight
out the exit onto the street, failing to touch-out in the process. In
the paper ticketing days gone by this is entirely normal behaviour, but
in the times of Oyster they need a kind of message that sticks in the
mind so they alter this ingrained behaviour.