Paul Corfield wrote in
:

On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:05:59 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:

What would you be charged if you forgot to validate on the tram,
validated on the platform at Wimbledon, and either (a) left the
station through the barriers, or (b) continued on the tube and exited
at anothr station?

A couple of assumptions firstly - if incorrect then let me know in a
reply. Please note that I do not know for certain but I giving what I
think would be the answer based on my knowledge of the system. I am
more than happy to be corrected by those who know for certain.

a) You've arrived at Wimbledon by tram and the first validation is
on the Tramlink platform.
b) You are using PAYG exclusively.

If you validate at the tram link platform then your card will be set
for entry and will deduct £1 or 80p depending on time of day.
If you then proceed to exit via the barriers I would expect you will
not be able to as the last entry will be recorded as "In" at Wimbledon
Tramlink a few minutes earlier. Why would you wish to exit? It is
illogical - you should be on a tram to Croydon!

If you then did your (b) then you would be charged for Tramlink as
above and then charged £4 on exit from LU as there would be no entry
transaction for a LU journey and thus you have not validated correctly
and would have an unresolved journey.



That's what I thought. I've never done the journey myself, but I bet
you're right.

Basically, if you forget to touch in at eg Dundonald Road because the
tram is about to leave, and the tram is packed, and you genuinely try
and show you're not cheating the system by touching in on the platform,
you will in fact be penalised.

If you simply pretend the tram journey never happened, you'd be charged
£4.

If you try and show your honesty, you'd be charged £4.80 or £5.

It is ridiculous, and shows just how draconian this £4 measure really
is.

Because in an ideal world, the system should recognise honesty and
simply charge the £0.80 or £1 and nothing else.

I don't wish to sound too dramatic, but LUL has effectively
singlehandedly destroyed two important mainstays of the way we live.
Basically:

(a) the customer is always right
(b) you are innocent until proven guilty.

What this system does is charge you £4 assuming you're guilty, and then
you have to try and prove your innocence. And when you try and be honest
by touching in on the platform, you are further penalised. The system is
an ass.

Not just LUL, but all over transport for London, especially the little
****s who are so quick to dish out parking tickets.

If I had boarded a tram at Dundonald Road and failed to touch in because
the tram was leaving, I would have done the honest thing and touched in
on the platform before leaving the system. And yet I'd be charged more
than if I tried to cheat it on purpose.

It's like that story I mentioned a little while a go. A guy enters
Plaistow station and the barriers are open, walks through, remembers
that he should have touched in, and then turns and touches "out" not on
the open barrier but on one of the exits. He then goes to Mile End,
exits, and is charged £8.

In this day and age the system should see that it is actually
nonsensical to exit Plaistow and then 10 minutes or so later exit Mile
End and call it two unfinished journeys. But I guess we said goodbye to
good old common sense when we turned all our thinking over to computers.