Leyton tube about 8pm Saturday night.

Hope there weren't too many pre-pay people going through...

For what it's worth, I have a season Oyster so didn't stop to question
it. Then, as it happened, I forgot I was going out of my zone without
pre-pay.

When I got to South Woodford, I couldn't get out of course, so rather
than even making me pay an extension, the 2 SAs kindly let me out for
free (perhaps cos we both talked the same Oyster jargon :-), and I
promised to go and put some pre-pay on to get back in later on.

However, if I HAD had Pre-pay on the Oyster, what would have happened
given that I had no entry recorded? Just an unresolved journey or a
charge of how much on the pre-pay?

In message , Dave Newt
writes

Leyton tube about 8pm Saturday night.

Hope there weren't too many pre-pay people going through...

Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

For what it's worth, I have a season Oyster so didn't stop to question
it. Then, as it happened, I forgot I was going out of my zone without
pre-pay.

When I got to South Woodford, I couldn't get out of course, so rather
than even making me pay an extension, the 2 SAs kindly let me out for
free (perhaps cos we both talked the same Oyster jargon :-), and I
promised to go and put some pre-pay on to get back in later on.

However, if I HAD had Pre-pay on the Oyster, what would have happened
given that I had no entry recorded? Just an unresolved journey or a
charge of how much on the pre-pay?

If you had no Pre Pay and went out of Zone you'd have a debit of £1.00
showing. On the way back you'd need to put £2.00 for the cost of two
extensions (assuming you have 1 - 2)

--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Kat wrote:

In message , Dave Newt
writes

Leyton tube about 8pm Saturday night.

Hope there weren't too many pre-pay people going through...

Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

Absolutely. No lights and no reaction. (I tried briefly.)

In fact, when I got out at South Woodford, I didn't understand why the
machine's "View Oyster Usage" option didn't show that I had just come
from Leyton. Later I remembered it was because the machines were off, so
the entire journey didn't exist.

For what it's worth, I have a season Oyster so didn't stop to question
it. Then, as it happened, I forgot I was going out of my zone without
pre-pay.

When I got to South Woodford, I couldn't get out of course, so rather
than even making me pay an extension, the 2 SAs kindly let me out for
free (perhaps cos we both talked the same Oyster jargon :-), and I
promised to go and put some pre-pay on to get back in later on.

However, if I HAD had Pre-pay on the Oyster, what would have happened
given that I had no entry recorded? Just an unresolved journey or a
charge of how much on the pre-pay?

If you had no Pre Pay and went out of Zone you'd have a debit of £1.00
showing.

So it would assume I had started in Z1-3 (my season)? So if a Z6-D gate
had been off, I would have only paid £1 to get out in Z4, since it would
have assumed I came in in Z1-3?

On the way back you'd need to put £2.00 for the cost of two
extensions (assuming you have 1 - 2)

Oh yeah, getting back would not be a problem - I mean the extension
calculator didn't know where I got on in this case, so I am just
wondering how it would guess where I got on (and what it would guess).

In message , Dave Newt
writes
Kat wrote:
Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

Absolutely. No lights and no reaction. (I tried briefly.)

OK, I can find out about that.


So it would assume I had started in Z1-3 (my season)? So if a Z6-D gate
had been off, I would have only paid £1 to get out in Z4, since it would
have assumed I came in in Z1-3?

On the way back you'd need to put £2.00 for the cost of two
extensions (assuming you have 1 - 2)

Oh yeah, getting back would not be a problem - I mean the extension
calculator didn't know where I got on in this case, so I am just
wondering how it would guess where I got on (and what it would guess).

I've given up assuming anything about what Oyster cards might guess. If
you go to a ticket office and get your journey resolved, you can tell
them where and why you couldn't validate the start of your journey and
they ought to accept your word for it.
I imagine you've used your Oyster since Saturday, so how much did you
have to pay?
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Kat wrote:

In message , Dave Newt
writes
Kat wrote:
Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

Absolutely. No lights and no reaction. (I tried briefly.)

OK, I can find out about that.


So it would assume I had started in Z1-3 (my season)? So if a Z6-D gate
had been off, I would have only paid £1 to get out in Z4, since it would
have assumed I came in in Z1-3?

On the way back you'd need to put £2.00 for the cost of two
extensions (assuming you have 1 - 2)

Oh yeah, getting back would not be a problem - I mean the extension
calculator didn't know where I got on in this case, so I am just
wondering how it would guess where I got on (and what it would guess).

