Have I been entertaining a fare evader?

[whole diary]

[Marlburian]

I've only being giving very cursory attention to the posts about contactless, as I don't think  it will apply - yet - to my very few train journeys from Tilehurst. And so I'm not completely clear as to what it is.

But today a friend visited me from Finsbury Park, apparently using contactless all the way. How could this be, I pondered. She just missed her Tilehurst connection at Reading, so waved her card at the ticket gates and left the station to get a taxi (for which I paid).

Later I deposited her at Tilehurst Station, where she asked if there was a ticket machine. Yes, I said, but surely it would have been cheaper to buy a return? She then passed the machine without buying a ticket, reckoning she could wave her card again at Paddington.

She's Russo-Estonian, with excellent English and a newly-acquired law degree. Piously I warned her about the heavy fines imposed on fare evaders, but she boarded the Tilehurst train anyway, intending to change at Reading.

Reproval apart (if it's merited), any comments? She'll be making the journey again in a few weeks.

[ChrisB]

What’s the charge for an incomplete journey? Ie only touching in & not out these days?

[Marlburian]

Having now bothered to read a little about contactless, it seems that my friend was OK as far as Reading on her outward journey, but what if she had actually caught the train to Tilehurst, which doesn't appear to be in the system ye? How and when should she have touched out?  Likewise with her return journey: should she have got an old-fashioned ticket to Reading, then how could she have touched in for the rest of her journey, then exited Paddington mainline station for the Tube?

And how do two contactless journeys compare in price with an old-fashioned off-peak return?

[ChrisB]

She needed to change at Reading, exit by tapping out, then buying a ticket onwards (return)

Then on the return, doing the same thing & tapping back in at Reading.

So not worth using contactless for stations beyond Reading frankly

[plymothian]

What’s the charge for an incomplete journey? Ie only touching in & not out these days?

£26 peak, £11.30 off peak to Reading.

Absolute bargain fare.

[Marlburian]

She needed to change at Reading, exit by tapping out, then buying a ticket onwards (return)

Then on the return, doing the same thing & tapping back in at Reading.

So not worth using contactless for stations beyond Reading frankly

The price of a conventional off-peak day return from Paddington to Tilehurst is the same as to Reading: £22.70. A Reading-Tilehurst return is £2.90.

Thanks for the replies.