Roland Perry wrote in message o.uk...
In message , at 21:51:09
on Wed, 3 Nov 2004, ITMA remarked:
Also, if I did get an Oyster card, and used it on a national rail
network train and was asked for a ticket, is the inspector going to believe
my ticket is valid when all he can see is a bit of blue plastic?

My understanding is that Oyster Cards are valid on vanishingly few
National Rail routes, and therefore the question is largely moot.
Whether this is cause or effect, I don't know. This "restriction" on the
Oyster is one of the most confusing things for people used to buying a
paper Travelcard.

*Prepay* Oyster is currently not generally valid on National Rail, and
I agree with you about the confusion this causes. However, since
period Travelcards issued by Underground stations are now on Oyster,
and these continue to be valid on National Rail routes within the
relevant zones, there are a LOT of people on NR trains in London using
Oyster cards.


And how many times will NR do an on-board ticket inspection during the
limited travel time one of their trains is inside the Tfl zones, anyway?

When Southern do a full station block (inside the zonal area), there
are people on the line with Oyster card readers. I can't remember the
last time I saw an *on-train* inspection, but then I only use Southern
in the peaks, at which time it would not be feasilble to carry out an
on-train inspection.

--
Larry Lard
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