I've given up assuming anything about what Oyster cards might guess. If
you go to a ticket office and get your journey resolved, you can tell
them where and why you couldn't validate the start of your journey and
they ought to accept your word for it.
I imagine you've used your Oyster since Saturday, so how much did you
have to pay?

Hmm, nothing in this case - my journey was not unresolved, since the
machines were off on entry, and the SAs were nice on exit. :-)

(Plus I didn't reenter anyway, got a lift home.)

I think at South Woodford there is no cash office inside the gate, so
they had to let me out even if they were gonna make me buy an extension.
However, they made it clear they didn't expect me to, they just said
"we'd suggest you put some prepay on for coming back and if this journey
comes up as unresolved, go to the ticket office to sort it out".

In a way, I am glad there wasn't any prepay on it, since I don't know
how much it would have deducted!

In message , Dave Newt
writes
In a way, I am glad there wasn't any prepay on it, since I don't know
how much it would have deducted!

It wouldn't have mattered if there *was* or *was not* Pre Pay on it, if
the validators had been working you'd have been charged £1.00 anyway.
No Pre Pay at all and it's a debit (shows as -£1.00)
Any Pre Pay amount at all (say 20p) and it would show -£0.80 or
whatever.
Pre Pay is enabled on ALL Oyster cards... except ours it seems.
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

In message , Dave Newt
writes

Hmm, nothing in this case - my journey was not unresolved, since the
machines were off on entry, and the SAs were nice on exit. :-)

I thought you said you couldn't get out at South Woodford. Was this
because the Oyster wouldn't open the gate or because you didn't try
because you realised that not validating at Leyton would cause problems?
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

I've saved a small fortune out of zone recently because the gates at
stations are open and the Oyster readers don't do anything (no noise,
no LED, nothing recorded on the card) when you touch your card on
them.

There's no point in these endless "remember to touch your card on the
reader even if the gates are open" messages and posters if the readers
are all switched off!

This has happened to me at London Bridge, Morden, South Wimbledon and
Vauxhall (NR) in the past two weeks - I want to give TfL my money but
apparently they don't want it!

(Matt Ashby) wrote in message . com...
Are you certain the readers were off? The gates can be set to open but
wouldn't normally be powered down unless there's a fault.

I've saved a small fortune out of zone recently because the gates at
stations are open and the Oyster readers don't do anything (no noise,
no LED, nothing recorded on the card) when you touch your card on
them.

There's no point in these endless "remember to touch your card on the
reader even if the gates are open" messages and posters if the readers
are all switched off!

This has happened to me at London Bridge, Morden, South Wimbledon and
Vauxhall (NR) in the past two weeks - I want to give TfL my money but
apparently they don't want it!

As I mentioned in another thread the Vauxhall NR reader do not seem to
update the status of the card as you pass through. I often take
Vauxhall NR - Waterloo - Bank - Shadwell DLR (SWT and the Drain is
usually quicker than underground via Oxford Circus) but if I use the
Oyster to enter at Vauxhall NR then use the validators on exit at
Shadwell DLR the screens at Shadwell show 'Enter' rather than 'Exit'
and I get an unresolved journey, even though it is all within my
Travelcard zones. Vauxhall NR also does not show up on the journey
record on the large ticket machines - although the DLR also shows up
as blanks come to think of it.

I guess there must be more journeys like this where it is better to
ignore the advice to always validate on enter/exit. Although if I
enter inside the underground and don't validate at Shadwell then I
also get an unresolved journey. Besides, the DLR signs clearly say
only pre-pay customers need to validate - so is it because I have
some credit on my oyster card that I get unresolved journeys or am I
just reading the signs/posters wrong?

--
Gareth Davis

As I mentioned in another thread the Vauxhall NR reader do not seem to
update the status of the card as you pass through. I often take
Vauxhall NR - Waterloo - Bank - Shadwell DLR (SWT and the Drain is
usually quicker than underground via Oxford Circus) but if I use the
Oyster to enter at Vauxhall NR then use the validators on exit at
Shadwell DLR the screens at Shadwell show 'Enter' rather than 'Exit'
and I get an unresolved journey, even though it is all within my
Travelcard zones. Vauxhall NR also does not show up on the journey
record on the large ticket machines - although the DLR also shows up
as blanks come to think of it.

You have to validate in at Waterloo (Waterloo & City) platforms, as
you always need to have swiped in and out for the part of your journey
where Prepay is valid, even if you havea vaild travelcard covering all
the zones.