Ticket barriers at West Drayton (Oyster PAYG related)

[CheapAndNerdy]

Hi there,

I discovered your forum a few months back as I was starting to get all excited about the prospect of a more unified fare system in London using Oyster PAYG. For some reason I enjoy trying to find out how far I can go for the lowest possible fare (hence my ID) .

I occasionally travel from South London to Maidenhead to visit friends. According to the NR site, the current cost of an offpeak day return is £14. However, using Oyster PAYG, I can get to West Drayton for £2.20 each way (avoiding zone 1), with the return fare from West Drayton to Maidenhead being £4.50. Total cost is £8.90, which is a princely saving of £5.10. However I will need to tap out/in at West Drayton in order to avoid any imperial entanglements , which finally brings me to the point of my post : Assuming I have pre-purchased the paper ticket, is it physically possible to leave the train and do a quick out/in at the ticket barrier and reboard the same train? Or will I have to wait 10/20 minutes to catch the next service?

Thanks.

 

[Edvid]

Last time I went to West Drayton some months back, they just had Oyster validators in the main corridor so you might be able to hop on/off the same train if you're very quick and position yourself as close to the stairs as possible if the train is early/on time.

If you're in no rush, then you may as well wait for the next train (there's one approx. every 15 minutes I think).

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

Last time I went to West Drayton some months back, they just had Oyster validators in the main corridor so you might be able to hop on/off the same train if you're very quick and position yourself as close to the stairs as possible if the train is early/on time.

If you're in no rush, then you may as well wait for the next train (there's one approx. every 15 minutes I think).

Might be a Sunday, so that would be a 30 minute wait. While it's irritating to have to jump through all sorts of hoops just to get a cheap fare, it's not the end of the world.

You mention that the validators are in the main corridor. Does that mean there are no actual gates? Might make things a little quicker if there's no need to fiddle about putting the paper ticket in the slot. Mind you I wonder what the station staff would think seeing some guy running away from the train and running back a few seconds later?

Cheers.

 

[Edvid]

Yup, no gates in the station.