In February this year c2c became the first National Rail operator (not including TfL) to accept contactless payments throughout it’s entire network. Shortly after being taken back into public ownership the company announced that there had been over 1 million taps (touches in or out) at their new stations in just under 6 months of operation. You can read the full announcement on their website. This achievement is all the more remarkable considering the headlines back in June when a data error caused customers to be overcharged when starting or ending their journeys at either Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street. This was obviously quite a serious error and c2c worked with TfL to ensure that a very quick update was applied by the end of June to correct the issue. Automatic refunds were also arranged with TfL, ensuring that overall confidence in the PAYG with contactless system was maintained.
I’ll admit at this point that this wasn’t the story I was intending publishing. On Tuesday evening I travelled to Grays as part of some reasearch into capping and included zones. At both West Ham and Grays stations I heard announcements which instructed passengers travelling beyond Upminster or Grays to buy a ticket because Oyster is not valid. There was no mention that contactless PAYG was an option. I also saw a poster at Grays stating that both Oyster and contactless were only valid up to Upminster or Grays, as was the case before this year. I let c2c know about these issues on Wednesday afternoon and within 24 hours they confirmed that the announcement had been discontinued and that the poster would be removed (replaced?) today. That’s a very good reaction. A c2c spokesperson also said:
We sincerely apologise to any customers who may have been inconvenienced by the sharing of out-of-date information about contactless pay as you go. We have taken immediate steps to ensure all information is now up to date.
I’m hopeful that I might now get some assistance with my capping query, and possibly also a response about the 10p extra on peak fares to zone 1 Underground stations. Watch this space.