Maximum Journey Times
The oyster system is designed for single journeys, although a journey by rail can include any combination of National Rail (inc Overground), Underground and DLR. Providing you always touch in and touch out at the ends of your journey you should always be charged the correct fare. Each journey must be completed within a maximum time. The amount of time you are allowed varies depending on the time of day and the number of zone boundaries crossed.
| Zones covered | Monday-Friday 0430-1900 |
Mon-Fri 1900-0430 and all day Saturday |
Sunday and Bank Holidays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1, zone 2, zones 2-3 | 90 mins | 100 mins | 110 mins |
| Zones 1-2 | 100 mins | 110 mins | 120 mins |
| Zones 1-3 | 110 mins | 125 mins | 135 mins |
| Zones 1-4* | 110 mins | 125 mins | 135 mins |
* Use these values for upto 5 zones within zones 1-4, see below for 6 or 7 zones.
| Number of zones | Monday-Friday 0430-1900 |
Mon-Fri 1900-0430 and all day Saturday |
Sunday and Bank Holidays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 1 zone* | 70 mins | 80 mins | 85 mins |
| Across 2 zones* | 80 mins | 90 mins | 100 mins |
| Across 3 zones* | 90 mins | 100 mins | 110 mins |
| Across 4 zones | 100 mins | 110 mins | 120 mins |
| Across 5 zones | 110 mins | 125 mins | 135 mins |
| Across 6 zones | 120 mins | 132 mins | 144 mins |
| Across 7 zones | 130 mins | 145 mins | 160 mins |
| Across 8 zones | 140 mins | 155 mins | 170 mins |
| Across 9 zones | 150 mins | 165 mins | 180 mins |
| Across 10 zones | 160 mins | 180 mins | 195 mins |
| Across 11 zones | 170 mins | 190 mins | 205 mins |
| Across 12 zones | 180 mins | 200 mins | 220 mins |
| Across 13 zones | 190 mins | 210 mins | 230 mins |
| Across 14 zones | 200 mins | 220 mins | 240 mins |
| Across 15 zones | 210 mins | 235 mins | 255 mins |
| Across 16 zones | 220 mins | 245 mins | 265 mins |
| Across 17 zones | 230 mins | 255 mins | 280 mins |
| Across 18 zones | 240 mins | 265 mins | 290 mins |
Splitting a journey
Unlike National Rail paper tickets, pay as you go journeys using an Oyster card cannot usually be broken. The only exception to this rule is where you need to leave one station and walk to another nearby one to continue your journey. This is called an out-of-station interchange (OSI). Providing that you do not exceed the time allowed for walking between the stations you can do anything else that you want on the way. Be aware that the walking time ends when you touch in through the gateline, so if you need to wait on a concourse until your train is advertised then this needs to be taken into consideration. There is a full list of OSIs on this page. Note also that the time taken between touch out and touch in is included in the overall journey time.
This page updated 02 January 2011.
13 Responses
If you touch out, then does it matter how long you stay outside the station???
I’m not from London, but will be visiting.
I feel Touch in at the start and touch out at the end, completes the journey.
Does it not.
Yes, touch in at the start and touch out at the end does complete a journey. The only time it matters is when you need to leave a station in the middle of your journey. For example, say I was travelling from Crayford to South Kensington to visit the museums. I would touch in at Crayford, touch out at Charing Cross, touch in again at Embankment and touch out at South Kensington. Providing that I spent no more than 20 minutes between Charing Cross and Embankment the system would treat that as one journey. If I took longer then it would be two journeys and would cost more.
Thanks so much for putting this up, as someone who likes to travel without much purpose it’s good to know how long I can spend just meandering around stations and lines before I get stung the excess fee.
I’ll write it down in my notebook for future reference.
I do recommend using paper travelcards if you intend travelling around without touching out very often. It’s very easy to get held up somewhere and forget. Plus if you go between two nearby stations you might find it’s an out of station interchange and doesn’t end the journey after all.
but oyster caps are always lower than paper travelcards, so anyway you will pay less even if it charges you for two journeys instead of one. i do get the point on being charged extra fees when the system doesn’t accept you as touched out in the interchange stations, but how many of those do we have? charing cross and embankment? penge west and penge east? those are the only ones i can think of
sorry didn’t see your post http://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/out-of-station-interchange-osi/ now i can see there’s a lot of them, i had no idea
Hi Ally,
Unfortunately the days of Oyster caps being lower than paper travelcards ended years ago, apart from a few special cases like railcard discounted off-peak caps for zones 1-2 and 1-4. Oyster single fares are usually less than cash single fares, but the caps are the same.
