On 25 Apr, 11:15, Paul Weaver wrote:
On 25 Apr, 07:44, Graeme Wall wrote:



In message
Paul Weaver wrote:


But the biggest flaw with oyster is the "bus replacement" issue. If I
get a tube from Epping to Oxford Circue, and there's a "replacement
bus" from Loughton to Leytonstone, I get charged for at least two tube
journeys, and maybe a bus journey too. In many cases at the weekend,a
paper ticket is cheaper, and certainly less stressful.

Whe I've used a replacement bus in London, the Oyster reader on the bus
wasn't in use. And how can a paper ticket be less stressful?

You buy the ticket in advance, and you know you have the right to
continue your journey. I was charged a fortune once, Epping to Cutty
Sark. Touch in at Epping, central line to Stratford, then what? No
barriers, cross platform interschange, should I Touch out on the
validator nearest to the tube, should I touch in on the DLR (platform
4), should I do both?


You actually don't need to do either as you're merely continuing your
journey from Epping where you touched in, but I don't think it should
matter if you do touch-in once or even twice on the standalone readers
there. What did you actually do?


DLR then arrived at Poplar or West India Key, I forget. Should I now
touch out? Got on the replacement bus, nobody touched in. This took us
to Mudchute. Got to mudchute, should I touch in at Mudchute? Got off
at Cutty Sark, should I touch out? Are all the validators equal, or
are some "entry" and some "exit"? I managed to get three unresolved
journeys that day.


Don't touch-out before getting on the replacement bus at Poplar/West
India Quay, and don't touch in again at Mudchute (though if you had
touched-out at Poplar/West India Quay you would have ended your
journey, so you would then need to touch-in again at Mudchute to start
a new one).

All the validators on the DLR are the same - none are specifically
configured for entry or exit, they handle both.

Again, what did you actually do?

I'm also wondering how long your total journey was from Epping to
Cutty Sark - did it take longer than two hours? If so there's a
possible explanation to the multiple unresolved journey 'penalties'
that you got that day - the system would appear to be configured with
the presumption that any end-to-end journey should be completed within
two hours. If not then it concludes you have made one journey where
you failed to touch-out, and another where you failed to touch-in, and
thus charges you for two uncompleted journeys. I don't know whether
this has been tweaked yet, but it certainly should be.


Same story on the way back.

Had I bought a paper ticket It would have been a hell of a lot less
stressful. Had I realised the DLR was out that day I wouldn't have
made the trip at all.


I can understand where you're coming from now. I suspect Oyster Rail
needs some refinement if it is going to be able to cope with National
Rail in London too, especially given that the majority of stations are
ungated hence there will be a plethora of standalone Oyster readers
that must deal with both entries and exits.

By the by the DLR is going to be subject to partial closure pretty
much every weekend for a good while to come whilst work proceeds on
lengthening platforms to accommodate three car trains.

An alternative route for Epping to Greenwich is to change at Stratford
to the Jubilee to North Greenwich, then a short trip on the very
regular and reliable 188 bus to Greenwich town centre. It's not as
impressive as going through the Isle of Dogs on the DLR though!