General News – Page 9 – Oyster Fares Central

Congestion Charge Extension

26/08/202120/10/2020 by Mike

Note: If you don’t like political posts on this site then skip this one now … As part of the negotiation for a further bailout to allow TfL to continue running, the government want them to extend the congestion charge zone from it’s current small area to be the area bounded by the North and … Read more

The very unfair fare rises

26/08/202106/10/2020 by Mike

Some fares have risen by nearly 30% over the last 5 years!

This post is about National Rail fares in zones 1-6 for operators using the NR1 farescale. That’s most fares for Southeastern, Southern, SouthWestern Railway and Thameslink south of the river Thames plus Thameslink and Great Northern north of West Hampstead and Finsbury Park. These Oyster fares are set by the Rail Delivery Group with input from the TOCs so that the same fares can be set for all the companies.

The fares are adjusted each January using the same formula for regulated fares throughout the UK. This means that on average fares rose by around 2-3% each year. There is a problem where the fare in question is quite small, because the increase must be a multiple of 10p. A 2% rise on a £2 fare is only 4p, so when rounded up to 10p the increase becomes 5%. The logical and fair thing to do would be to increase one year and then freeze the next so that cheaper fares did not become disproportionately more expensive. Sadly that hasn’t happened.

Equipment Failure at Kidbrooke

26/08/202130/09/2020 by Mike

UPDATE: Southeastern say that a fix has been applied today after they received an email yesterday. FURTHER UPDATE: It hasn’t been fixed as touches are missing from yesterday (Sun 4th). After hearing reports about a serious equipment malfunction at Kidbrooke station in Southeast London I visited the station last night. It seems to be related … Read more

One-Way System Woes

26/08/202124/09/2020 by Mike

It is with some dismay that I have to report that TfL do not appear to be coping well with preventing overcharging at stations where one-way systems are in operation. I’m aware of issues at both Woolwich Arsenal and Finsbury Park. The problem is mainly associated with Oyster or zip cards. As I understand it, an emergency setting has to be made each day to allow Oyster cards to keep a journey open when passengers have to leave the station and re-enter at a different entrance. For contactless the setting is permanent in the back office. The station setting seems to be a bit hit and miss. I’d urge anyone using the interchanges at either station to check journey history and complain to the helpdesk if they have been overcharged.

One way system updates

26/08/202126/08/2020 by Mike

Finsbury Park: A semi permanent EOSI has been set up so that NR to LU journeys should now be joined together. I’m told that this arrangement is expected to last until October at the earliest. Woolwich Arsenal: Disappointingly I noticed that the connection between NR and DLR was closed again last night. I hope that … Read more

Child Fare Changes

26/08/202118/08/2020 by Mike

Ever since the announcement that the bailout of TfL during lockdown came with conditions, including the end of free travel for under 18s, there has been an enormous amount of misinformation pedalled by media and politicians. The LibDems started a campaign to reverse the changes despite the fact that they still haven’t been actioned. The i-news explained how children up to 15 enjoyed free travel on the tube – oh no they don’t! My London also believed that the changes had already been made, and I’m sure many other news outlets fell for the same poor journalism.

The facts are that as usual with this incompetent government, an idea was put forward and agreed without any understanding of the complexity involved in implimenting it.

Overcharging at Woolwich Arsenal

26/08/202106/07/2020 by Mike

It’s been brought to my attention that the connection between the NR station and DLR station at Woolwich Arsenal has been closed since June 16th. Passengers wishing to change between the two stations have to exit one and walk along the street to the other entrance. Of course touching out and back in again causes … Read more

Aldgate – Aldgate East OSI

26/08/202114/06/2020 by Mike

After goodness knows how many suggestions TfL have finally given in and implemented a new OSI between Aldgate and Aldgate East Underground stations. There is a little confusion about the start date – it was either today (14th) or Tuesday (16th), so I’ll add it to the list on Tuesday to be safe. The allowance … Read more

Free child fares and freedom pass rules

26/08/202105/06/2020 by Mike

There has understandably been a lot of media interest in the instruction from government telling TfL to abandon free bus travel for under 18s. Unfortunately some sections of the media seem to think that it’s happened already. It hasn’t. TfL are currently in discussions with the DfT about how it can be implimented and what … Read more

Capping to Reading, Luton Airport etc

26/08/202129/05/2020 by Mike

Last month (April 20th) TfL quietly switched on capping for contactless only stations. I say quietly because with only essential travel being undertaken at the moment it is unlikely that anyone is actually reaching the caps. They also confirmed that since January 2nd 2020 anyone who exceeded the relevant caps from those stations will have received an automatic refund.