Oyster and National Rail

A new page has been added to the site today describing in detail what happens as you make a rail journey using Oyster.  It’s very much a first draft based on my extensive experiences of using the system, but if anyone in the know spots an error or misunderstanding then I’ll happily update it.

Since the beginning of July there has been a slight change to the display when you touch in or out.  I’m still trying to get full details, but this is what I’ve worked out so far.  Whenever you touch in and your balance is below the maximum journey charge the system will display a “Low Balance” warning message.  This also happens on touch out.  There appears to be account taken of whether you have already capped or are close to doing so, certainly on touch in but possibly also on touch out.  If you have auto top-up enabled then it is unlikely that you will see this warning as the top-up will happen before it decides whether to display it.

This isn’t all good news though. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday (30th June) saw the 10th anniversary of the introduction of London’s Oyster card. Originally it was a medium to store travelcards and bus passes with pay-as-you-go introduced in 2004 but only valid at Underground and DLR stations (plus a limited number of inter-available National Rail stations where routes run in parallel with Underground lines).  Other National Rail lines joined over the next six years with complete roll-out in January 2010 (excepting Heathrow NR services and high speed services between St Pancras and Stratford International).