I’ve just been through Abbey Wood and noticed that there are 6 new validators on platforms 3 and 4. They’re all covered with a dark blue canvas cover at present, but presumably they will be activated soon. Staff on the platform say that it’s due to happen by the end of the summer, so I think they’ve missed that.
Starting from the London end of the platforms, there is one at the bottom of the staircase from the small bridge. Walking towards the ticket hall the next two are at the bottom of the escalators from the middle bridge. Another two are at the bottom of the stairs the other side of the middle bridge, while the last one is at the bottom of the stairs from the tickt hall.
These validators are for the benefit of passengers travelling to/from Kent (beyond Dartford) using tickets instead of PAYG. They are able to touch in/out without having to go through the barriers in the ticket hall. I hope that they will be set to continuation exit in case PAYG users touch them in the middle of the journey. I also expect revenue officers to ask people touching them to show their tickets to Abbey Wood, especially at busy times, to catch fare dodgers from open stations like Slade Green.
There are now posters up telling people to tap in or out to get the correct fare.
And as the poster seems to imply that everyone should tap I hope too it’s set for continuation exit as well.
I must admit I always get confused with these bonus readers as never know whether to tap or not – the yellow Oyster readers at the DLR exit onto platform two at Woolwich Arsenal baffle me!
Hi Chris,
Well I’m waiting on an FOI request to confirm the status of the validators, but if the posters are as you say then I can’t believe that they won’t be continuation exit.
In both cases (Abbey Wood and Woolwich Arsenal) they are only intended to be used by people starting or ending a PAYG journey and using traditional tickets to travel to/from beyond Dartford.
At least some of the platform validators have been in service each time I’ve passed through on a weekday for the past couple of weeks. But when I’ve been through the last couple of Saturdays, the blue jackets have been back on.
I wonder if they were a concession to commuters coming from outside the contactless area who were aggravated at having to exit and re-enter? But at the weekend they reckon the potential for the readers to cause confusion and make fare evasion easier is too great?
Just my own idle speculation, of course…
I wonder, too, if they actually turn the readers off when they put the blue jackets on at the weekend? And if not, can the readers still be used? I normally buy either day travelcards or cross-London paper tickets at the weekend so I wasn’t going to tap and see what happened as it could have been rather expensive and fiddly to resolve afterwards if it registered an entry…