There has to be a £0.00 minimum fare to touch in at the Heathrow Express platforms (at the Heathrow end) - because travel between Heathrow Terminal 2/3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Heathrow Terminal 5 and Hatton Cross by Heathrow Express, Elizabeth Line or Piccadilly Line is free of charge.I see from this FOI request, there a £0.00 minimum balance required to touch-in at Heathrow Express platforms:
What would happen when one touches out Paddington? Would the Oyster card go severely negative?
At best the card will have a negative balance which will require clearing before it can be used again. It's possible that the gates at Paddington might flag seek assistance.
Surely it is pointless for the gates to flag seek assistance as what is the gateline assistance going to do other than let you out? If an RPI got hold of you I would think it extremely harsh to issue a PF or MG11 in the circumstances. By allowing the balance to go negative the fare will eventually be paid when the card is topped up.
There have been reports of people being threatened with prosecution due to having insufficient balance.
Unless the customer ditches the card, yes.
In those cases did the passenger tap in correctly before travelling? Most of my journeys are £1.15 so I seldom keep a lot of balance on the card but sometimes I may take more expensive journey which will result in the card going negative, sometimes more than a pound.
Maybe that's why the deposit for a new Oystercard is now a non-refundable £7!
A small authorisation is taken the first time that a debit card is used for TfL PAYG. I can't recall whether it's taken before the card is accepted and the barriers are opened, but if not, then by the end of the journey the card would be blocked if that authorisation failed, so you wouldn't be able to touch out.
10p, to be precise, on first use and also if the card hasn't been seen in a while.
It's not, that would take 10-30 seconds rather than the maximum of half a second for the gates to open
The 10p authorisation will be made usually within 5-30 minutes of the touch in.Yes, but...
not quite. The system will allow you to touch out even if the authorisation has failed, so that the actual journey made is known, but that card will thereafter no longer be accepted until the cardholder has resolved the unpaid journey, such as via the TfL call centre.
I think the transaction would still go through in the latter case as a preauthorisation has been established, but I would have to test it.
To be exact, if the 10p authorisation goes through, that card will be able to be used on the network for the rest of that service day, not just for the one journey. When the final total is billed to the card overnight, if that declines for whatever reason, the card will then be blocked until the debt is resolved.
So isn't the 3 strike policy applicable here?
No. That's when you have 3 failed revenue inspections.
That is for failed revenue inspections (i.e. you weren't touched in when your card was checked by an RPI), not unpaid fares.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought 2 failed revenue inspections would get a payment card blocked? You can then call in and explain yourself to get it unblocked, but a third and the card is blocked permanently?
