Are droids really that stupid
 

I was in London yesterday - I don't do it often, and the trip reminded me
why. However, I also have an Oyster card for emergencies, and it has
about £9 credit on it, as it has now for some three years... IN fact i've
only unsed it once, from New Addington to Easy Croydon by Tramlink when a
family friend died.

Yesterday I needed a convenient rail-served Ikea store, and Croydon
happens to have one.

On the way in - no trouble, Buy a One-day Travelcard on a Railcard from
my local SWT station, train to Wimbledon, tram to Ampere Way. Valid
journey covered by a valid ticket.

Comeing out, I chose to go to East Croydon, then onward to Waterloo East
and a fast train home. And the East Croydon to Home was painless. It was
the ****wit on the tramstop who was the problem.

As I was getting off at EC, I was stopped by a capped man, asking for my
ticket. Stepping off the tram, I showed him the ODTC, and the railcard it
was bought with, and he spotted the Oyster behind the Railcard. Asking to
see the Oyster, he then runs it over his checker, to find that I didn't
touch in at Ampere Way.

Of course, I didn't, says I, I have a valid pass for the entire journey -
the ODTC. Not relevant, says the Droid - if you have a PAYG Oyster, you
MUST touch in at the tramstop, regardless. No, says I, I have already
paid for the tram journey on the ODTC.. etc etc...

Are they really that stupid that they think you have to pay once for your
ticket on the TraveCard and again on the Oyster???

End result, I wasted 10 minutes then walked away, having snatched the
Oyster away from him, and ignored his ****witted cries of "Sir, stop...
Stop sir...!"

I wonder if I will have BTP breaking down my door anytime soon?

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

Are droids really that stupid
 

Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

Are droids really that stupid
 

On 24 Oct, 20:49, trainmanUK wrote:
Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. *If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. *If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. *Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

Don't just do that at all.

Complain like hell to TfL, London Travelwatch, the GLA and anyone else
you can think of.

Accuse them of systematic fraud if their staff are forcing people to
pay twice for the same journey.

Above all, do not let it drop. Too many people do.

Are droids really that stupid
 

In article
,
(trainmanUK) wrote:

If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card.

Well, it's still valid as of tonight...

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

Are droids really that stupid
 

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

I would strongly suggest you complain. The man with the hat was
wrong and painfully so according to your comments above

So to clarify, I was right - my paper ODTC covered me entirely, and my
Oyster was irrelevant?

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

Are droids really that stupid
 

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:49:33 -0700 (PDT),
trainmanUK wrote:
Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

The barriers at the end of his journey probably ate that. (They do at
Watford Junction anyway which is a nuisance because I was hoping to scan
my last one and ask here what is was actually valid for. It had
something about zones 7-9 on it and I was going to ask if that meant it
was a travel card all the way out to Watford High Street - which could
be useful if I ever discovered I needed to make two trips into London as
home to Watford High Street is a shorter walk than home to Watford Met)

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://www.woodall.me.uk/

Are droids really that stupid
 

On Oct 27, 10:52*am, Tim Woodall wrote:
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:49:33 -0700 (PDT),
* * trainmanUK wrote: Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. *If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. *If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. *Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

The barriers at the end of his journey probably ate that. (They do at
Watford Junction anyway which is a nuisance because I was hoping to scan
my last one and ask here what is was actually valid for. It had
something about zones 7-9 on it and I was going to ask if that meant it
was a travel card all the way out to Watford High Street - which could
be useful if I ever discovered I needed to make two trips into London as
home to Watford High Street is a shorter walk than home to Watford Met)

Tim.

If you touched in at Watford High Street, got the London Overground
service to Watford Junction, then the London Midland fast train into
London would you be charged the lower fare on your oyster rather than
touching in at Watford Junction?

Are droids really that stupid
 

On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:17:14 -0700 (PDT),
burkey wrote:
On Oct 27, 10:52*am, Tim Woodall wrote:
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:49:33 -0700 (PDT),
* * trainmanUK wrote: Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. *If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. *If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. *Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

The barriers at the end of his journey probably ate that. (They do at
Watford Junction anyway which is a nuisance because I was hoping to scan
my last one and ask here what is was actually valid for. It had
something about zones 7-9 on it and I was going to ask if that meant it
was a travel card all the way out to Watford High Street - which could
be useful if I ever discovered I needed to make two trips into London as
home to Watford High Street is a shorter walk than home to Watford Met)

Tim.

If you touched in at Watford High Street, got the London Overground
service to Watford Junction, then the London Midland fast train into
London would you be charged the lower fare on your oyster rather than
touching in at Watford Junction?

Yes. I'm not sure if this is allowed but I don't know anything in the
rules that would disallow it and at the moment it would be impossible to
detect as when you're on the overground train you would be going from
Watford High Street to Watford Junction and when you got on the train to
Euston at Watford Junction the guards don't have readers so they cannot
tell where you touched in (or if you did at all)

I don't know if the timings would be any better than taking the train to
Bushey and changing there instead other than there is a higher frequency
of trains from Watford Junction.

Tim.



--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://www.woodall.me.uk/

Are droids really that stupid
 

On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:52:12 +0000 (UTC), Tim Woodall wrote:

Only problem I can see is that the detail of the oyster card may be in
his reader. If he still believes, incorrectly, that you are in the
wrong he could possibly cancel the oyster card. If it was registered
you might get a letter with a penalty fare request. Just keep the
ODTC and wait and see what happens

The barriers at the end of his journey probably ate that. (They do at
Watford Junction anyway

That's naughty - they're still valid on the 258.

Are droids really that stupid
 

On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:56:33 +0000, asdf
wrote:

The barriers at the end of his journey probably ate that. (They do at
Watford Junction anyway

That's naughty - they're still valid on the 258.

AIUI, an outboundary ODTC loses its validity on return to the
originating station. So it might be inconvenient, but I don't think
it's strictly naughty.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.