Before boarding my District line train at Kensington Olympia today I
dutifully swiped my monthly Travelcard Oyster card on one of those
often-hard-to-find validators that says "Pre Pay users Please touch
your Oyster card on the reader".

Many posts in this group mention that actually, ALL Oyster users have
validate their cards to avoid an unresolved journey. My question is,
why did LU/Transys print those misleading Pre Pay users only notices?

They seem to be written for a period when (i) Travelcard Oyster card
users don't have to worry about swiping in and out, and (ii) Pre Pay
is in use. AFAIK these 2 conditions never existed at the same time.
Was the original plan to keep Pre Pay disabled on Travelcard Oyster
cards, but there was a late change of plan?

Dominic

On Thu, 13 May 2004 at 14:24:36, Dominic wrote:

Many posts in this group mention that actually, ALL Oyster users have
validate their cards to avoid an unresolved journey. My question is,
why did LU/Transys print those misleading Pre Pay users only notices?

I don't think that's altogether true, though. As a Travelcard holder, I
don't have to swipe in and out on the DLR, and I can't between Streatham
and Blackfriars, as there's nowhere to do so - but my ticket is
perfectly valid, nevertheless. I wouldn't swipe in at Kenny O, simply
because I don't think I'd need to... after all, I don't at Bank, if I'm
changing from the DLR there, as sometimes happens, and no problem the
other end.
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 9 May 2004

Annabel Smyth wrote:
On Thu, 13 May 2004 at 14:24:36, Dominic wrote:


Many posts in this group mention that actually, ALL Oyster users have
validate their cards to avoid an unresolved journey. My question is,
why did LU/Transys print those misleading Pre Pay users only notices?


I don't think that's altogether true, though. As a Travelcard holder, I
don't have to swipe in and out on the DLR, and I can't between Streatham
and Blackfriars, as there's nowhere to do so - but my ticket is
perfectly valid, nevertheless. I wouldn't swipe in at Kenny O, simply
because I don't think I'd need to... after all, I don't at Bank, if I'm
changing from the DLR there, as sometimes happens, and no problem the
other end.

So you're saying that you don't touch the validators when you enter a
DLR station, and you don't touch them when you exit a DLR station?

Brad

(I apologize in advance if this is duplicated; my mail tool crashed
unexpectedly when I sent the message).

Annabel Smyth wrote:
On Thu, 13 May 2004 at 14:24:36, Dominic wrote:


Many posts in this group mention that actually, ALL Oyster users have
validate their cards to avoid an unresolved journey. My question is,
why did LU/Transys print those misleading Pre Pay users only notices?


I don't think that's altogether true, though. As a Travelcard holder, I
don't have to swipe in and out on the DLR, and I can't between Streatham
and Blackfriars, as there's nowhere to do so - but my ticket is
perfectly valid, nevertheless. I wouldn't swipe in at Kenny O, simply
because I don't think I'd need to... after all, I don't at Bank, if I'm
changing from the DLR there, as sometimes happens, and no problem the
other end.

So you don't touch a validator when you enter or exit a DLR station,
even if you previously went through a gateline?

Brad

On Sat, 15 May 2004 at 18:37:43, TheOneKEA wrote:

So you're saying that you don't touch the validators when you enter a
DLR station, and you don't touch them when you exit a DLR station?

Correct. If you read the Oyster blurb, you will see that there is no
requirement to do so.
--
Annabel Smyth
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/index.html
Website updated 9 May 2004

On Sun, 16 May 2004 16:00:38 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:



Correct. If you read the Oyster blurb, you will see that there is no
requirement to do so.

The exceptions being if starting or ending your DLR journey at a Tube
station, or when joining the DLR at Bank.

Not sure what you mean by this? Why do you need to swipe it even if
you started or finished at a tube station? The validators at Bank
STILL weren't working when I last passed through there - why is this
taking so long?

Personally, if I'm using a
Travelcard I just touch in and out anyway as it avoids unresolved
journeys.


What are the implications of "unresolved journeys"?

k wrote:
On Sun, 16 May 2004 16:00:38 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:



Correct. If you read the Oyster blurb, you will see that there is no
requirement to do so.

The exceptions being if starting or ending your DLR journey at a Tube
station, or when joining the DLR at Bank.


Not sure what you mean by this? Why do you need to swipe it even if
you started or finished at a tube station? The validators at Bank
STILL weren't working when I last passed through there - why is this
taking so long?


Personally, if I'm using a
Travelcard I just touch in and out anyway as it avoids unresolved
journeys.



What are the implications of "unresolved journeys"?

Your PrePay account will become negative and the gates will not let you
in until the PrePay account on the Oyster is zero or positive.

Brad

On Mon, 17 May 2004 12:14:56 +0000 (UTC), TheOneKEA
wrote:



What are the implications of "unresolved journeys"?

Your PrePay account will become negative

On what grounds? As it CLEARLY says on the signs - the validators are
for prepay users.

On Mon, 17 May 2004 13:47:50 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:




That was a direct quote from the Oyster site, so...

Presumably they mean that if you pass through an LU gate line en route
to/from the DLR you should touch in/out, and use the validator at Bank
(if it's working) as that's within the Compulsory Ticket Area.


But you are in the middle of your journey - surely you don't need to
validate "during" a journey?

On Mon, 17 May 2004 17:06:44 +0100, k wrote:

On Mon, 17 May 2004 12:14:56 +0000 (UTC), TheOneKEA
wrote:
What are the implications of "unresolved journeys"?

Your PrePay account will become negative

On what grounds? As it CLEARLY says on the signs - the validators are
for prepay users.

On the grounds that all Oyster cards have pre-pay functionality and if
you travel beyond your zonal availability the pre-pay element can be
deducted - even if there is NO cash on the card. You must then top up
with cash in order to make another DLR or Tube trip.

The system would appear to work differently for bus and tramlink where
you only register on entry with no requirement to register an exit on
either mode.

There is a new "Guide to using Oyster" on the leaflet racks at Tube
stations today.

I was a bit bemused by Barry's post about DLR but having read the advice
being provided on LUL Pre-Pay, then DLR and what you do at Bank and also
the advice on what to do at Wimbledon with Tramlink I have to say I am
confused.

The advice provided *seems* to be inconsistent but I am still trying to
work through the system logic in my head so don't quote me on it. It
would appear that whenever there is a "within a gateline" interchange
between operators that you must register the interchange on the card
regardless of ticket type in order for any potential excess fare or
Pre-Pay charge to be correctly calculated on eventual exit. The bit that
is confusing within the document is that there appears to be no
requirement to validate on exiting DLR at Bank, only on entry and I
can't work that out at all. I am assuming that on eventual exit the
reader must interrogate at least the last 2 journeys recorded on the
card to calculate any liability for a pre-pay deduction. Oh well back to
the drawing board for my theories.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!