Under 10 Zip Norwood Jct-Canada Water

[MikeWh]

No - its the pdf emailed to me...

Oh my goodness. I'd almost forgotten they existed since they set up auto reports by email via Oyster online. OK, I'm remembering some interesting glitches with that service which I'll bet they've never fixed. Give me a while to trawl through some old ones and remind myself what they mean.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Oh my goodness. I'd almost forgotten they existed since they set up auto reports by email via Oyster online. OK, I'm remembering some interesting glitches with that service which I'll bet they've never fixed. Give me a while to trawl through some old ones and remind myself what they mean.

I get the auto ones sent to me for my card - but not my child's, I haven't bothered setting it up as I believed travel was free....

 

[MikeWh]

Right, now all is becoming clear (ish).

Dec 31st was a Monday so touch in before 0930 triggered peak fares. £1.20 appears to be the peak fare for a zone 2-4 NR through journey for a child. This is the fare for the default route which i think might be Norwood Junction - Peckham Rye - Lewisham - Cutty Sark. This explains the fare charged because NJ-PR-Lew is NR rather than TfL.

Now, the words "Route Chosen" have been added since I last obtained a statement of that variety. However, the bug that meant that if you touched a pink validator it confused the report causing the incomplete journey at the start station would appear to still be there. You can ignore that line as it doesn't relate to a touch at Norwood Junction at all. I'm still baffled by the (via Canary Wharf DLR) bit as there doesn't seem to be a fare set via there in the database. Perhaps it added it because you went that way and it can sometimes be a valid description (for other unconnected routes) but the fare chosen was the default route. Anyway, you definitely didn't double touch at Cutty Sark and perhaps the customer advisor was confused by the dummy line at Norwood Junction.

Bottom line. I still think that route should be valid so I hope they add it in, but I'm convinced that the system acted in the way it's been programmed to do. You did nothing wrong apart from not realise that to be charged (or not if free), a route has to be described in the single fare finder.

 

[Surreytraveller]

I was confused about the Norwood Junction double tap - I thought I was certain that a double-tap did not occur. In which case, if this bug exists, why did it appear on my child's history, but not mine?

And I think if they tell passengers that a 5-10 Zip is free on TfL, then the system needs to be able to recognise if the person has actually used only TfL services. And I've never heard of a single fare fonder before this thread - perhaps the mantra should always be 'Check single fare finder before you travel, and always touch in and touch out'! Which would take away the flexibility and turn up and go nature of the Oystercard!

Thanks for your help, its handy to know the the Oyster system isn't as simple as they make out.

I'd be surprised that the default route would be Norwood - Peckham - Lewisham - that would take hours!

 

[MikeWh]

I was confused about the Norwood Junction double tap - I thought I was certain that a double-tap did not occur. In which case, if this bug exists, why did it appear on my child's history, but not mine?

The bug doesn't appear in the online journey history or the automated email statements as far as I know. It's only on the manually requested email statement and they probably aren't devoting much resources to that now they've tried to automate it.

And I think if they tell passengers that a 5-10 Zip is free on TfL, then the system needs to be able to recognise if the person has actually used only TfL services. And I've never heard of a single fare fonder before this thread - perhaps the mantra should always be 'Check single fare finder before you travel, and always touch in and touch out'! Which would take away the flexibility and turn up and go nature of the Oystercard!

The single fare finder is a priceless tool which would be even better if they described the default route. Your journey is an edge case which you felt logical and reasonable but the person describing the routes didn't. Maybe they need to add to the statement that under 10s go free on TfL services with a caveat that the overall route has to be defined in the database (or single fare finder).

Thanks for your help, its handy to know the the Oyster system isn't as simple as they make out.

You're welcome. Have you seen my site yet? Perhaps you don't realise just how complicated Oyster can be.

I'd be surprised that the default route would be Norwood - Peckham - Lewisham - that would take hours!

Agreed, but it's a known issue which annoys me all the time as a Palace fan living in Crayford. Default journeys from the Sidcup and Woolwich lines to South London all include zone 1 because it is assumed that the extra change at Lewisham onto a half hourly Victoria service means everyone will go via London Bridge. Use the Bexleyheath line though and suddenly all the fares avoid zone 1 as long as it's reasonable to go via Peckham Rye. It doesn't matter that in many cases (eg Norwood Junction, East Croydon) the fast trains from London Bridge mean almost everyone will go that way, they have to pander to the minority going to places like Dulwich and Streatham who would winge that they were being overcharged.

 

[34D]

Did you respond to the email (offering the refund) by asking whether they can 'fix' this journey for the future?

 

[yorkie]

My suggested method for obtaining Journey History screenshots is as follows:

1) resize your browser to show what you want it to show, and nothing elsew
2) Hold down ALT and press Print Screen
3) Go into an appropriate image editing program, create a new file and paste.
4) If there is anything else you would like editing out, use the tools provided in your image editing program to do this
5) Save the image in JPEG (*.jpg) format
6) upload to the forum as an attachment.