Paper cheaper than Oyster on some NR journeys

Thanks to forum user Feathers we’ve spotted that another rounding amonaly has crept in for late adopting National Rail services in zones 2-6. These are Southeastern, Southern, Southwestern Railway, and Thameslink (outside the middle).  If you commute at peak times on a two zone journey outside zone 1 (so 2-3, 3-4, 4-5 or 5-6) then … Read more

Epsom Fare Anomalies

Following a tip off from a forum user I’ve discovered a number of anomalies where the fare from Epsom to stations in zones 4-6 is cheaper that the fare from Ewell (East or West as appropriate) to the same station. In part this comes down to different people setting the fares; South Western Railway/Southern are … Read more

Contactless Expansion to High Wycombe

Considering that we are in the middle of a general election campaign and that this project (Oval) is being sponsored by the Department for Transport, I was quite surprised to see that six new stations joined the contactless PAYG system yesterday. The six stations are: Beaconsfield, Denham, Denham Golf Club, Gerrards Cross, High Wycombe and … Read more

Spam posts on the forum

I’d like to apologise to subscribers who will have receieved several notifications of new posts in recent weeks which were not genuine posts. The unusual method of signing up, requiring a response to an email, has been enough to keep the forum pretty much spam free for several years. However, it is clear that some … Read more

Time Allowed to Complete Journey

Also known as the maximum journey time, this is an area where TfL have been reluctant to publish details in the recent past. However, after a referral and discussion with the Information Commissioner, TfL have now supplied a spreadsheet containing all the information.  This is a significant step towards a more transparent attitude to PAYG … Read more

New Fares for 2024 (from 3rd March)

This update has been quite rushed thanks to the very delayed availability of some of the information. I believe that all the site pages with live fares have now been updated. If you spot something which doesn’t look right, please do let me know by commenting on this post. Headline changes are: No change to … Read more

Off-peak Fridays start 8th March

The Mayor has today confirmed that a 12-Friday trial of off-peak PAYG fares and caps will begin next Friday, 8th March, and run until Friday 31st May (note 29th March was already off-peak being Good Friday).  All PAYG fares will be off-peak all-day, including National Rail contactless fares out to Reading, Luton Airport Parkway and … Read more

Goodbye Goblin, Hello Suffragette!

Many of you will have seen the news that TfL are to allocate separate names to each of the different lines operated by London Overground. This is good news.  No longer will a problem between Romford and Upminster give the potential impression that it will be difficult to travel from Richmond to Willesden Junction. The … Read more

Abbey Wood Validators – The Saga Continues

With thanks to my spy who regularly uses Abbey Wood, I can confirm that 5 of the 6 new validators are now working on platforms 3 and 4 at Abbey Wood.  These are the 4 validators next to the middle footbridge (2 by the escalators and 2 by the stairs) and the one near the … Read more

Brent Cross West

A new station has opened today on the Thameslink line to Bedford.  Brent Cross West is in zone 3, between Cricklewood and Hendon.  All trains that already call at both Cricklewood and Hendon will also call at Brent Cross West.  Fares will be the same as from Cricklewood as they are both in zone 3. … Read more