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GA Smartcard Tap in\tap out from Stratford?

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lancededcena

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Hello again!

I recently picked up a Greater Anglia smartcard so I do not have to deal with the inconvenience of magstripe tickets again.
Just a question, I read on the letter they provided you on smartcards and they state you should touch on and touch off at the beginning and the end of your journeys. I do not intend on getting a season ticket and I am using regular day return tickets without a travel card.

How would you actually tap in or out from Stratford if you are interchanging from TfL\Oyster\contactless services and on to a GA service, there are Oyster\Contactless barriers on the platform but I'm assuming they do not work for a GA smartcard or do I just do it the slow way which is to walk up to the main concourse, tap out of my GA smartcard and then tap back in using my contactless payment card from the ticket barriers (and vice versa). Of course with a paper ticket, you just tap in\out of the oyster\contactless readers at the platform and do it that way.

Thanks for your help again!
 
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island

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It is not a requirement to tap in or out on a season ticket.
 

island

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It's also not a requirement to tap in or out on that ticket.

If you want to, there is a standalone validators near Jubilee platform 13.
 

island

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It‘s necessary to activate FlexiSeason tickets (whether held as an e-ticket or smartcard). I don’t think the T&Cs require activation of single and return tickets, but I could be wrong.
 

Alex365Dash

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I don’t think the T&Cs require activation of single and return tickets, but I could be wrong.
Whilst the T&Cs of the tickets themselves don't require activation, the conditions of the smartcard itself (which you also need to comply with as per NRCoT Condition 4.2) require you to touch in and out regardless of the ticket held.* The following quote is from Greater Anglia's online booking T&Cs, but I'd suggest the letter you were given with your smartcard also acts as notice of this condition for smartcard tickets purchased elsewhere:
Smartcard: For some bookings we allow your ticket to be delivered to your Smartcard.
If you are using an existing Smartcard you must ensure that you correctly enter your Smartcard reference number - we cannot amend this after payment has occurred.
You must carry your Smartcard with you when you travel.
You must ensure that you validate your Smartcard at the start and end of your journey by using either the stand alone validators or ticket barriers as applicable.
Some train companies apply additional restrictions to the use of Smartcards - you must note any additional restrictions notified during the booking process.
There's probably something to be said about having more onerous restrictions than paper tickets have themselves, which isn't exactly encouraging for smartcard users considering that most (maybe all?) National Rail smartcards appear to have this restriction.

*Whilst this technically also applies to season tickets, in practice I don't actually think it's enforced on season tickets. With single/return tickets, probably best to tap in and out.
 
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island

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Fair enough. I hold a Southeastern smartcard and probably got some notification to this effect as well.
 

vinnym70

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At Stratford, would touching a GA smartcard on an Oyster validator count? I don't recall there being any other kind of validators at Stratford.
 
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