Ealing Broadway Validators

[MikeWh]

If you have a Railcard then why do you use Contactless payment rather than an Oyster card with Railcard discount added?

Good point. The £1.70 off-peak fare becomes £1.15 when used with a railcard discount on Oyster.

 

[Travelentails]

If you have a Railcard then why do you use Contactless payment rather than an Oyster card with Railcard discount added?

Wow, I genuinely had no idea you were able to do that. I've never had an Oyster card in my life. In that case, I see why it's such a shame Osyter isn't valid all the way from Maidenhead! I'll look into getting one tomorrow. Thank you.

I believe* if you use an Oyster rather than Apple Pay/Google Pay for the contactless portion, you can have your railcard loaded on to it, saving you even more.

* it has been some time since I was a 16-25 cardholder

Thank you, I've never had an Oyster so didn't know this was the case. Appreciate it!

 

[rebmcr]

If you have a Railcard then why do you use Contactless payment rather than an Oyster card with Railcard discount added?

To be fair, I've never seen TfL nor any of the National Rail companies advertising that capability. I only knew about it from knowledge gained right here on these forums!

 

[MikeWh]

To be fair, I've never seen TfL nor any of the National Rail companies advertising that capability. I only knew about it from knowledge gained right here on these forums!

TfL were pretty woeful at the start, but they do a good job on their website now. For example, click on fares at the top of the homepage and you'll get a page including a block about discounted fares.

As for the NR TOCs, it's a symptom of their reluctance to be involved in anything to do with Oyster.

 

[Hadders]

As others have said an Oyster card with the railcard discount loaded entitles you to a 34% discount on off peak fares. You can get the discount loaded onto the Oyster card at any London Underground station (although some staff claim might claim they can't do it...)

I'd then also suggest setting auto-top up on your Oyster card so you don't have to faff around topping up. My Oyster card is set to top-up with £20 when the balance falls below £20.

It's s shame Oyster isn't valid west of West Drayton, this is because of techincal issues (Oyster is old tech these days and can't hansle the number of fares zones required). There will hopefully be a solution to railcards on contactless (or a suitable alternative) in the future.

 

[Travelentails]

Previously there had been validators on all platforms for those swapping onto the underground from GWR services (like me who travels from Maidenhead to White City via Ealing / Central Line). I'd buy a mobile GWR ticket from Maidenhead to Ealing with my 16-25 Railcard then tap in to the TfL network on the Central Line platform.

One day in the midsts of Lizzy Line prep, they took away all validators aside from the main gate line. When this was the case, I had to go upstairs, show someone my mobile ticket so they could let me out the main gateline, then tap and come back in to begin my TfL journey. Granted it's a niche situation but it annoyed me a bit how they had overlooked a subset of customers.

Around last summer, pink validators showed on the District Line platform, which the kind people of this forum told me I could use to tap in, saving me a trip upstairs and an awkward convo each day. I've still been using the main gateline to tap out on my way home. I was actually stopped one time doing this by a revenue inspector and had to explain the situation.

Today I noticed that the yellow validators are back on the Central line platform. I'm not sure how long they've been there as I've been doing a fair bit of WFH. They're displaying the message "Validate card for entry or exit".

Firstly I thought this might be of interest to this forum, and secondly I wanted to check if anyone could confirm this will function like the old validators pre-crossrail? (I.E I can tap in there on my way in to work and tap out there on my way home).

I know it's probably a stupid question, but part of me is scared to use it in case they're not wired up properly or anything, as there's still a load of out of action ones spread around the station, but these ones look new.

Thanks!

 

[Jamiescott1]

You can try them one day then check your journey history to see if they worked. If not then fill in online as a missed "tap"

 

[Dstock7080]

Image shows Yellow Reader at Ealing Broadway taped over with a sign that reads" NOT NOT USE"

 

[Travelentails]

Image shows Yellow Reader at Ealing Broadway taped over with a sign that reads" NOT NOT USE"

There's 2 new ones at the start of the actual Central Line platform that are switched on and active

 

[Travelentails]

There's 2 new ones at the start of the actual Central Line platform that are switched on and active

Just thought I'd confirm these do indeed work for entry / exit.

 

[Senitor5]

I got off the district line at Ealing Broadway to take a GWR train to Didcot and to my surprise discovered there are no validators between the LU and NR platforms for people transferring.

Upon asking a member of staff where the validators where he told me there are none, so I asked if I could just tap out at the gateline but not actually leave the station to which he replied that he wasn’t sure and went and talked to his superior who told me that doing that wasn’t typically allowed but as long as I didn’t do “it” again he would allow it this time.

I wasn’t totally sure what the “it” he was referring to was but thought it best not to query and after tapping out hurried off down to the platforms to get my train.

