Trams and Buses
Unlike National Rail, Underground and DLR you only need to touch in when using Oyster on buses and trams. This is because there is only one flat fare wherever you go, regardless of whether you travel one stop or the whole length of the route. On buses you touch in as you enter. On trams you should touch in on the tramstop just before boarding the tram. After touching in at the tramstop you have 70 minutes to board a tram before the touch in becomes invalid. If you only use buses and trams in one day then a special price cap applies. The fourth journey is at a reduced rate and all subsequent journeys are free.
If you have any stored travelcard on your oystercard then travel on buses is free. On trams the travelcard must cover at least one of zones 3, 4, 5 or 6 for free travel to apply.
Using the tram at Wimbledon
The tramstop at Wimbledon is actually within the National Rail/District Line station. This means that special care needs to be taken when using trams to/from Wimbledon. If you are travelling to Wimbledon then you must ensure that you have touched in before boarding the tram. When you leave the station the ticket gates need to see either a tram touch-in or a normal rail/tube touch in. If one is not present then a maximum fare will be deducted. You must exit via an automatic gate and not use the manual gate at the side because the reader alongside that can’t tell whether you are going in or out, and will assume in in this situation. If you are travelling from Wimbledon then you need to touch-in at the gateline to get into the station. This will deduct a maximum fare in the usual way. Just before boarding the tram you should touch in again at the tram reader on platform 10 next to the tram stop. This will adjust the maximum fare so that you are charged the tram single fare.
You need to follow these procedures even if you have a travelcard stored on your Oystercard that is valid for use on trams (at least one of zones 3, 4, 5 or 6). In theory you will probably be alright if your travelcard covers zone 3, but otherwise there will be a problem.
Please see the Wimbledon page for further information if you intend changing at Wimbledon between trams, trains or tubes.
Using the tram at Elmers End
The tramstop at Elmers End is within the National Rail station. There are no gates here, just the usual entry/exit validators, so you need to remember a few simple rules:
- When starting a journey by tram you must only touch in on the tram boarding validator on platform 1. Do NOT use the validators next to the entry doors or gates as they will deduct a maximum rail fare.
- When finishing a journey by tram you do not need to touch out at all. If you do you will be charged a maximum rail fare.
- If you are switching between train and tram your rail journey will be ended when touching in on the tram boarding validator on platform 1.
- If you are switching between tram and train you need to touch in on the validators next to the entry doors or gates. You must not use the tram boarding validator on platform 1 as that will start another tram journey instead of a rail journey.
This page updated 18 April 2011.
19 Responses
It’s worth mentioning that if you travel by tram to Wimbledon and are leaving through the gates you must use a normal gate and touch-out. If you use the manual gate and touch the reader there the system will see that as a touch-in for a new rail journey (it assumes you got off the tram elsewhere and are starting a new journey at Wimbledon) and charge a maximum cash fare.
Don’t know if this is right for this page or for the Wimbledon page, but hopefully it is of use.
Ouch!
Thanks for alerting me to that problem, Thomas. I can see why they do that as the manual gate is bi-directional and has no way of knowing which way you are going. This is the right page and I’ll re-word above accordingly shortly.
Im not sure if this is the right page, but say if I got a travelcard loaded onto the Oyster, but I take a river trip, does the travelcard need to be applicable to that specific Zone in order to get the 1/3 off?
The riverboat offer applies if you have any travelcard season loaded on your Oystercard.
I think the manual gate at Wimbledon has been replaced with a wide gate for pushchairs, etc.
I’ve just experienced something nasty using prepay and changing from train to tram at Elmers End. It seems that despite having touched in at Lewisham (and the gate opened for me) when touching-out at Emlers End the validator treated me as starting a train journey from there!
I also dont know why I was charged twice when touching in on the tram at Avenue Road later in the day, although thanks to fare capping that has not cost me any extra.
Simon
Hi Simon,
That sounds like a bit of a mess. Have you looked at journey history to see what you’ve been charged? If yes, can you post the details. From what you’ve said I wonder whether you’re actually holding the card over the reader for too long. That won’t matter at a gateline because you can’t do the same action twice in succession, but at an entry/exit validator like they have at Elmers End it will register the exit and then register an entry. Likewise at Avenue Road it would register the tram board and then register it again, but because 70 minutes hadn’t elapsed since the last tram board it won’t charge you the second time.
Anyway, if your journey history shows that you have an unresolved rail journey then call the Oyster helpline and explain what you did. As long as there seems like a reasonable explanation they will arrange a refund of the additional charge.
Hope this helps.
Hi Mike
My journey included changing from Jubilee Line to DLR at Canary Wharf. When I arrived at Canary Wharf Jubilee Line I was told by the LU station official that I’d not reached the ticket hall using the best escalator to interchange to the DLR so therefore I should walk through the exit barrier, re-enter the fares paid area a few yards away and leave by a different barrier on the far side of that ‘fares paid area’.
According to the person I spoke to at the Oyster helpline (when I asked – the information was not volunteered) these multiple touch-ins and outs were the root cause of the problem. The system became ‘confused’. But its not the fault of the staff – he probably did not know about this. I blame management who should have known about this glitch. The station has ben there long enough by now.
What really made me concerned that something ‘expensive’ was affecting my Oystercard was when I touched out at Elmers End and the display showed ‘entry’.
I collect my refund the next time I pass though my local station, which should be Sunday (23rd Jan).
