TfL Revenue Inspector query

[davidrockyroad]

Do the TfL Revenue Inspection Team’s handheld devices upon which you tap a validated Oyster or contactless card know their location?

For example, if I was making a (hypothetical ) journey from a Zone 1 station to a Zone 2 station via a Zone 4 station, but did not tap my card at the Zone 4 station, TfL would charge me a Zone 1 to Zone 2 fare. If, however, my payment method had been checked by a Revenue Inspector in either Zone 3 or Zone 4, and then I proceeded to tap out in Zone 2, would this register as an irregularity or trigger a maximum fare?

 

[Gaelan]

There are no rules on TfL requiring you to follow a particular route, nor requiring you to make your route apparent to the system. If the system is unable to determine you travelled via zone 4, you pay the zone 1-2 fare and break no rules in the process.

In principle they might be entitled to charge you the zone 1-4 fare on the basis of the inspection, but this is so niche I very much doubt they bother.

 

[CarrotPie]

Yes, as long as you stay within the maximum journey times, you can take any route and get charged the only fare for that station pair. The only exception to this is tapping on pink readers to "prove" that you avoided zone 1 - but again, you could (and I'm not suggesting you do, of course!) tap on a pink reader and then travel via zone one anyway.

So you could, for example, do Whitechapel>Shenfield>Stratford and it would only cost you 2 quid. As Gaelan said, I highly doubt they've hooked up their inspection devices to act as "pink readers" — and they could end up overcharging unknowing passengers, anyway!

 

[JonathanH]

So you could, for example, do Whitechapel>Shenfield>Stratford and it would only cost you 2 quid. As Gaelan said, I highly doubt they've hooked up their inspection devices to act as "pink readers" — and they could end up overcharging unknowing passengers, anyway!

I note that a few times when I have passed through Shenfield there has been a TfL person with a card reader at the top of the platform 5 / 6 staircase. However, as you note, there is nothing written down to say that a passenger can't make a roundabout journey so long as they stay within the maximum journey time. The system can only charge the advertised fares based on displacement.

 

[boiledbeans2]

I've done this before. No extra charge. So I don't think the location of the inspection is recorded.

 

[Starmill]

It's completely fine. If you touch in at Richmond and out at Wimbledon you don't get charged something different if you go on a through train via Kingston or travel via Clapham Junction. Doesn't matter where you are checked in between, as long as you were touched in.

 

[davidrockyroad]

Very insightful and thoughtful replies. I thought as much—Oyster is rather a stupid system—but wasn’t sure!

 

[redreni]

I've done this before. No extra charge. So I don't think the location of the inspection is recorded.

I'd be amazed if the locations of checks aren't recorded as it's useful information for things like short-faring investigations. Whether they're recorded or not, though, the published fares depend not on what zones you travel through, but on what the published fares are between the station where you tapped in and the station where you tap out. You've got to stay within the Oyster area if using an Oyster card, or the Contactless PAYG area if using Contactless, and stay within the max journey time, but otherwise you can go where you like.

Being revenue inspected in a zone TfL didn't expect and didn't have in mind when they set the fare for the station pair, doesn't entitle them to make up a higher, unpublished fare and charge that. They can only charge the published fare.

 

[MikeWh]

Oyster is rather a stupid system

In what way?

TfL are quite happy for people to double back off fast trains, eg Neasden via Wembley Park or Brentwood via Shenfield. Someone doing Twyford via Reading will save quite a bit compared to a ticket, but the whole point is that with PAYG you pay for the journey made with no option to break the journey at the more expensive station. You do have to stay within the appropriate PAYG area, so Bletchley via Milton Keynes wouldn't be valid.

 

[boiledbeans2]

I'd be amazed if the locations of checks aren't recorded as it's useful information for things like short-faring investigations. [...]

I guess it may be troublesome if you're inspecting on a moving train. You start the inspection on carriage 1 at station A. By the time you get to carriage 12 (e.g. Thameslink), you may be at station G.

 

[redreni]

Someone doing Twyford via Reading will save quite a bit compared to a ticket.

That depends. If we're talking about off-peak fares, and if the person has a Railcard and it's a same-day return, Contactless would be slightly more expensive than a ticket routed via Reading.

That's assuming no break of journey - however brief - at Reading, in which case Contactless would be very significantly more expensive.

The double-back at Reading isn't the time-saver it once was given the regularity of the Paddington to Didcot Parkway service, unless that service is disrupted or you've just missed one.

But I agree, of course, it can be useful to know that Contactless gives you freedom - within the Contactless area - from various goofy route restrictions that apply to ordinary tickets. It's why I tend to use Oyster PAYG (on a valid itinerary) to connect onto long-distance trains at St Pancras or Euston from Slade Green; the paper singles to St Pancras or points north all have an annoying 'via City Thameslink' route restriction which prevents using the Elizabeth Line between Abbey Wood and Farringdon.