Oyster and National Rail

This Sunday (3rd September) will see a number of changes to Oyster fares. They affect people travelling via Stratford and Highbury & Islington, from Watford Junction and in the Charing Cross and London Bridge areas. Here are the details: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just discovered that a partial simplification occured back in May with fares on the Merstham to Gatwick section. Originally Govia (backed by the DfT) had mandated that fares avoiding zone 1 should often be more expensive than the equivalent via zone 1 fare. This had the particularly nasty side effect that sometimes touching a pink reader (eg at Surrey Quays) might charge more than if you didn’t bother. That definitely contradicts the message TfL want to make about pink readers.

However, since May these fares have been revised downwards to the same level as the via zone 1 fare. One can only guess which side was the driving force behind this change, and I don’t think it was either Govia or the DfT. Better late than never, and a shame no announcement was made, from either side.

The opportunity to save money on most fares by splitting at East Croydon still exists though.

Ordering top up online and collecting when making a journey has just been given a massive makeover. It also includes ordering travelcards. The key changes are as follows:

• No need to specify a station to pick it up from. It’s available from any station or tramstop which accepts Oyster for travel. You still need to pick it up as part of a journey. Buses and ticket machines cannot be used. (buses will be available later in the year)
• You only need to wait up to 30 minutes before the order can be picked up.
• It must be picked up within 3 days or the order will be cancelled and refunded automatically. This includes travelcard season tickets even if the start date is more than 3 days in advance.
• Only newer Oyster cards can take advantage of this facility. When you log into Oyster online you will be told whether your Oyster is a first generation card or not. As far as I can tell these were issued up to sometime in 2010. If your card is a first generation card then you are recommended to arrange a replacement with the helpdesk. The cards will still work at the moment, but you won’t be able to add products online any more but you won’t be able to use them with the new mobile app (due for release later this year).

I’ve got some serious rewriting of some pages on this site to attend to once I have full details confirmed.

I’ve just been informed that TfL has tightened up the use of pink readers from an unspecified date in March such that they will no longer start a journey if the Oyster card is not touched in at the time. Sadly it appears as though the fact that this was an unpublished feature means that they don’t see a need to communicate it to everyone.

It’s not often that there is good news on the fares front, but TfL have corrected what I suspect was an error in the off-peak single fare between zones 5-7. It was £1.90 and is now £1.80, the same as zones 5-8 and 5-9.

This affects singles between Harrow & Wealdstone or Headstone Lane and Carpenders Park, as well as stations between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Uxbridge or Pinner to Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Croxley and Watford (Met).

After many people have suggested it, TfL have finally added a new OSI between Euston Square and Warren Street. You are allowed 20 minutes between touches in each direction. The entry is live on my list and a map will be added shortly.

They’ve also recently added an OSI between the gatelines at West Harrow. This station suffers a lot from people taking the wrong train and wanting to turn back round, in both directions.

I am delighted to announce the arrival of a new version of our Oyster Fare Finder.  There have been some cosmetic tweaks to make the adult fares stand out more, plus a major new addition.

Alongside each route description is a statement describing the zonal coverage of that route.  This may help when deciding what route is used by the default fare.  It also clarifies which route is assumed when there are two completely different routes using different zone combinations.  It can also help decide whether a travelcard will cover a journey, or which cap may be applied as a result of making the journey.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m delighted to announce that the fares guide section of this website has been enhanced significantly. There are now pages summarising all types of fares (adult, child, etc) within zones 1-9. This is the first of a number of improvements which will be happening over the coming months.

A site visitor queried why they had been charged the zone 1-3 cap instead of the expected zone 1-2 cap recently, and it has thrown up a missing route option between a number of stations in SW London.  The system thinks you’ve gone via zone 3 even when you haven’t.  The problem Read the rest of this entry »

Although not specifically an Oyster issue, our thoughts go out to the families and freinds of those who lost their lives in the tram crash this morning, as well as those who are still in hospital.