Simon
Hi Simon,
Did you need to touch out and in again at Lewisham when changing between DLR and SET? If you did then I would expect that that would be where you would have seen the problem. I would be quite interested to see your journey history for that day anyway. The other thing is that there is supposed to be an out-of-station interchange between the two gatelines at Canary Wharf which should cover you for that scenario that you encountered. As long as the OSI is working then the only thing that might have gone wrong would be if one of the gateline clocks was either fast or slow making it look like you touched in before touching out.
on my discount oyster its says bus and tram doas tram mean train? if u could help would be appreciated.
thanks
I’m not clear exactly what you mean by a discount oyster, perhaps you could elaborate a bit. However, buses and trams are treated in the same way with Oyster and cost the same amount, so if it says bus and tram that’s almost certainly what it means. Trams are those that run in the Croydon area between Wimbledon, New Addington, Elmers End and Beckenham Junction. They are definitely not trains.
As I understand it, although not mentioned in the User Guide http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tramlink-user-guide.pdf, you are allowed one free transfer to another tram on Oyster PAYG within your 70 minutes, but you must touch in once more at the tramstop at which you board your second tram. Referring to Section 6 of the Conditions of Travel
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tramlink-conditions.pdf.
I’ve also found changing from train to tram at Elmers End both confusing and costly, and I’m sorry but your simple rules aren’t much help. For a start, there isn’t one tram validator on platform one but a whole line of them, some facing the tram and some the train, but no obvious difference between any of them. I also didn’t see any indication on the train platform what to do or which you should use before getting on the tram. You also say not to use the train validators – but if you’ve got there by train I’ve now realised you have to use them otherwise you get charged the maximum rail fare anyway. I can’t see anyone designing such a terrible interchange unless the intention was to generate as much extra revenue for TFL as possible!
Hi Peter,
I’m sorry to hear about the problems you have encountered at Elmers End. It’s a few months since I was last at Elmers End but my recollection is that there was only one tram boarding validator. I may well be wrong though. I’ll try and get down there again to have another look in the near future.
The tram validator(s) should have a green sticker on the front inviting you to touch before boarding the tram. The display also says that it is for tram boarding, as opposed to the usual ones where the display says “Validate for Entry or Exit”.
I have to take issue with your assertion that not touching out after a train journey before touching on the tram boarding validator will leave you with a maximum rail fare. I have done just that and it definitely ends the rail journey and starts a tram journey at the same time. They did at least get that bit of the programming right.
If you have been overcharged at Elmers End within the last few weeks then the helpdesk may well be able to organise a refund to your card. I’ll also send you an email shortly so that you can send me a screen print of journey history (preferably the old version) or a statement if you want. I can then attempt to work out what has really happened.
Mike,
I was about to board a bus this afternoon but the Oyster reader on this particular bus wasn’t working.
When I’ve seen this happen before the driver has just waved people on and sometimes even put a notice over the Oyster reader itself but today the driver was insisting that as the Oyster reader wasn’t working passengers had to pay £2.20 cash fare!
As I have a pass I was definately not going to pay so I waited for the next bus – as did a few other people!
Needless to say the bus left with a mere handful of people on board.
What should happen in these circumstances – Pay the cash fare or get on for free (if using pre-pay)?
Chris
Hi Chris,
I would definitely complain about that. In the case of a travelcard or bus pass on the Oyster, it is hardly your fault if the bus company cannot provide the means to check that it is valid. I too have been waved on before when the Oyster reader isn’t working. I’d say that that is generally the policy. Even when the entire oyster system went down, TfL didn’t make passengers pay cash on the tube – if they had a card they rode for free.
Let us know what they say if you do write a complaint.
Mike, here’s one for ya!
In order to get to Gatwick for an early flight I’m thinking of staying with friends in Hackbridge and taking and early train from East Croydon (paper ticket, ECR-GTW, £5.30).
Now to get from Hackbridge to ECR, the TFL website helpfully suggets Southern to Mitcham Jn then the tram. Separately, single fare finder quotes a fare all the way from Hackbridge to East Croydon.
Now my question is – if I need to touch in for the tram, surely this will finish the NR journey Hackbridge-MitchamJn and start a new Tram journey, so how do I make use of the through fare?
Hi Vix,
This is the problem with treating the tram as a bus for fare purposes. Whilst I agree that in Central Croydon they probably do act more like buses, outside the street running sections they definitely act more like a train.
Anyway, the default route appears to be Hackbridge-Sutton-Norwood Junction/Selhurst-East Croydon which keeps you in zones 4 and 5. If you follow the journey planner then it will cost a one zone rail fare plus a bus/tram fare. If you want the rail only fare you’ll need to stay on a train, however, as long as you don’t touch out and in again mid route and keep within the maximum journey time, you can go any route you chose. So you could go Hackbridge to Streatham/Tulse Hill to East Croydon and still only be charged the two zone fare.
Why is it that you can travel anywhere in Zone 1/2 on as many different tube lines as you like for £2.50, yet a bus journey involving a single change costs £2.60? When is TFL going to introduce ‘transfers’ on bus journeys?
Hi Kevin,
There will always be anomalies with any flat fare or zonal fare system. Having said that, I’d like to see a system where a touch on a bus was valid for say 30 minutes, even if you got on another bus. It would be difficult to properly do transfers without making people touch out of the bus as well, and I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Also, while you can theoretically change tube lines as much as you like, you cannot leave more than the maximum journey time between touch in and touch out, so there is some sort of limit.
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