So I have two questions.
1. Why doesn’t Ealing Broadway have validators? I know TFL and NR can be a bit patchy at times but I find it hard to believe they just forgot to put them in.
Plenty of other stations in similar situations have them e.g Finsbury Park, Stratford, Wimbledon, etc. and given how essential and useful they are seems very odd that Ealing Broadway doesn’t.

2. Given there are no validators and touching out at the gateline but not leaving is apparently not allowed what exactly are you supposed to do? Because it kind of seems like you are stuck, does TFL have a policy regarding this situation, I’ve looked online but no luck.
Anyone else had to deal with this?

 

[357]

There used to be, Stratford used to have them too. They were misused a lot by people short faring and I know a while back MTR wanted to remove them, making everyone go out and come back in again. I don't know if they carried this out in the end or if it's the same situation at Ealing Broadway.

No idea what the staff were on about regarding the gates - it is possible that they were STM Security staff who wear the exact same uniform but have hardly any training in local issues as they can work at any time at any station

 

[Adoarable]

2. Given there are no validators and touching out at the gateline but not leaving is apparently not allowed what exactly are you supposed to do? Because it kind of seems like you are stuck, does TFL have a policy regarding this situation, I’ve looked online but no luck.
Anyone else had to deal with this?

Assuming you held a ticket for your onward travel to Didcot, why couldn’t you have tapped out through the gateline and re-entered with your ticket?

 

[Recessio]

Maybe I am misunderstanding the situation: Why did you not just tap out, exit through the barrier, and immediately re-enter the station with your National Rail ticket from Ealing to Didcot?

 

[alholmes]

Isn’t the issue with Ealing Broadway that there are hardly any GWR trains stopping there now? Just a handful of late night / early morning services, on which Oyster / Contactless are valid as well.

Regarding the point about being told you’re not allowed to tap out if you’re not going through the gate, just ignore what you were told - sounds like another made up rule. If that’s the only way of tapping out, then just do it.

 

[Brissle Girl]

Isn’t the issue with Ealing Broadway that there are hardly any GWR trains stopping there now? Just a handful of late night / early morning services, on which Oyster / Contactless are valid as well.

Regarding the point about being told you’re not allowed to tap out if you’re not going through the gate, just ignore what you were told - sounds like another made up rule. If that’s the only way of tapping out, then just do it.

However, you could change onto an Elizabeth Line train at (say) Reading without needing to touch a validator, with a valid ticket to Ealing Broadway (but no further). So if you then want to continue your journey on the tube, I presume you have to go through the gateline and then tap back in?

 

[Hadders]

It is perfectly acceptable to exit using a paper ticket and immediately re-enter using contactless/oyster or v.v.

 

[Brissle Girl]

It is perfectly acceptable to exit using a paper ticket and immediately re-enter using contactless/oyster or v.v.

It was said at the time that using the pink validators to start the TfL part of the journey was allowed. Is that still the case?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

but not leaving is apparently not allowed what exactly are you supposed to do?

I had no problems tapping out at Stratford on the gates after getting off DLR from International then turning around and walking up to the mainline platforms (forgot about the one near the Jubilee platforms).

 

[Hadders]

It was said at the time that using the pink validators to start the TfL part of the journey was allowed. Is that still the case?

You can start a journey at a pink validator but you can't end one.

 

[Brissle Girl]

You can start a journey at a pink validator but you can't end one.

Thanks for confirming.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm sure there is now a yellow validator at the foot of the stairs to the District Line / Central Line / London bound EL next to the coffee outlet?

 

[Dstock7080]

I'm sure there is now a yellow validator at the foot of the stairs to the District Line / Central Line / London bound EL next to the coffee outlet?

post #68 confirms.

 

[Senitor5]

Assuming you held a ticket for your onward travel to Didcot, why couldn’t you have tapped out through the gateline and re-entered with your ticket?

The ticket I had brought was from Paddington to Didcot parkway and I was worried it wouldn’t let me back in.
In hindsight I probably could have done that and then explained my situation to the staff but I was in a bit of a hurry which is why I also missed the validators on the central line platform in my quick scan of the station (no thanks to the staff member who told me they don’t have them!)

There used to be, Stratford used to have them too. They were misused a lot by people short faring and I know a while back MTR wanted to remove them, making everyone go out and come back in again. I don't know if they carried this out in the end or if it's the same situation at Ealing Broadway.

No idea what the staff were on about regarding the gates - it is possible that they were STM Security staff who wear the exact same uniform but have hardly any training in local issues as they can work at any time at any station

Re: the staff I think that’s highly likely as neither of them seemed particularly sure of what they were saying.

 

[kacper]

Stratford still has validators around the station

There used to be, Stratford used to have them too. They were misused a lot by people short faring and I know a while back MTR wanted to remove them, making everyone go out and come back in again. I don't know if they carried this out in the end or if it's the same situation at Ealing Broadway.

No idea what the staff were on about regarding the gates - it is possible that they were STM Security staff who wear the exact same uniform but have hardly any training in local issues as they can work at any time at any station