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Hi,
Question from a tourist 🙂 Assuming that I live in Hounslow Central and went to Zone 1, had some train rides there and went to Wembley and reached a price cap for Zone 4 to 1 by that time.
If I would go back to Hounslow not via Zone 1 but via Rayners Lane (and Acton Town) and would touch a pink validator in Rayners Lane – would that increase my Cap to be for Zones 5 to 1? Or transferring doesn’t count towards the cap?
How does it work?
Hi Aron,
This is an interesting question.
The pink validator in this case is designed to demonstrate that you have avoided zones 1-2. If you are simply making that journey there and back then there is a saving to be made by touching the pink validator. However, if you have already used zones 1-4 and capped then touching the pink validator at Rayners Lane will charge you for going into zone 5.
The rules say that you should touch a pink reader if you pass one to ensure that you pay the correct fare. The only penalty for not touching one is that you will be charged the higher fare. In your case you are happy to pay the zone 1-4 fare because you have already capped. I don’t see a problem ignoring the pink validators in this instance.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the answer but I’ve got a follow-up question as I’m not sure how does it work and how could the tickets be checked.
Could there be a ticket inspection on the platform or on the train around Rayners Lane and then I wouldn’t be able to show them a valid ticket for Zone 5? Or maybe it doesn’t work that way and nobody checks if you have a valid ticket because there are gates everywhere?
As I said – I’m just a tourist so I’m not trying to avoid any fares or something – just trying to understand how does this big and complicated system work 🙂
If you were subject to a check, the gadgets that the staff use to check cards will simply confirm that you tapped in at the start of your journey and haven’t tapped out yet. If you are found to be “in the system” in this manner then you’ll be free to travel. There is no zone validity type indication of the sort you describe that can be stored anywhere so you’d be fine.
If you didn’t tap in then it probably deducts a penalty fare or something. (The actual detail of how it works is potentially different between Oyster and contactless travel so I’ve generalised a bit.)
Just to back up Feathers latest comment, as long as you are touched in at the time of an inspection there will be no problem. The Oyster system rules stipulate that you must touch in at the start of each journey and touch out at the end. Providing you do that the correct fare will be calculated by the system.
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