True to TfLs new year promise that the unlimited hopper fare would be introduced this month, it has indeed gone live today. You can now make as many bus or tram journeys as you like within an hour and only be charged one fare of £1.50. I’m already aware of one person (Geoff Marshall) who has made 25 journeys up and down one road, so it definitely works.
At the same time you can now also make a rail/tube/dlr journey in the middle, so bus to station, train to town, bus to the office will only cost £1.50 plus the rail fare as long as the touch in on the second bus is within an hour of the first. They’ve also fixed the issue at Wimbledon where a bus after a tram journey didn’t work – it will now.
As far as I know the only two limitations are that you cannot get free hopper journeys if your card has a negative balance and the heritage routemaster buses won’t apply it.
I’ve also been assured that the use of a bus to break a rail interchange has not been modified, which is good news for some.