Now I've got it into my head that The Key is really just an electronic copy of whatever ticket you load onto it. So any valid ticket should be ok.
Sort of the other way round! The electronic ticket is loaded onto the key, the key being the medium of the ticket. The key is not the ticket itself, much in the same way that blank paper ticket stock is not specifically the ticket you require it to be. But I think we both know what we mean!
(1) You need to initiate it by tapping in at the station where your journey starts
(2) Ideally, you need to be able to tap out at the station where your journey ends ***, even if the barriers are left open.
Many stations without barriers will have standalone readers. Ticket barriers may also have these readers (blue plastic devices on a post) mounted next to them, for when they are opened.
(3) Along the way, your electronic ticket may be inspected by various Card Readers, either on barriers (for permitted journey breaks) or with revenue staff.
Yes. Exactly that!
I appreciate that, like Oyster, it's all a lot more involved behind the scenes, but it's useful to me to have a clear concept in mind BEFORE encountering any blips and inconsistencies in implementation.
QUESTION:
If the Card Readers aren't working, can a member of staff tap a ticket in/out using their Card Reader?
There's no need. Staff carry small grey RID (Revenue Inspection Device) readers, which will display "Inspect" if the card has not been tapped in - providing a valid ticket is loaded. The member of staff will then check the electronic ticket, and if it is valid, they may remind you to touch in on future occasions, and in all likelihood will let you go without any further action. This is not a reason to fail to touch in deliberately, as such issues will be flagged up in the back office system and may result in the key card eventually being disabled.
*** I suppose that, in theory, I could end my journey at Deepdene, so long as I could tap "out" at Dorking Main by leaning across the barrier to use the "exit" Card Reader there?
From a practical point of view, I would not expect a lack of tapping out at Dorking Main (which has readers), Deepdene or West to be queried if your ticket would allow you to stop short at a member of the Dorking Stations group. However, you may wish to contact the key smartcard team at Southern if you plan to stop short at Dorking Deepdene on a regular basis, as it may remove any issues with the journey being flagged up on their systems.
The gateline staff at Dorking Main would in all likelihood be rather bemused at your attempts to touch out in such a manner, and probably wouldn't be too keen on you doing so in case the barriers opened in the reverse direction and pushed you backwards. If I were doing it, I wouldn't worry about touching out in that way.
That's right, also double tapping makes sure the new journey is loaded correctly, especially at open barriers where unsuccessful tap-ins might not be as obvious.
That's certainly not correct, especially as a matter of best practice. I haven't seen this on any Southern briefs concerning the key, and it's not a good idea as it is not something the system is designed to do. Barriers will not let you through if they are closed and the touch-in does not work, and if they are open, any mistaken use of the reader will display on the screens - it is better to use the standalone reader if they are open or don't exist. All standalone readers are equipped with digital screens to diagnose any problems with touching in the first time.
Right again, if your not tapping out with a single journey ticket it can prevent any subsequent journeys getting loaded on to your key card because the previous journey is still on there unresolved. With a season it doesn't matter if you miss tapping in or out just like if you have a zonal travelcard on your oyster.
The journey should be expected to be expired at the close of ticket validity, to the best of my knowledge. In any case, key card capacity used by old invalid journeys should be overriden by newer ones if need be. It is not something customers should worry about unless they are significantly abusing the system. As for seasons, it is preferred by Southern and I believe still stated in the T&Cs that touching in and out is required. This is a limitation of the key card and a reason why its use with NRCoC Condition 19 may be problematic.
No, the hand held readers that the staff use just give on overview of what is currently loaded on the card.
Newer RID devices (as above) show journey history for all valid or expired products on the card, as does the DfT-approved ECEBS app, although the RIDs can be a bit confusing in this manner.
In the event that the card readers all went down at a station it would be circulated in operational emails the same as instances where ticket buying facilities were not available and similar allowances would be made at destination stations.
It's rare for that to happen, but you are at least correct on this point.
In case of any irregularities Ticket offices also are able to read much more detailed information from key cards than from hand held readers showing unloaded future tickets and past usage history etc.
As per the above, that's not the case as onboard staff carry RIDs. I haven't actually seen any Southern ticket offices with equipment surpassing the capabilities of RIDs, though I'm happy to be corrected with documented examples. Many still have the old blue MOVie / Handy 440 readers, which are very limited in functionality.
That said, it would be very unlikely (but not impossible ofc) that all readers went down at a station that wasn't an un-barriered station with just a stand alone card reader.
It's happened.
Theoretically yes, I would assume that it would register it as a break of journey, but in practice I couldn't say for certain what the outcome would be.
It should appear somewhere on a back-office system as a break of journey. I would not expect it to be visible - at least without a lot of digging - on any handheld readers.
I can see how you run into difficulties right there...