Contactless payment readers

[James Wake]

Just a quick question, how do the readers work that show whether a Contactless card was registered when touching into a Station? Just witnessing a penalty fare being given to a lady who is adamant she touched in but the host said her card was blocked.

 

[Clip]

basically its all done by the back office at the end of the day and if she has done it often itll show her card as blocked on tfl system which shows she has failed to touch in.

mikewh site will explain it better

 

[yorkie]

Just a quick question, how do the readers work that show whether a Contactless card was registered when touching into a Station?

There is no way to tell if a contactless card has been used to touch in or not (at least not at the time!)... unless it is a blocked card of course!

Just witnessing a penalty fare being given to a lady who is adamant she touched in but the host said her card was blocked.

If the card is blocked then it should not have given the green light or made the entry sound.

 

[Stigy]

Because of security (less security and more just slow banks probably?) and the fact everything done on a back office system, there's no 'live' way of telling. The fact that the card was blocked indicates she has failed to complete full journeys more than 3-times and thus the card has been blocked. Basically she's lucky she's only getting a PF, as it's an easy case of fare evasion really.

There is no way to tell if a contactless card has been used to touch in or not (at least not at the time!)... unless it is a blocked card of course!

If the card is blocked then it should not have given the green light or made the entry sound.

Which is why it's clear fare evasion, unless there's a good excuse (which is unlikely given the fact that the card is only blocked after a few failed tap outs). Not sure if people are aware either, but even if the card wasn't tapped in, when a staff member reads the card with their device, it activates the card, therefore if somebody thinks they're getting away with it and walks out when they finish their journey without tapping the card, they're not, it just means that when they fail to top out it's one of their 'strikes'.

 

[MikeWh]

The fact that the card was blocked indicates she has failed to complete full journeys more than 3-times and thus the card has been blocked. Basically she's lucky she's only getting a PF, as it's an easy case of fare evasion really.

Which is why it's clear fare evasion, unless there's a good excuse (which is unlikely given the fact that the card is only blocked after a few failed tap outs).

This is NOT true. A card can be blocked by the card issuer for various reasons. It can also be blocked by TfL if they have failed to collect a recent nightly charge.

Not sure if people are aware either, but even if the card wasn't tapped in, when a staff member reads the card with their device, it activates the card, therefore if somebody thinks they're getting away with it and walks out when they finish their journey without tapping the card, they're not, it just means that when they fail to top out it's one of their 'strikes'.

It's still one of their 'strikes' even if they do touch out.

 

[MikeWh]

Just a quick question, how do the readers work that show whether a Contactless card was registered when touching into a Station? Just witnessing a penalty fare being given to a lady who is adamant she touched in but the host said her card was blocked.

The card probably was blocked. The only other explanation is that the reader was faulty, in which case a journey history statement submitted to the TOC should cancel the PF.

 

[matt_world2004]

I have had a card blocked between touching in and touching out for a journey it happened on an early morning train and tfl failing to collect the day before money .It was unblocked by the time I got to my exit gateline and I only knew it had been blocked by the email recieved

 

[Stigy]

This is NOT true. A card can be blocked by the card issuer for various reasons. It can also be blocked by TfL if they have failed to collect a recent nightly charge.

It's still one of their 'strikes' even if they do touch out.

Yes, you're correct, however in terms of travel, that's how it works. If it was blocked full stop, it wouldn't have worked anyway of course, thus deliberate fare evasion.