Monday, July 18, 2016
Have you ever wondered what happens if you enter a station and then leave it again without travelling anywhere? Do you end up paying, or does the system work out you haven't made a journey?
Officially this is called a same station exit, and some quite complicated rules apply depending on how many minutes you take between touching in and touching out.
"A same station exit is recorded when you touch your contactless payment card on a yellow reader when you enter a station, but then touch out to exit at the same station within a set time. This can happen when you change your journey plan, for example, because of service disruption."
Assuming your double swipe occurs somewhere within zones 1 to 9, here's what happens.
| Time between touching in and out | What you pay |
| Between 0 and 2 minutes | A maximum fare
i.e. £7.70 (peak)
i.e. £5.30 (off-peak) | BUT if you then re-enter the same (or a different) station within 45 minutes, the maximum fare will be refunded and a new journey started UNLESS you take a bus or tram before re-entering |
| Between 2 and 30 minutes | The minimum pay as you go fare from that station
e.g. £2.40 (zone 1)
e.g. £1.50 (off-peak, Z2-6) | BUT if you then re-enter the same (or a different) station within 45 minutes, the minimum fare will be refunded and a new journey started UNLESS you take a bus or tram before re-entering |
| More than 30 minutes | Two maximum fares
i.e. £15.40 (peak)
i.e. £10.60 (off-peak)
| BECAUSE the system will assume that two separate journeys have been made, both incomplete |
BUT you'll receive an automatic refund for a same station exit provided you have not had one in the previous seven days (OR you can apply for a refund by signing into your TfL online account)
SO BASICALLY it's fine if you re-enter the system within 45 minutes without taking a bus inbetween BUT otherwise it could be very expensive SO try not to do it too often.
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