TfL contactless - minimum time between journeys?

[ess]

If travelling from A to B and then from B to C on TfL rail using the same contactless card, is there a minimum amount of time required between the touch out at B and the touch in at B for the second journey?

 

[island]

Not as such, but depending on what station B is, if you use a standalone reader (as opposed to a ticket gate) you may encounter a “continuation exit” which will prevent you from touching back in at standalone readers for 15 minutes. Stratford and Ealing Broadway are (I think) the only TfL Rail-served stations with this possibility.

I’m struggling to understand why anyone would want to do this though.

 

[JonathanH]

Where B is the barriers at Ealing Broadway, there is no minimum time needed for touch out / touch in. I think youneed to allow two minutes between touch out and touch in on a stand alone reader at somewhere like Hayes & Harlington (or to go and touch in on a bus stopping outside the station).

 

[Joe Paxton]

Where B is the barriers at Ealing Broadway, there is no minimum time needed for touch out / touch in. I think youneed to allow two minutes between touch out and touch in on a stand alone reader at somewhere like Hayes & Harlington (or to go and touch in on a bus stopping outside the station).

The bit about buses is definitely wrong. You can touch-out at a station and board a London bus touching-in using contactless or Oyster immediately.
[Edit - I musunderstood JonathanH's post - see my further post, #9, in this thread below]

It is Southern's KeyGo - a limited pay as you go system using their Key (ITSO) smartcard - that requires a 2 minute gap between tapping out at a station and tapping in on a bus (in Brighton or Crawley, not London). This is a part of the design that I regard as bewilderingly stupid - there are countless times I've left a station and boarded a bus straight away.

 

[Mike395]

Not as such, but depending on what station B is, if you use a standalone reader (as opposed to a ticket gate) you may encounter a “continuation exit” which will prevent you from touching back in at standalone readers for 15 minutes. Stratford and Ealing Broadway are (I think) the only TfL Rail-served stations with this possibility.

I’m struggling to understand why anyone would want to do this though.

On a contactless card (as opposed to Oyster) this isn't an issue as it's all worked out at the end of the day anyway. But yes, I've previously had issues with Oyster at Canary Wharf insisting I still want to exit after alighting, popping into the adjoining Tesco Metro, and trying to re-board to continue my journey.

 

[PeterC]

The main issue can be commencing the return journey at the other half of an OSI. I did this last year when I had to take some documents to Dalston. I went out through the gates at Kingsland, made the delivery and realised that I was nearer Dalston Junction. I was still within the OSI time so it continued the same journey and timed out before I completed the journey. I then alighted at a station with no barriers which registered as a touch in. I had great difficultly getting the help desk to understand that it should be the touch out matching the touch in at DJ.

 

[MikeWh]

The bit about buses is definitely wrong. You can touch-out at a station and board a London bus touching-in using contactless or Oyster immediately.

I think Jonathan is referring to using a bus to end the rail journey, which is correct.

 

[JonathanH]

The bit about buses is definitely wrong. You can touch-out at a station and board a London bus touching-in using contactless or Oyster immediately

Yes, of course you can.

I was referring to a touch on a bus breaking an OSI or touch out / touch / continuation exit in at the same station.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I think Jonathan is referring to using a bus to end the rail journey, which is correct.

...
I was referring to a touch on a bus breaking an OSI or touch out / touch / continuation exit in at the same station.

Apologies, I misinterpreted your post. Yes, as you say a bus (or tram) touch-in breaks an OSI or a 'continuation exit'.

 

[Surreytraveller]

I touched out at Stratford once, then touched back in within 30 minutes after going to pick something up from a shop. I got charged two maximum fares, as apparently Stratford is set up so if you start a new journey within a short space of time the system doesn't charge correctly.

 

[MikeWh]

I touched out at Stratford once, then touched back in within 30 minutes after going to pick something up from a shop. I got charged two maximum fares, as apparently Stratford is set up so if you start a new journey within a short space of time the system doesn't charge correctly.

More likely on that day there was an emergency OSI. I've finished and started a new journey there within 5 minutes before.

 

[Surreytraveller]

More likely on that day there was an emergency OSI. I've finished and started a new journey there within 5 minutes before.

Yes, after emailed them they couldn't explain it, even though they could see I had tapped in and out everywhere correctly