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Hey all,
I have a newfound interest in trains and I wonder if someone could put my mind at ease…
In the morning I travel to work with my Oyster+Disabled Railcard. My route is Elephant & Castle, up to Blackfriars, and down again to East Croydon (I find Thameslink far more pleasant than the Northern Line!)
I was fiddling about with the Fare Finder both here and on the TfL website, and it appears I am paying the fare for the route via Clapham Junction. This is despite my journey being far quicker and my sometimes tapping ‘out’ and ‘in’ again at Blackfriars to change platform…
I have been revenue inspected a few times on the Thameslink and all has been fine, but aren’t I technically travelling without a valid ticket? I very much do not fancy a penalty fare 🙂
Hopefully an oddity of the Oyster system and as it isn’t my fault I will be fine!
Cheers
Michael and his Oyster card
As long as your Oyster card is ‘tapped in’ when you’re inspected, you’re free travel by whatever route you choose.
There’s a common mis-conception around the fare finder information in that people assume the system always charges based on the route taken and try to use the fare finder information with that belief. While that’s true in cases where a specific route/fare combination is specified, it doesn’t apply to the ‘default fare’. In this case, it’s simply telling you what you’ll pay if you take any route that doesn’t meet the criteria for one of the specific route fares quoted.
The listing of specific fare zones accompanying the default is there to illustrate what is seen as the most likely route and thus justify the fare charged. it isn’t a requirement to actually take that route, however, or even to travel only within the zones listed.
Short answer…you’re fine as you are.
Wahey! Thanks so much for that.
I am going to take this as I am cheating the system and getting a bargain every morning LOL 🙂
Very interesting stuff. I once forgot my Oyster and the bloke at the ticket office said I couldn’t buy a ticket for that route… I presumed he was talking nonsense and just bought my ticket on my phone but looking back I was buying a E&C to Zone 5 ticket, not a ticket to EC.
Anyways cheers and have a lovely evening!
Just to add further insight. The only alternative route covers using the Underground in zone 1, so maybe Elephant & Castle to Blackfriars then District to Victoria then East Croydon. As you aren’t doing that you are charged the default route/fare which is only zones 2-5. In terms of the change at Blackfriars, I’d recommend being at the back of the train heading into Blackfriars, use the south of the river subway between platforms as there are no gates and then be at the front of the train for exit at East Croydon.
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