Confusion regarding pink readers

[hi2u_uk]

Note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...or-my-travelling-history.185502/#post-4131830

I have been making similar journeys and its has always bugged me that there are no pink readers at london bridge or east croydon platforms. Many people go from southeastern to southern/ thameslink services at london bridge and i always wonder what tickets they have. I sometimes travel south of east croydon after starting at a southeastern trains station with oyster. The only practical option is to touch in and out at east croydon (its a pain getting doing this at gatwick) but doing this you just get weird stares from the staff at the barriers especuially if you do the trip everyday. Its here comes the wierrd guy who goes through the barrier then just comes back 2 seconds later. Its also time consuming. Is there anyway that more of these pink readers can be installed at London bridge or east croydon ? is there a local travel group that can suggest this ?

One think you can do to avoid this is to buy a paper ticket /travel card which i sometimes do , it may be a bit more expensive but it means that you dont end up looking like an idiot or waste time walking in and out of a station or buy a zone 1-5 ticket

 

[MikeWh]

I have been making similar journeys and its has always bugged me that there are no pink readers at london bridge or east croydon platforms. Many people go from southeastern to southern/ thameslink services at london bridge and i always wonder what tickets they have. I sometimes travel south of east croydon after starting at a southeastern trains station with oyster. The only practical option is to touch in and out at east croydon (its a pain getting doing this at gatwick) but doing this you just get weird stares from the staff at the barriers especuially if you do the trip everyday. Its here comes the wierrd guy who goes through the barrier then just comes back 2 seconds later. Its also time consuming. Is there anyway that more of these pink readers can be installed at London bridge or east croydon ? is there a local travel group that can suggest this ?

One think you can do to avoid this is to buy a paper ticket /travel card which i sometimes do , it may be a bit more expensive but it means that you dont end up looking like an idiot or waste time walking in and out of a station or buy a zone 1-5 ticket

I'm really not sure what point you are trying to make. Pink readers usually indicate that you have avoided zone 1, so citing them at London Bridge would be pointless.

I think the issue with East Croydon relates to the fares charged for through journeys to Gatwick. To reduce those fares you have to end a journey and start a new one, so a pink reader would not be appropriate.

 

[hi2u_uk]

i assume if there was a pink reader on london bridge platforms and he had a zone 2-5 oyster card with credit he could touch the reader on the platform and be deducted money from the credit potion of the card without having to leave and re enter the station at london bridge.
If you want to travel from e.g greenwich to horsham you would board at greenwich using oyster and a collected paper ticket from east croydon to horsham , To do this correctly you need to exit and enter at east croydon . If there was a reader on the platform at east croydon this would be unnecessary . The alternative is to not touch out at east croydon and enter the missing info on the tfl online system but this leaves you open to investigations for misusing oyster cards if you do it every day

 

[MikeWh]

i assume if there was a pink reader on london bridge platforms and he had a zone 2-5 oyster card with credit he could touch the reader on the platform and be deducted money from the credit potion of the card without having to leave and re enter the station at london bridge.

The problem here is that the Oyster system is deciding not to deduct money from the PAYG balance when it should. A pink reader wouldn't help here at all.

If you want to travel from e.g greenwich to horsham you would board at greenwich using oyster and a collected paper ticket from east croydon to horsham , To do this correctly you need to exit and enter at east croydon . If there was a reader on the platform at east croydon this would be unnecessary . The alternative is to not touch out at east croydon and enter the missing info on the tfl online system but this leaves you open to investigations for misusing oyster cards if you do it every day

Yes, a yellow reader on the platform at East Croydon would be useful for this, but it's not going to happen. Remember that Oyster is a TfL product designed for people to be able to travel freely in London. Where it can be cheaper to use Oyster as part of a longer journey, the drawback of having to end the Oyster part of the journey is the price you pay.

 

[hkstudent]

i assume if there was a pink reader on london bridge platforms and he had a zone 2-5 oyster card with credit he could touch the reader on the platform and be deducted money from the credit potion of the card without having to leave and re enter the station at london bridge.
If you want to travel from e.g greenwich to horsham you would board at greenwich using oyster and a collected paper ticket from east croydon to horsham , To do this correctly you need to exit and enter at east croydon . If there was a reader on the platform at east croydon this would be unnecessary . The alternative is to not touch out at east croydon and enter the missing info on the tfl online system but this leaves you open to investigations for misusing oyster cards if you do it every day

I doubt TfL would set an alternative "pink" oyster machine to charge people the via zone 1 fare. It would make a lot of confusion to customers and violates the concept of simple to use of Oyster Card System.

To PG:
For this case, I am pretty sure there are doubts in favour of customers as TfL never tells customers to touch in/out for interchange of trains. If there is a prosecution, I have pretty good faith that this case would be dismissed by judges. (I am not a legal practitioner, nor practising solicitor or barrister.)

Seek legal advice if in need, there should be free legal consultation available from many solicitors office. It may also worth checking the Legal Aid and alternatives at: https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/eligibility