"Paul Scott" wrote in message
...


You've reminded me that I was reading a thread in a rail forum a couple of
days ago where someone was adamant that all the platform interchange
validators had been switched off at London Bridge as soon as PAYG went
live on NR.

The main thrust of that discussion was someone asking how he should
correctly use PAYG to commence a journey, having travelled as far as
'London Terminals' with a paper ticket from somewhere like Portsmouth.

If they really have decided to switch off platform (or paid side)
'interchange validators' as a matter of policy, such passengers from
outside the zones wishing to change to PAYG seem to have little option but
to exit using their paper ticket and re-enter using PAYG. Is this really
the current situation - and is it reasonable?

I think the answers are Yes and No. I tend to decide in advance how I'm
going to pay for my journey. Until recently Southern have been offering
Super Off Peak discounted travelcards from Brighton for £8.35, so I've
bought these and kept the Oyster card in my pocket. They're now offering
discounted London Terminals return tickets from Brighton for £7.45 so I'm
able to work with those + Oyster.

The only problem likely to hit me is with changing from paper to Oyster on
the Thameslink route. I tend to do one of the following:

1. for destinations near Farringdon: use City Thameslink and walk the extra
distance.

2. for destinations near Kings X: use Southern to Victoria and the Victoria
line, which is usually faster anyway.

DAS