Fun with Flexus
Mon, 2009-11-02 17:47 — chris
Flexus is the new electronic ticketing system for Ruter and NSB in Oslo.
I use it for the simple reason that the new machines can accept payment via bank card - not cash - and the only local shop is often not open when I leave for work in the morning.
You load ticket(s) onto the card - and activate it when the previous one runs out. So - at any time you have some combination of expired tickets, one active ticket and non-started tickets.
The flexus user experience
This morning I loaded up a new month card - 550,- NOK. Validated at the same place - and it showed the ticket activated with a new end date - in one month. All fine.
After switching to a bus - I got a No valid ticket error.
Last time I had an error (Error Code 68) I had checked online at minruter.no and found that the ticket was OK. So this time I checked again - no ticket activity for 2 days. No valid ticket.
So I called trafikanten on the phone. During this conversation I learned the following1:
- Trafikanten issued flexus cards have light grey serial number (NSB have black) - and that meant he had a chance to help me (seems that NSB issued flexus cards can only get help at NSB)
- Error code 68 means invalid pin code (and neither I nor the person on the telephone could make any sense of that - flexus doesn't use pin codes).
But I didn't learn why I had seemingly lost a ticket.
So - I was asked to bring the card in to trafikanten in Oslo town centre.
Here - there was a queue system - only 52 people in front of me2.
And after a long wait - I was told1:
- You have a valid ticket - if he could see it - why couldn't the telephone operator?
- Buses that have left the depot before you add the ticket to the card won't know about the ticket - since they have not been updated since leaving the depot
- Follow up question - ticket inspectors can read the ticket from the card - in which case - why can't the bus?
- The webpages can take up to 24 hours to show an update - how come the flexus system can know about the update in a timely manner but not the user interface?
For a new and supposedly modern system (even though there has been a lot of criticism and a fair few delays) - this seems at best cobbled together of bits that don't want to talk to each other.
Oh - and it seems like a very good idea to carry the receipt you get when you load the card with the card.
- I can only go on what I was told - I have no idea how much actually is how flexus works - but it does seem to match the days experiences.
- I have to say that trafikanten in town did move throught the queue pretty fast.
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Comments
A real Catch 22 with Flexus
Until recently, I believed the Flexus system to be a unified payment system but I now understand that it is very compartmentalized. Case in point:
I had a Flexus, used until it suddenly wouldn't load new tickets at a Ruter ticket machine. I thought it to be a bit strange, the Flexus card did not register at all with the machine. The card was tested at the validation machines, but did not function there either. Off to Trafikanten I went... The lady behind the counter had to check with another guy who was in possession of a Flexus reader (wat?) and told me that this was a NSB issued card. I said yes, i got it long before you started handing out the Flexus cards. Well, she could read the card and saw one unused Ruter monthly ticked, but I needed to consult with NSB to actually exchange the non-functioning card.
What the hell? Couldn't they jus issue a new Flexus card with a monthly ticket and the just ship the card to NSB with a note saying equivalent of "Doesn't work, LOL!!!!11". No, I had to talk with the NSB ticket vendors to get a new card, make a not of that please.
I went to NSB and explained the situation to the guy behind the counter. He was a nice fellow but a bit IT challenged. Anyhoo, he told me that yes, they could give me a new card but no, Ruter had to give me the money for the ticket residing on the card. Oh, fuck me I though. This is a classic catch 22 situation. But since he was a nice guy, he'd have a look at the card and see what he could do. He put the card on the Flexus RFID reader and... ...the computer crashed. Hard. No bluescreen, just a complete freeze. That was a pretty huge hint that there was something really wrong with the card. Being a geek I was really interested to what could possibly be wrong with the card since i worked on some readers, not others and crashed a computer. To be sure that yes, this card indeed crashed NSB computers when used properly, mr. Nice Guy tried it on his colleague's computer and it crashed as well.
After some extensive fiddeling with the computer he got and idea. He took my card over to one of the ticket sales machines and by sheer luck, the card worked on that machine. He could verify that a) the card was completely b0rked and b) yes there was an unused Ruter ticket on the card.
In a brilliant moment of customer service, mr. Nice Guy said to me "Tall you what. I'll do something my bosses will get pissed off by. I'll refund you your money, even though it is technically not our money since it is Ruter who sold you your ticked and I'll give you a new Flexus card. Then I'll take the money over to the ticket vending machine and make sure you buy a Ruter ticket with it. OK?"
Oh, hell yes. This is exactly what customer service is all about. Solving the problem. He proceeded to do just what he said and moments later I walked out with a functioning Flexus with a Ruter ticket. In absolutely no way thanks to Ruter.
I have very similar issues,
I have very similar issues, and sadly, am this time being even more stuck than you are.
Here is the story, it's worth it:
1- I used to take the train from Nationaltheatret to Asker. My flexus card was issued for me at the train station, one of those days where I asked to renew my monthly card. In other words, it was issued by NSB.
2- I have changed job, and now take a buss from home to Kjeller. Nowhere near a train station. Can you guess where this is going?
3- Monday, new month, darn!, I forgot to refill my flexus during the week end. So I pay 60 NOK (ouch) for my morning bus ride.
4- During the day, I need to find a way to refill my flexus. Two websites: ruter or nsb. I am NOT allowed to used ruter, because my card was issued by NSB. Fine. Then let's use NSB to refill...
5-Fatal mistake! My card is still not valid! 2 days later? Still not! Why? That's the beauty of it: my ticket will only be uploaded to my flexus if I validate it on an NSB validator. Beautiful. I don't have a train in my pockets...
That really sucks
I've only ever used ruter's readers - I don't use the train.
I always thought it crazy that it is two different projects (was going to be three before ruter was formed by the merger) - but that you can't activate a card on the other providers machine I hadn't dreamed of. Insane.
Didn't know you could fill a card online either (maybe its only supported for NSB or maybe I just haven't found it).
Looks like minruter takes more than 24 hours
It's been 27 hours now and still minruter.no is showing last activity on the card 30th october - and no valid ticket.
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