Hi Mike, I’m a bit confused (sorry if this is a daft question!). Doesn’t the Oyster card cap out at the same price as the paper travelcard, effectively turning into a one day travelcard? So, would it make any difference then regardless of the OSIs involved if you were using an Oyster card or a paper travelcard?
Yes, the Oyster card does cap out at the same price as a paper travelcard, if you make enough journeys in the day. In most cases a return journey by rail is not enough to trigger the cap on it’s own.
Hi Mike, love the brilliant advice! Here’s one for you… not really relevant to maximum journey times, it’s more about the maximum fare taken for an incomplete journey.
Short story – I need to get from HRO (zone 6 BR) to GTW (Gatwick). Route is HRO-LST (National Rail z6-z1) walk to London Bridge the LBG-GTW (First Cap Connect). Time is early morning, c 5am weekday.
Option 1 is to travel on Oyster PAYG from HRO to LST for £4.40, then buy a ticket on FCC for £9.40
Option 2 – there is a single fare of £5.10 from ECR-GTW. The LBG-GTW train stops at ECR. Now just to make things interesting, the PAYG single fare from HRO-ECR is shown as £4.40 (including z1).
So some questions please…
1 Is there an OSI between Liv St and London Bridge (BR)?
2. IF not then if I touch in at HRO, out at LST, in at LBG and then don’t touch out at all, will i be charged £4.40 (HRO-LST) + £4.40 (LBG to incomplete)>
3. Should I get off at Stratford and take Jubilee line to LBG, touch out of the tube and then NOT touch in on National Rail, and if so am I breaking the rules? Or are there gates now, and if I do touch in on the NR platforms, what is my final cost for the incomplete journey?
The reason I’m talking about an incomplete journey is that I don’t have time to hop off at ECR, touch out and then come back using the paper ticket for ECR-GTW!
Hope this makes (some) sense!
Hi Vik,
It all makes perfect sense, although you have made one very easy slip. The off-peak single fare from Harold Wood to Liverpool Street is £3.20. You selected the Underground station which the system then makes a mixed NR+TfL journey which does cost £4.40. Anyway, onto your questions:
1) No, there is no OSI between Liverpool Street and London Bridge, you would need to take the tube to join the journey into one.
2) Almost. As mentioned it would be £3.20+£4.40.
3) Not touching in at London Bridge NR is against the rules and may be impossible if the gates are working. If you touch back in again with in the 40 minute OSI from London Bridge LU to London Bridge NR then you will get charged £4.40 for the whole journey. It won’t count towards your capping for the day, but reading between the lines, that won’t matter because it looks like you’re not coming back. However, depending on what time you arrive at London Bridge, you may find an alternative Southern fast train to East Croydon which would then give you enough time to touch out.
Anyway, changing at Stratford and London Bridge appears to be the recommended route for this journey. If you have a little more time you could halve the fare by changing at Canada Water, touching on the pink validator, then changing at either New Cross Gate or Norwood Junction. Perhaps this is an option that you might consider when you return later on.
Hope that helps.
Brilliant – thanks Mike.
So I’ll touch in at HRO, Jubilee at Stratford, out at London Bridge LUL, in at London Bridge NR (if gates closed at 5am) and then not complete the journey… and I’ll be a good boy and buy a separate ECR-GTW ticket, and my total spend will be £4.40 (incomplete PAYG) + £5.10 = £9.50!
Not bad considering the National Rail enquiries website quotes more than 20 quid for Harold Wood – Gatwick!
Yes you are right, I am not fussed about capping that day
Yes, that’s all fine. Touch in at London Bridge anyway, even if the gates are open, then you won’t get a penalty fare if inspected before East Croydon. It won’t cost any more as you’ll already have used £4.40 getting to London Bridge. The only issue would be if you touch in after 0630 as it might bump up the entry charge to £6.50 then.
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