It’s not often that something to do with Oyster stops me in my tracks, but this week it has happened. Thanks to my friend Geoff who spotted this sign at East Croydon. I went down to have a look and asked some questions. From what I can gather it is linked to a fire alarm system test. It is something unique to East Croydon, thankfully, but I do have to wonder whether 06:00 is the best time to do this. There are plenty of trains operating through the station at that time, and on weekdays PAYG users have an advantage over traditional ticket users in that the fares charged are off-peak [ends 06:30]. There is, as far as I could see, only one poster in the ticket hall. That means that people entering from any of the side entrances will not see the notice, and neither will anyone arriving and wanting to touch out.
Some of the issues this may cause include:
- If you arrive at 0600 and want to catch the 0602 to Caterham/Tattenham Corner will you be eligible for delay repay if you have to wait for the 0629 instead?
- Will revenue inspectors be sympathetic if you are not shown as touched in because you didn’t see the poster and used the gates anyway?
- Will a failed revenue inspection on a contactless card be cancelled if you are checked with a missing touch in which you claim was due to the gates at East Croydon?
- Will the touch actually be recorded on the Oyster card but not sent to the central system, resulting in the journey being marked as unknown but charged correctly later on when the Oyster card balance is updated to the central system?
I have asked Govia Thameslink Railway for comments about this and the issues it causes, but they have not responded. Looking at the timetable it would appear that rescheduling this to 0515 or 0535 would cause far fewer issues. Maybe there aren’t enough staff around at the earlier times? I’m not sure why such a thing has to be done every day though.