> On 16 Sep, 18:13, MIG doreenbird.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>

>> On Sep 16, 6:06 pm, Mizter T gmail.com> wrote:

>

>>> On 16 Sep, 17:23, "Michael R N Dolbear" privacy.net> wrote:

>

>> (snip)

>

>>>> Would a NR automatic ticket barrier reject an attempt to use a
>>>> post-dated ticket ?

>

>>> Yes, as would an LU one.

>

>> But can you still get travelcards from shops that aren't dated till
>> they've been through a barrier?  Presumably one could buy them any
>> time, but you'd need to come to an understanding about the date
>> stamped on it.

>
> The point you're making isn't exactly clear to me.
>
> Note that as ever I don't wish to provide a fare evaders guide, but
> this stuff is hardly beyond the realm of most peoples capacity for
> logical thought so I'm certainly not offering up anything that's
> remotely secret here.
>
> Several shops do sell Day Travelcards using the old fashioned method -
> which involves the shopkeeper stamping the ticket themselves using a
> manual date stamp. This obviously doesn't encode the magnetic strip,
> so presumably that happens on first use when the ticket gets passed
> through an LU gate (or indeed an NR gate, if they are so equipped). I
> guess there may be some system by which the shopkeeper has several
> different stocks of Day Travelcards, and picks one in particular that
> will be valid that day - e.g. there is a ticket stock for Thirsday
> which will only work on a Thursday - however I think the opportunity
> for things to get muddled up would be too great for that.
>
> This is how local shops (Pass Agents, Ticket Stops, call them what you
> will) always used to sell one-day  Travelcards in the days of yore -
> however the majority of shops were upgraded to having ticket vending
> machines that printed and (presumably) encoded the tickets. I *think*
> this was all part of the Prestige ticketing project (which also
> brought you Oyster), as these started appearing in the mid to late
> 90's (the PFI contract being signed in 1995) - these new machines were
> certainly capable of being upgraded so as to handle Oyster (and thus
> have Oyster pads fitted).
>
> Interestingly I've noticed that a number of shops that previously had
> this equipment have now had it replaced with simpler Oyster-only kit -
> i.e. there's no printer, it only does Oyster (pay-as-you-go topups and
> weekly, monthly or annual Travelcards and bus passes). I have also
> seen some shops that are new to selling tickets get this kit. However
> they continue to sell Day Travelcards, but they have reverted to using
> the manual date stamp method to date the ticket stock. I think that
> some of these shops only stock some of the Day Travelcard range - from
> the off-peak range, one near me sells z1&2, z1-4 and z1-6 but not z2-6
> - I don't know about what Anytime Day Travelcards they stock are (N.B.
> the Peak Day Travelcard has now been renamed the Anytime Day
> Travelcard to fit in with the NR fares 'simplification').
>
> I can see why this may have happened - the logic being that Oyster is
> now the predominant medium for selling 'ticketing products' (most
> shops now only sell weekly or longer Travelcards and bus passes on
> Oyster), so why maintain a far more complex machine that has moving
> parts in it (i.e. the printer) when on the whole it goes unused.
> Still, it's a bit annoying as (a) it takes far longer and is more of a
> faff for the shopkeeper to issue a Day Travelcard, and (b) it would
> seem that at least some shops don't stock the whole range - and
> there's always the possibility that they'll be out of stock of the
> relevant ticket.
>
> One thing that certainly is annoying is that the new Oyster-only kit