General News – Page 23 – Oyster Fares Central

Site updates

03/10/202119/01/2014 by Mike

Several pages on this site have been updated this weekend to reflect changes introduced from today. Apart from the slightly delayed fares changes there are some amendments to the early starts of the off-peak cap from Chesham, Chalfont & Latimer and Hatch End. Also of note is that the fares and caps for young people … Read more

Early Off-peak Changes

26/08/202115/01/2014 by Mike

Thanks to an eagle-eyed visitor from Chesham I have been alerted to some changes to the early starts of the off-peak cap. These take effect from the fare change, effectively from Monday 20th January. Remember that this is the time that the off-peak cap starts being counted, NOT when off-peak fares are charged. And that is an important distinction in the light of one change. The details are:

2014 Fares Change postponed

26/08/202120/12/2013 by Mike

According to a Mayoral Decision earlier today, the TfL fares increase has been postponed until January 19th.

2014 Fares Changes

02/10/202105/12/2013 by Mike

On Tuesday TfL announced details of the new fares to be charged from 2nd Jan 2014. Overall it’s very good news for Oyster PAYG users, especially those with 16+ zip cards. Not so well off are those who buy travelcards, although the actual size of the increase on those has been put into doubt by the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this morning. We may have to wait a few days to see if anything changes.

In the meantime, here are the main changes from an Oyster perspective:

Ticket Stop top-up scam

26/08/202106/11/2013 by Mike

The news over the last couple of days has been full of stories about a fraudster who scammed thousands out of users when processing top-ups in his newsagent shop. As is usual in cases like this, the journalists have tried to explain what happened, but so far they have spectacularly failed to get it right. This may be down to TfL not wanting the exact procedure to be made public in case other shops try it as well; or it could be that not enough care has been taken understanding the issues. It does leave confidence in the system seriously compromised, which is a problem for honest shopkeepers who may now see a drop in activity.

New pink validators

26/08/202104/11/2013 by Mike

The pink readers at Clapham Junction and Surrey Quays are now live. More later.

New Route Validators

26/08/202119/08/2013 by Mike

I have heard from a reliable source that pink route validators will shortly be installed at both Clapham Junction and Surrey Quays. I’ll add more info (like when) as soon as I hear it. Update: September 7th The new fares are included in the normal fares update from tomorrow (8th Sept). It’s not clear when … Read more

New helpdesk number

26/08/202119/08/2013 by Mike

The Oyster helpline can now be reached via the TfL main number which is 0343 222 1234. This is treated like 01 and 02 numbers for inclusion into free minutes on mobile and landline plans. The Oyster helpline is under option 1 on the initial menu, along with ticketing and contactless payment. Remember that Oyster … Read more

New Page – An Oyster Rail Journey

26/08/202118/07/2013 by Mike

A new page has been added to the site today describing in detail what happens as you make a rail journey using Oyster. It’s very much a first draft based on my extensive experiences of using the system, but if anyone in the know spots an error or misunderstanding then I’ll happily update it.

New “Low Balance” display

26/08/202114/07/2013 by Mike

Since the beginning of July there has been a slight change to the display when you touch in or out. I’m still trying to get full details, but this is what I’ve worked out so far. Whenever you touch in and your balance is below the maximum journey charge the system will display a “Low Balance” warning message. This also happens on touch out. There appears to be account taken of whether you have already capped or are close to doing so, certainly on touch in but possibly also on touch out. If you have auto top-up enabled then it is unlikely that you will see this warning as the top-up will happen before it decides whether to display it.

This isn’t all good news though.