insistence on use of pink validator when not needed

katejo

I quite frequently change from London overground to the Victoria Line at Blackhorse Rd. More recently there have been staff members checking whether passengers touch in on the pink validator. I don't need to because I have a gold card for zones 1-3 so I usually just ignore them and walk past. Today I was stopped and they insisted that I had to use the validator. I said I didn't and showed my gold record card. They refused to accept that and wouldn't let me past. Has anyone else had this response?

When I got back to my station, i queried it with the revenue guy who was on duty. He admitted that they should have let me past when i showed my card but also said that TFL wants everyone to touch in/out and use the pink validators even though they have nothing to actually pay.

jon81uk

It's better to touch in even if you have a travelcard.

wealdroam

jon81uk wrote: »

It's better to touch in even if you have a travelcard.

Can you please explain why it is better to do that?

katejo

wealdroam wrote: »

Can you please explain why it is better to do that?

Also please note that I am not referring to touching in and out on the yellow ones at the beginning and end of the journey. I usually do it and make sure I do if I am going out of my zones.

Bollotom

wealdroam wrote: »

Can you please explain why it is better to do that?

Let's assume x amount of thousands of folk with gold passes don't use the pink terminals, network wide then it won't give accurate readings of people who pass through those stations. There's nothing to pay for gold card holders but they're not a special exempt group though most of them think they are. Just tap the terminal and don't let it ruin your day. :rolleyes:

katejo

Bollotom wrote: »

Let's assume x amount of thousands of folk with gold passes don't use the pink terminals, network wide then it won't give accurate readings of people who pass through those stations. There's nothing to pay for gold card holders but they're not a special exempt group though most of them think they are. Just tap the terminal and don't let it ruin your day. :rolleyes:

In that case the TFL instructions about pink validators need to tell everyone to touch it. They don't. They specify pay as you go and passengers who haven't paid to use zone 1. In practice Blackhorse Rd has just 1 pink validator. It isn't like having a row of Oyster gates. In the rush hour, a huge queue would build up as many change onto the Victoria Line there.

benjus

Bollotom wrote: »

Let's assume x amount of thousands of folk with gold passes don't use the pink terminals, network wide then it won't give accurate readings of people who pass through those stations. There's nothing to pay for gold card holders but they're not a special exempt group though most of them think they are. Just tap the terminal and don't let it ruin your day. :rolleyes:

You might want to read up on this before you pronounce judgement: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/oyster/using-oyster/pink-card-readers

If you're using pay as you go or have a Travelcard that doesn't include Zone 1, you may need to touch on a pink card reader when changing trains at one of the stations listed below to pay the right fare.

It's nothing to do with having a gold card or not, it's simply whether you have a travelcard including zone 1 or not, whether it's a day travelcard or an annual one. If you have zone 1 there's no reason to use a pink reader.

OP - have you tried taking this up with TfL management? I can understand they may want statistics on passenger numbers, but it's a stupid way to go about it if it causes extra queuing during peak times. Those pink readers were not designed to handle very large passenger numbers, as I guess most commuters have zone 1 travelcards.

I'd be tempted to get hold of an (expired) paper ticket to wave at them so they let you past... I sometimes do this at Lewisham to avoid queuing for the Oyster readers, as they often hold a gate open for paper ticket holders. (I'm not evading any fares or advocating doing so - I don't need to touch in/out at Lewisham because it's within the zones on my travelcard).

katejo

benjus wrote: »

You might want to read up on this before you pronounce judgement: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/oyster/using-oyster/pink-card-readers



It's nothing to do with having a gold card or not, it's simply whether you have a travelcard including zone 1 or not, whether it's a day travelcard or an annual one. If you have zone 1 there's no reason to use a pink reader.

OP - have you tried taking this up with TfL management? I can understand they may want statistics on passenger numbers, but it's a stupid way to go about it if it causes extra queuing during peak times. Those pink readers were not designed to handle very large passenger numbers, as I guess most commuters have zone 1 travelcards.

I'd be tempted to get hold of an (expired) paper ticket to wave at them so they let you past... I sometimes do this at Lewisham to avoid queuing for the Oyster readers, as they often hold a gate open for paper ticket holders. (I'm not evading any fares or advocating doing so - I don't need to touch in/out at Lewisham because it's within the zones on my travelcard).

It is to do with pay as you go (as well as travelcards with zone 1 or not) because pay as you go users have to have the right amount deducted from the card. i am sure that most commuters have zone 1.
Not sure what you meant by using an expired paper ticket here. I usually get on at walthamstow Central and no gate is held open. I have a paper 'gold record card' which clearly shows zones 1-3. I showed this but the guy still blocked my way through and insisted that I had to use the validator. I have made a written complaint to TFL but no reply as yet.

benjus

katejo wrote: »

It is to do with pay as you go (as well as travelcards with zone 1 or not) because pay as you go users have to have the right amount deducted from the card. i am sure that most commuters have zone 1.

I meant that the people who don't have to worry about pink readers are those with a travelcard including zone 1; anyone else should probably use it.

katejo wrote: »

Not sure what you meant by using an expired paper ticket here. I usually get on at walthamstow Central and no gate is held open. I have a paper 'gold record card' which clearly shows zones 1-3. I showed this but the guy still blocked my way through and insisted that I had to use the validator. I have made a written complaint to TFL but no reply as yet.

If you were travelling with a paper ticket they could hardly ask you to tap it on the pink reader... maybe you could just wave something at them to get past, and hope they don't actually look at it... (and if they do, just say you made a mistake - you have valid travelcard so they can't claim you're doing anything wrong)

Jeff_Bridges_hair

benjus wrote: »

I'd be tempted to get hold of an (expired) paper ticket to wave at them so they let you past... I sometimes do this at Lewisham to avoid queuing for the Oyster readers, as they often hold a gate open for paper ticket holders. (I'm not evading any fares or advocating doing so - I don't need to touch in/out at Lewisham because it's within the zones on my travelcard).

I would be very wary of this advice as if you got stopped then they could have a case against you as you are showing intent to use an invalid ticket to gain access to the tube. Just because you do have a valid oyster somewhere it could lead to all sorts of problems for you - like being delayed whilst they investigated and questioned you.

benjus

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

I would be very wary of this advice as if you got stopped then they could have a case against you as you are showing intent to use an invalid ticket to gain access to the tube. Just because you do have a valid oyster somewhere it could lead to all sorts of problems for you - like being delayed whilst they investigated and questioned you.

Possibly... but in the case of the pink readers you're not gaining access to the tube, you've already gained it when you passed the yellow reader. An Oyster user on PAYG or a non-zone-1 travelcard that forgets to touch the pink reader has done nothing illegal, they just might get charged for entering zone 1 when they actually didn't.

Anyway, I don't have much time for pointless policies like this that delay people's commutes.