Yesterday, whilst disembarking from a Thameslink service at St Pancras I heard an announcement to the effect that 'on certain sections of our routes only Oyster and Contactless can be used for travel'. Whist recognising that fares for other ticketing options have consciously been higher than those for Oyster and Contactless, I thought that they were available for travelling on Thameslink for every combination of stations. Is that not the case? If not, on which sections of route are they unavailable?
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Non-Oyster/Contactless fare availability on Thameslink
- Thread starter TUC
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I suspect you misheard the announcement.
Oyster and contactless can only be used between certain stations on the Thameslink. It cannot be used to make journeys between all stations on the Thameslink network.
Don't be fooled into thinking that Oyster/contactless is always cheaper. In many cases it is more expensive than using a traditional ticket.
Oyster and contactless can only be used between certain stations on the Thameslink. It cannot be used to make journeys between all stations on the Thameslink network.
Don't be fooled into thinking that Oyster/contactless is always cheaper. In many cases it is more expensive than using a traditional ticket.
They didn't! It's terribly worded.I suspect you misheard the announcement.
Many of our services only accept contactless or Oyster cards for part of their route, so please ensure you have a valid ticket for the entire journey you are making.
I first heard this back at the end of November, after which I contacted GTR to mention how this could be interpreted very differently to intended, to which they replied:
I hope my email finds you well, and thanks for getting in touch regarding the wording of the announcement about Contactless and Oyster payments. I can imagine the confusion this can cause, especially for those who are not regular travellers.
I have now passed the details over to the PIS team to see if this can be amended to save any confusion. However, this is not something that can happen overnight, so your patience is appreciated.
The first time I heard this, I also interpreted it as saying that only contactless/Oyster were valid (and other tickets were not) on some parts of the network rather than contactless/Oyster only being valid on some parts of the network.
I believe I saw Matt, who records this and various other GTR announcements and manages the TL/GN PIS systems, state that they plan to re-record the announcements "in a few months" at the end of last month due to feedback from passengers (presumably not just me!).
Attachments
The response does raise a deeper wider cultural issue. Why should rerecording an announcement be regarded as 'not something which can happen overnight' and to take place in a few months' time? If something like this takes so long, what chance more complex projects getting completed quickly?They didn't! It's terribly worded.
I first heard this back at the end of November, after which I contacted GTR to mention how this could be interpreted very differently to intended, to which they replied:
That's not how I interpreted the announcement, but then I am knowledgable in these matters!They didn't! It's terribly worded.
It's quite tricky to cover all eventualities in a short annoucement, while we're at it there's nothing about KeyGo acceptance......
It's not about all eventualities though. 'our services only accept contactless or Oyster cards for part of their route' means something completely different to 'Oyster/contactless are only valid on parts of our route'.That's not how I interpreted the announcement, but then I am knowledgable in these matters!
It's quite tricky to cover all eventualities in a short annoucement, while we're at it there's nothing about KeyGo acceptance......