TfL contactless bus oddity

[Busaholic]

Just to unnecessarily nitpick :P The Mercedes Citaros running on the 507/521 commuter routes also have remote validators.

I was wondering when someone would mention these two routes- the only other example in London where boarding is permitted other than by the front door (used to be the case with all the Citaro bendybus routes, of course). I just love getting on via the centre door and going straight to a seat, where available, totalling ignoring any machine. Then the sharp-eyed inspector pounces, at which stage I produce my ECNTS pass: well, it happened once, and I was able to share a joke with the guy, who, after his initial disappointment, proved quite affable. I may even have mentioned having worked for London Transport in the days when Red Arrows looked to be the coming thing, but he probably hadn't the faintest what I was talking about! Incidentally, there appears to be a move to re-introduce the Red Arrow name for those routes.

 

[34D]

I was wondering when someone would mention these two routes- the only other example in London where boarding is permitted other than by the front door (used to be the case with all the Citaro bendybus routes, of course). I just love getting on via the centre door and going straight to a seat, where available, totalling ignoring any machine. Then the sharp-eyed inspector pounces, at which stage I produce my ECNTS pass: well, it happened once, and I was able to share a joke with the guy, who, after his initial disappointment, proved quite affable. I may even have mentioned having worked for London Transport in the days when Red Arrows looked to be the coming thing, but he probably hadn't the faintest what I was talking about! Incidentally, there appears to be a move to re-introduce the Red Arrow name for those routes.

It used to be the case on the bendies that you had to board by the front door if you had a pass that needed a manual entry didnt it?

 

[Bletchleyite]

It used to be the case on the bendies that you had to board by the front door if you had a pass that needed a manual entry didnt it?

Yes, but that has been dropped.

 

[plcd1]

Just to unnecessarily nitpick :P The Mercedes Citaros running on the 507/521 commuter routes also have remote validators.

And just to nitpick even more the Citaros have gone to pastures new (route 108) or outside London. BYD / ADL all electric single deckers now run on the 507/521.

To come back to the ticketing point I think it's clear there is a flaw. Quite where in the system it is I'm not so sure. I fully understand the "in service/out of service/in service" sequence thing. That makes perfect sense. I do wonder if the flaw is actually with the ETMs - they can take ages to "reboot" to acknowledge they are now on a new trip. Seen far too many examples of buses starting from termini where buses are two stops down the road and the system still hasn't woken up. I assume the remote readers work on the basis of receiving info from the ETM so can't start a new trip until the ETM tells them. Hence why Neil's trip is presumably logged on the trip to Euston rather than from. No wonder revenue staff may be getting wonky trip info when they get their download from the ETM. So it may not be the inspectors' readers that are at fault but rather the ancient and much modified ETMs. I expect TfL know all too well what is going on but are not in a position to fund the provision of new ETMs on the buses (despite them being needed for the last 5 years).

 

[Bletchleyite]

But if they do know that this is going on, they should be giving the passenger the benefit of the doubt rather than talking about penalty fares.

The conversation, if this was a known issue, should probably have gone a bit like:
<touches card on machine>
"Where did you get on?"
"Euston"
"Bus station?"
"Yes"
"OK, thanks"
<moves onto next passenger>

Yes, that means a few false negatives, but that is better than embarrassing someone who has paid and always pays by suggesting they have not.

 

[34D]

Yes, but that has been dropped.

Is there any such rule on the Boris buses?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is there any such rule on the Boris buses?

I'm not aware of one. If there is one, there's basically no way to enforce it.

 

[Be3G]

The only rule I'm aware of now is that people using NBfLs or former Red Arrow routes need to board by the front door if using saver tickets.

 

[Busaholic]

I'm not aware of one. If there is one, there's basically no way to enforce it.

TfL are aware that they could be accused of age discrimination if they tried to enforce it, which is why they wouldn't. If the ECNTS pass ever gets to the point where it's compatible with TfL bus ticket machines, then it would have to be accepted by all machines on the bus.