Oyster Card nonsense - TFL's new Maximum Cash Fare Rip-Off

klone_2

I got stung by this, I was using the DLR, ok i didn't complete the touchin-touchout but this is because there are no ticket gates on the system but oyster readers that are not obvious to the eye.

Anyone who gets off at one of the more smaller DLR stations will often not see the tiny oyster readers that arent really labled unless you are looking at them at their sideways 2foot tall location (i'm much taller than this).

So for a £2 return journey i had to pay £8 and i had other travels in the day so my price cap didnt apply til i paid about £11.

I can understand the rule on the tube, you have to pass the barriers and nobody could possibly forget to touch out, but for the DLR it's harsh charging maxinmum TUBE fares (DLR's maximum fare is much less than £4)

klone_2

And another thing about canary wharf....

DLR recognise Heron Quays as a valid change for Canary Wharf tube (it is easier to get to than the DLR canary wharf station) yet i have changed between Heron Quays and the Jubilee Line with oyster:

Touching out and touching in = 2 seperate fares

Not touching out and touching in = Incomplete jouney (now maximum fare) plus a new fare.

When really it should only be the 1 fare. :l

wendy_ann1983

christopher_h wrote:

thanks for going to the trouble to post your story peterbaker - I think the obvious rule for the future is that we all make sure we touch out our Oyster card at the station we end up at.

Funnily enough the other day I almost didn't touch out either after a security alert where everyone told to disembark at South Kensington Tube - it was chaos in the ticket hall at the barriers and the gate was just open for everyone to walk thru. Now I'm guessing a lot of people might be getting the same letters that you got.

Let Peter's story be a lesson for us all !!

For security alerts and other such situations you will be re credited the money if you go to another station and explain what happened. They should then call and confirm that there was a situation and the supervisor should then be authorised to re credit. Though I have to stress the SHOULD.

user1234_2

Playing devil's advocate...I don't see any alternatives being suggested here.

bigtree1980

It is VERY easy to miss the oyster reader on DLR stations. They are usually situated behind the wall so you walk past it very easily without noticing it.

I used to have an annual travelcard and changed to PAYG this year. Having gotten used to not having to touch in/out I missed the reader a few times. It is very difficult to get the money back from the Oyster helpline as even the staff can't understand what's been charged.

A few times I actually went back to the station to touch OUT, within 30 minutes or so. But the system already thinks I've left the station (HOW?) and thinks I am touching IN again. Thus 2 unfinished journeys!

This has happened too many times. Writing to TFL does not get any reply at all. The design is flawed and the customer service is just incompetent.

chuckley

SO u touched in...
forgot to touch out...
reached another destination and touched in...
then realising u didnt touch out, u touched out 30 mins after leaving and returning to the station...
the tried to touch out again, accounting for the 2 ending journeys (1 being the 1st 'out' u missed'. of course it didnt work as it already noted u touching out
assumed it would 'sort itself out'...

why does it show ur x2 swipes within the same minute as entry and the home station as entry? and also where is ur reswipe on entrance after ur 30 min shop?! i think u messed up bigtime and confused the system.

either way it was ur fault for not swiping out.

chuckley

reehsetin wrote: »

this maximum cash thing does my head in
was going to east or west croydon wherever it was asked the dude if they accepted oytser (its a national rail one),told yup, zone 5 but i was paug so thought it would be ok. went there and it wouldnt let me out
got a very snooty attitude from one of the women there
said my card wouldnt work
she said 'you know why!' implying i was lying 'because your on paug'
let me through on the way back was recomended to buy an a single to the next stop which was zone 4 then tap out as usual on other side
got the same email saying i hadnt tapped in and out so fined
grrrrr not my fault i didnt know about blumin croydon station

did u swipe in at ur start station?? it would work if u did, e.g, london bridge - east or west croydon.

chuckley

klone wrote: »

I got stung by this, I was using the DLR, ok i didn't complete the touchin-touchout but this is because there are no ticket gates on the system but oyster readers that are not obvious to the eye.

Anyone who gets off at one of the more smaller DLR stations will often not see the tiny oyster readers that arent really labled unless you are looking at them at their sideways 2foot tall location (i'm much taller than this).

So for a £2 return journey i had to pay £8 and i had other travels in the day so my price cap didnt apply til i paid about £11.

I can understand the rule on the tube, you have to pass the barriers and nobody could possibly forget to touch out, but for the DLR it's harsh charging maxinmum TUBE fares (DLR's maximum fare is much less than £4)

ive not used the DLR for a long time. are they not like tube stations where u cant leave unless u tap or put ur papercard in?! are they randomly dotted all over?! so its like an open station?

Altarf

peterbaker wrote: »

I don't use my oyster card very often...

This is some of what happened:

1. I touched in at my local DLR. It beeped twice.

And what did it say on the display?

peterbaker wrote: »

2. I had been walking as I touched. I stopped. (Two beeps didn't sound right)

Oh you were not paying attention.

peterbaker wrote: »

4. I travel a few stops and got off at Canary Wharf. I forgot to touch out (you have to hunt for the touch out buttons - its easy to forget).

So still not paying attention.

peterbaker wrote: »

5. I shopped for about 30 minutes.
6. I got back to Canary Wharf DLR and remembered I hadn't touched out. So I touched out, and then a second or two later,
7. I touched in (thinking surely the system can sort that out)

Yes of course it will, there are so many passengers who travel to a station, hang about on the platform for 30 minutes, leave the station and immediately re-enter.

peterbaker wrote: »

TFL introduced the maximum cash fare penalty on 19th November 2006. Basically it treats every customer as a criminal the moment they Enter the system and deducts the maximum cash fare (£4 for DLR or Tube) right there and then whether the customer goes anywhere or not.

No it doesn't. It takes a deposit and refunds you at the end of your journey. Provided you are paying attention that is.

peterbaker wrote: »

Then they treat me like a criminal and take and hold £4 from me in case I don't pay (just like the Shell petrol station I described in another thread recently).

I think you need more tinfoil in your hat.

peterbaker wrote: »

Then they de-tune their clever computer so that it chooses not to make sense of my total four touches on my simple return journey.

Or they expect people to pay attention and follow the simple instructions.

bigtree1980

chuckley wrote: »

SO u touched in...
forgot to touch out...
reached another destination and touched in...
then realising u didnt touch out, u touched out 30 mins after leaving and returning to the station...
the tried to touch out again, accounting for the 2 ending journeys (1 being the 1st 'out' u missed'. of course it didnt work as it already noted u touching out
assumed it would 'sort itself out'...

why does it show ur x2 swipes within the same minute as entry and the home station as entry? and also where is ur reswipe on entrance after ur 30 min shop?! i think u messed up bigtime and confused the system.

either way it was ur fault for not swiping out.

My point was, the placement of the machines on DLR stations makes it very easy to make this mistake, especially if you're used to not having to do so with an annual travelcard.

The second flaw: as the original poster mentioned, sometimes even the machine flashes red-light with 2 beeps, it actually has recorded your touch. So if you think it's an error (as you would do when it flashes red light) and touch the machine again, it thinks you've touched TWICE within a very short time period. And the computer is not programmed to think 2 successive touches might be accidental and should be treated as one touch. Thus you're left with an incomplete journey.

I know the rule to 'touch in and touch out'. The system's fault tolerance could have been improved to treat quick successive touches as one.