TfL’s (Transport for London) Oyster card system when badly wrong and crashed on Saturday (12th July), meaning that the electronic cards didn’t work for about five hours.
The fault started around 5:30 and carried through till about 10:30 on Saturday morning. The net result being that card holders couldn’t pass through the barriers and some passengers may well have been charged the full cash fare for their journey on that day (approximately £4).
The fault affected Tube, buses, DLR and trams. Users couldn’t even make use of the cards on ticket machines.
TfL told BBC News: “Due to a technical problem with the Oyster card computer system, card readers across the network have not been accepting cards.
“Ticket barriers have been left open so that passengers can pass through therefore journeys have not been adversely affected by this problem.”
TfL have also said “All passengers who incur a maximum fare on Saturday 12 July will be given an automatic refund on Tuesday. They do not need to take any action.”
Note: It’s worth pointing out that faults are very rare on the system and the last one happened in March 2006, and of course the usual must if you are a user: Touch in at the start of your journey, and touch out. Even if the barriers are open or unmanned. Otherwise it’s a full cash fare for you too.
Update
Over on the Going Underground blog, a certain someone from TfL staff states the following:-
“Anyone who touched in or out yesterday morning has probably had their Oyster card disabled (code 30) and will need to change their Oyster card at a ticket office using the failed Oyster card procedure. If it is a student, child card etc, then they will need to contact Oyster for a replacement. Even our staff have had their passes disabled. Yesterday by 22:30 my station had changed nearly 600 oyster cards. We normally change about 5 a day.”
Take a deep breath before you start using public transport on Monday – it could be a long one for commuters! I just can’t wait (really! I have to get places) – especially for the morning rush hour!
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