On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:52:46 -0000, Lew 1 wrote:

What frequently happens is that my journeys seem to "start" from a station I
visited earlier in the day, but not the actual start of this particular
journey.

For example: I travel West Hampstead NLL to Richmond and exit.
Then Richmond to West Hampstead to change to Jubilee to Baker Street (or
anywhere really).
Then Baker Street back to West Hampstead to catch Thameslink northbound (not
on Oyster).

However, the journey history often looks like this:
West Hampstead NLL -- Richmond.
Richmond -- West Hampstead NLL
Richmond -- Baker Street
Baker Street -- West Hampstead

It seems to "miss" me entering West Hampstead jubilee line, and presumes
that I went back to Richmond to start a second journey somehow. This happens
incredibly regularly, but not always at the same stations - and on one
occasion I had *three* journeys starting from Richmond in a row. I don't
even understand how the system could, knowing that I have just travelled
from Richmond to WH, think that I have managed to hot foot it back to
Richmond in the time it takes to cross a road to start a new journey.

It doesn't. I think you're being a bit silly. When you exit at West
Hampstead, it charges you for the Richmond - West Hampstead journey in
the usual way. When you complete the leg to Baker Street, it refunds
the previous journey (the cost is set to £0.00) and you're charged for
a Richmond - Baker Street journey instead. This is clear from the
journey history.

On Feb 16, 9:33 pm, "John" wrote:
As the poster of the original message in this thread, I'm not only pleased
at the amount of comment it has produced, grateful for all the information
and opinions provided by the various contributors, but also appalled at
the confusion and uncertainty this system produces even among the
knowledgeable people who post here. As I no longer live in the GLA area, I
don't keep up to date with all the arguments and changes, but I gather the
system is to be introduced to all NR stations in that area in January
2009. Thank goodness for that. All this confusion merely confirms my
belief this should never have been introduced for part of London's
transport, but delayed until all modes were included. This is only my
humble opinion - no doubt plenty will agree and plenty will disagree.

If you ring up the oyster helpdesk they'll probably refund the extra
charge when you explain what has happened.


Finally may I ask one more question. My PAYG card now has only £3.80 left
following what I believe to be my earlier double charging. Will the
barrier open when I next touch in at Zone 1 station as I'd expect it to
and if so what will happen if I touch out at a Zone 6 station?

You'll get a negative balance.

There are extreme cases where it's possible to go more negative than
the deposit needed for a PAYG card but for the most part any negative
balance will be covered by the deposit you paid for the card. If you
have a season ticket as well on oyster then you cannot use the season
ticket while your PAYG balance is negative but I don't think you pay a
deposit for the card.

Tim.