I’ve been doing quite a bit of research in an attempt to fully understand the fares for the Gatwick extension of the Oyster system. The results are nearly ready for publication, but in the meantime I have come to the conclusion that the current Oyster system is full. What do I mean by this?
General News
New Oyster Fare Finder
I am delighted to be able to launch an alternative to the TfL Single Fare Finder. It is linked at the top of the Fares Guide page, or you can access it here. Like the TfL version you enter two stations, but that’s where the similarity ends. The results page contains all the different fares … Read more
The 32% cap increase
So I received a call from TfL today which confirmed my fears about the part-time worker refunds for zones 4-6 for railcard holders. They have been abolished. This means that young (under 26) and disabled workers using zone 6 who last year enjoyed a cap of £5.90 if all their travel was after 0930 now … Read more
Most Expensive Oyster Journey?
You might be thinking something like Amersham to Shenfield which is £11.00 in the peak time, or perhaps you’ve remembered that Gatwick Express now uses Oyster and charges £19.80 single. They’re both good guesses and neither can be beaten with a single paper ticket, but the Gatwick Express one is more expensive than paper if … Read more
Oyster at Gatwick
Today marks the start of the latest Oyster extension to Gatwick Airport. While there are people who will benefit, this is the most complicated extension yet, and great care will need to be taken to ensure that you aren’t overcharged. I’ve been shown an internal briefing for Southern and Thameslink staff and some of the details of the implimentation are going to cause lots of problems.
Part-time workers in 4-6 clobbered
When the details for the January fares increases were published there was a lot of coverage about the average increase being about 1%. Obviously with the need to keep adult fares rounded to the nearest 10p there were always going to be some increases above that, with the zone 1 single rising 4.3% being the … Read more
Caution – Hokey-Cokey Issues
So today I’ve been out and about experimenting and encountered a problem with trying to break an OSI. The OSI was broken alright, but the fare charged for the first leg was not what I expected to see. I’m trying to track back through my journey history to see where I’ve tested this before but … Read more
5-10 Zip card holders with credit
From next Saturday, 2nd January 2016, holders of 5-10 zip cards will no longer need to pay for any National Rail journeys within the zones. This is good news, but what if you already have some credit on your card. The helpdesk can arrange a refund, but a side-effect is that the card will be cancelled. As you need the card to benefit from the free travel that is obviously no good. There appear to be two options available at the moment:
New fares available on TfL website
Over the last few days the details of the new fares have been gradually added to the fares section of the TfL website. They seem to have taken my lead in some respects because there is now a page listing just caps and travelcards, although there is still too much duplication in my opinion. The … Read more
Absolutely bonkers fares from Dartford
As anyone who reads this site regularly already knows, the Oyster fares system is ridiculously complicated. There are odd scenarios, particularly in the afternoon peak, where it can be cheaper to finish a journey in zone 1 than at the zone 2 station beforehand. However, this evening I’ve found a case where the cheapest route varies depending on the time of day you travel.