Mizter T wrote:

I've thought about this a bit more and my above explanation (with the
Tottenham Hale via Highbury & Islington to Camden Road example)
could've been a bit clearer.

The critical point is that if you're using PAYG for any portion of your
Tube journey you must touch in and out at the place where you move from
PAYG territory to non-PAYG territory.

In the case of the example I gave, this is at Highbury & Islington -
you move from the PAYG territory of the Tube to the non-PAYG territory
of the NLL. Thus at Highbury & Islington you need to touch-out from the
Tube network to tell the system you've finished your Tube journey.

OK - this is where I have problems! The journey you describe is exactly
the one I quite often do, and which has always puzzled me - I don't
know where on the interchange between the Victoria Line and the NLL
line at H&I the magic card reader is. I'll have to look next time I'm
there. I don't think the 'always touch in and touch out' reminder works
very well in these locations, at least not for me, because there's no
sense of changing in or out of anything.

The
Oyster system doesn't care what you do on the NLL, as it's not PAYG
territory. Of course an NLL ticket inspector cares about this - but as
you have a zones 1&2 Travelcard which covers your High & I to Camden
Road journey he'd be happy too.


As long as I haven't strayed through the Hampstead Heath Zone 3
Wormhole, eh? (another bugbear).

When PAYG is adopted on the NLL (in late 2007/early 2008) then you
won't need to touch-out at High & I, you'll just be able to continue
onto the NLL as your whole journey (both the Victoria line and the NLL)
will be within PAYG territory. When this happens, touching out at
Camden Road will suffice - **but please note this is _not_yet_ the
case, so don't try it tomorrow!**

It's not a question of trying it, it's a matter of trying to remember
what is a fairly abstruse quirk of the zoning rules in time to avoid
being nabbed.

Thanks. I know this will all be sorted out in the end, but... hey, you
know.

R