On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 15:40:36 -0000, "Dave Liney"
wrote:



Then why does the Oyster machine accept his card? It should reject it as not
containing a valid ticket. That the card was accepted and a deduction made
suggests to a user that a valid ticket was purchased.

One of the advantages of Oyster is that you don't have to know what fare you
require. The system deducts the correct amount automatically so how is a
member of the public to know that he hasn't paid the proper fare.
Differential pricing coming in for Oyster cards compared to cash fares will
make the evaluating that more difficult.

Dave


I appreciate the distinction you are making. I agree that Oyster Pre
Pay is being rather sloppily introduced. It *is* a problem that the
cards are being accepted when they are not valid (and that an
incorrect deduction is being made is even more of a problem). This is
a something TfL and Transys should address as responsible vendors.

I do not believe it is honest, however, to knowingly underpay one's
fare.

That said, in the case of bus use there is at least a mitigation in
saying that the farepayer wouldn't have a reasonable chance of finding
out they had underpaid until they next went to top-up the card and saw
the remaining balance.

--
Rob