In-Out-In using season tickets and smart cards

[ictl]

Part of my commute involves cycling to and from Cambridge North station. It's now the time of year where I need to use my bike lights. What normally happens is that I lock my bike at Cambridge North, go through the ticket barriers using my paper season ticket, realise that I have left my bike lights on my bike, exit the ticket barriers using my season ticket, collect bike lights, then attempt to enter the barriers again. The barriers won't allow me to re-enter, and I have to get a member of staff to let me through. The last time this happened, the staff at the gateline wrote "09" on my season ticket (I guess he thought that my season ticket stopped working altogether).

If I used a smart card (or used an Oyster card at a London station), would it also prevent re-entry? With a paper ticket, I can prove I have a valid ticket for travel and get waved through, but would I have difficulty getting staff at the gateline to let me through with a smart card that won't open the barriers?

 

[jon0844]

With GTR's The Key (but is that at Cambridge North given it's a Abellio run station?) you can cancel your journey, and then I assume you can re-start it again almost straight away. I don't know that Greater Anglia offers in terms of smartcards.

With a paper ticket, there's a passback delay of 15 or 30 minutes. Your best bet is to ask to be let out by staff and explain why, then go back to them to come back in. No issues then.

In London, if you touch out within a certain time (unknown by me) then you incur a fee. I did that when I stupidly tapped in and remembered I had a paper Travelcard (force of habit). So I went back to the gate to touch out (without leaving) only to discover I was charged. I then had to call up to get it sorted, except I didn't because I forgot to and then just accepted the cost rather than waste time on the phone.

 

[ictl]

Greater Anglia have their own smart card (I don't think it has a fancy name other than "smart card"), which I'm considering using as my home station is on the GA route (as long as I can somehow apply the Travel for Cambridgeshire discount on it). But if it won't allow in-out-in, then I definitely won't switch.

 

[jon0844]

I would expect it to work the same as The Key, so you can 'undo' the journey with a second tap. And once you've undone the journey, you can tap back in later and start a new one.

But I think the best option is to ask to be let out via the manual/wide gate!

 

[island]

This is called a “zig-zag” and is blocked on paper tickets to prevent improper sharing/reuse of tickets.