Well today the posters went up all over the place about the changes
coming to how incomplete journeys are charged on pre-pay Oyster cards,
and most staff should by now have had some training on what's
happening. The whole thing starts from 19th November 2006 (apart from
the few stations who've had it already for a couple weeks, as a test)
and will affect anyone using pre-pay Oyster who doesn't touch in or out
correctly.

Basically for any journey that is not validated at start AND finish (by
touching on the yellow readers) you will be charged £4 (which is the
maximum cash price for a 1-6 single).

Any journeys in one day that this happens will NOT count towards your
cap, but will NOT, as at present, stop you getting a cap. For example,
you do 6 journeys in one day, around London, one of which is incomplete
for whatever reason. You will get the normal cap for 5 of the
journeys, PLUS £4 for the incomplete journey. If you have 2
incomplete journeys, it'll cost you £8 extra etc.

Contrary to previous comments, you will NOT be required to have a
minimum balance of £5 on your Oyster - you can still enter with the
minimum amount (£1 for most zones) on your card, which will go into a
negative balance as you enter, and be adjusted correctly as you exit
the network.

LU Ticket Offices will NOT be able to resolve these for you (as they
can at present) UNLESS it is due to a known event or problem (such as
gateline readers are not functional at the time of travel). You will
have to phone Oyster helpdesk to get it sorted.

As at present you cannot travel with a negative pre-pay balance, even
if you have a season ticket for the zone(s) you're in, so everyone must
be extra careful not to get these incomplete journeys - which is, after
all, one of the main reasons this is happening.

Customers carrying a season ticket (say a monthly zones 1-2 ticket)
will be charged for incomplete journeys, but at £1 or £1.50 for
journeys outside of zones, which is the same as at present.

Don't shoot the messenger....

wrote:

Customers carrying a season ticket (say a monthly zones 1-2 ticket)
will be charged for incomplete journeys, but at £1 or £1.50 for
journeys outside of zones, which is the same as at present.

Does that include journeys within the ticket's validity? I hope not - it
will cause chaos at a lot of NR/TfL interfaces.

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
wrote:

Customers carrying a season ticket (say a monthly zones 1-2 ticket)
will be charged for incomplete journeys, but at £1 or £1.50 for
journeys outside of zones, which is the same as at present.

Does that include journeys within the ticket's validity? I hope not - it
will cause chaos at a lot of NR/TfL interfaces.

Thats an excellent question, and I will try my best (unless someone
else does in the meantime) to find the answer for you tomorrow. Based
on what I know now though, I would say yes it does, because how does
the card know what you've done if you've not validated?

Still, I don't know the workings of many central stations, so I won't
comment further on it, I'll see what I can find out tomorrow.

Also for any queries, you can call Oyster helpdesk on the number on the
reverse of your card, as they *should* have the full info, which is
quite possibly more than us lowly station staff are likely to get for
free.

Customers carrying a season ticket (say a monthly zones 1-2 ticket)
will be charged for incomplete journeys, but at £1 or £1.50 for
journeys outside of zones, which is the same as at present.

Does that include journeys within the ticket's validity? I hope not - it
will cause chaos at a lot of NR/TfL interfaces.

Finsbury Park's going to be a laugh in the mornings then!

I rarely touch my Z1-4 season due to the validator queue on the way down to
the vic. If they ever work out how to put proper barriers there (and put
more than two in) then that's fine. I guess the answer is more validators
but unlikely before the date this silliness starts.


D

On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:08:07 +0100, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:

wrote:

Customers carrying a season ticket (say a monthly zones 1-2 ticket)
will be charged for incomplete journeys, but at £1 or £1.50 for
journeys outside of zones, which is the same as at present.

Does that include journeys within the ticket's validity? I hope not - it
will cause chaos at a lot of NR/TfL interfaces.

Absolutely not. I have just looked at the Q&A document.

If a travelcard holder validates within their zones of validity - no
issue. If they are making an extension journey and start within their
zones of validity then there is no monetary deduction from PAYG purse on
entry - why would there be? The ticket is valid.

If a travelcard holder does not validate within the zones of their
validity then there is no issue unless the journey ends with validation
*outside* of the zonal validity. The gate or validator is unable to
resolve the journey as there is no entry - it just knows the ticket is
not valid at the destination.

*If* a Travelcard holder starts a journey and validates their card at a
station outside of their zonal validity then there will be a deduction
from their PAYG purse of £1 (starting at an origin in Z2-6D) or £1.50
(starting at an origin in Zone 1). At final exit the gate or validator
will determine if any more money needs to be deducted from PAYG for the
extension journey.

The £4 charge (or £5 for some specific journeys on NR interavailable
lines) on entry applies to people using PAYG *only*.

I must do my "how does this all work post"

HTH
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Ah well thanks paul for confirming that... One thing I would LOVE to
know (to help my customers the best) is is the £4 charge 100%
universal (ie including zones A-D)? I ask because our posters say you
will be charged the "maximum cash fare" which, from Amersham for
example, is £6, not £4...

Any info you have will help to fill this small hole left by the info we
have received (which as usual forgets that we exist out in the country).

Ah well thanks paul for confirming that... One thing I would LOVE to
know (to help my customers the best) is is the £4 charge 100%
universal (ie including zones A-D)? I ask because our posters say you
will be charged the "maximum cash fare" which, from Amersham for
example, is £6, not £4...

Any info you have will help to fill this small hole left by the info we
have received (which as usual forgets that we exist out in the country).

Ah well thanks paul for confirming that... One thing I would LOVE to
know (to help my customers the best) is is the £4 charge 100%
universal (ie including zones A-D)? I ask because our posters say you
will be charged the "maximum cash fare" which, from Amersham for
example, is £6, not £4...

Any info you have will help to fill this small hole left by the info we
have received (which as usual forgets that we exist out in the country).

sorry... having a few technical problems here.... :|

On 27 Oct 2006 12:17:17 -0700, "
wrote:

Ah well thanks paul for confirming that... One thing I would LOVE to
know (to help my customers the best) is is the £4 charge 100%
universal (ie including zones A-D)? I ask because our posters say you
will be charged the "maximum cash fare" which, from Amersham for
example, is £6, not £4...

Any info you have will help to fill this small hole left by the info we
have received (which as usual forgets that we exist out in the country).

The Q&A specifically deals with this point as well. The £4 charge will
apply at all LU stations in Zones 6A-D. Other than the £5 charge at
specific NR locations the maximum PAYG "entry charge" deduction is £4.

If you have access to the LU Intranet via a PC at your station then you
can get hold of all of the information that I have got. There are links
to all of the revised Oyster info on the homepage.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!