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Was I in the wrong? Oyster

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gray1404

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Today I boarded a service at Victoria going to Caterham. I was an hour early to meet a friend. He text me when we were approaching East Croydon to move the meet to another day. I alighted at East Croydon and caught a train to Clapham Junction. I changed there and boarded a service to Waterloo. I did this as I didn't know what would happen if I tapped out on my Oyster at the same station some 75 minutes later. I was only charged about £1.40 on my Oyster. I do have a railcard discount attached to it. This seems like such a small price to pay for what I did in terms of travel.

My question is was I in the wrong here? Should I have tapped out then back in at East Croydon? Would I have ran into trouble if I gad encounter an RPI on the train back towards central London (as my card would have showed a zone 1 touch in, although still just within the time limit). What would have happened if I had tried to touch out again at my starting point of Victoria? Maximum fare?
 
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Romilly

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You made a single journey within the Zones. The requirement is to tap in at the beginning and to tap out at the end. You did that. Every journey has a maximum allowed time (90 minutes for something that registers as a daytime zone 1 to zone 1 journey) which, if exceeded, will alter what you are charged. Seemingly that has not come into play in the case of your journey.

There are disincentives for same-station exits: I think that if you had returned to Victoria you would have been charged for two incomplete journeys.
 
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gray1404

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You made a single journey within the Zones. The requirement is to tap in at the beginning and to tap out at the end. You did that. Every journey has a maximum allowed time (90 minutes for something that registers as a daytime zone 1 to zone 1 journey) which, if exceeded, will alter what you are charged. Seemingly that has not come into play in the case of your journey.

There are disincentives for same-station exits: I think that if you had returned to Victoria you would have been charged for two incomplete journeys.

Yes, Zone 1 (Victoria) to Zone 1 (Waterloo) route taken via Zone 5 (East Croydon) within the 90 minutes permitted time. :)

So I am assuming there would only have been a problem and an RPI able to do anything once the train had gone outside the zone. E.g. Zone 1 to Zone 1 via Brighton.
 
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Romilly

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As you were travelling on PAYG and had touched in at the start, I agree that there would only have been a problem if you had travelled outside the zones (unless on a route, e.g. to Gatwick, where oyster is valid).
 

tannedfrog

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So you could in theory accompany someone all the way from Waterloo to Gatwick (without leaving the station) and then back to Victoria, for a zone 1 fare?!! Seems that you have 110 minutes to do it as well, on a Sunday.

Wow. Would the RPI / guard not be able to see where and at what time you had touched in, causing difficult questions?
 
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yorkie

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So you could in theory accompany someone all the way from Waterloo to Gatwick (without leaving the station) and then back to Victoria, for a zone 1 fare?!! Seems that you have 110 minutes to do it as well, on a Sunday.

Wow. Would the RPI / guard not be able to see where and at what time you had touched in, causing difficult questions?
It's much safer to use contactless if you wish to do something like that, as yes with Oyster they can see where you tapped in, so it could be awkward (see http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83075 for example)

Providing you do not do anything underhand (such as attempt to leave & re-enter the station without touching out/in) and do not exceed the maximum journey time I do not see any wrongdoing though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
What would have happened if I had tried to touch out again at my starting point of Victoria? Maximum fare?
Two maximum fares! You can't make a journey from Victoria to Victoria!
 
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