Potentially hundreds of Thameslink passengers may have been overcharged over the two bank holiday weekends in May. On both weekends the line between West Hampstead Thameslink and St Pancras (low level) was closed for engineering work. Trains from Bedford/Luton terminated in platforms 1-4 at St Pancras (high level) and passengers wanting to continue south had to walk down to the low level platforms (A-B). The problem is that there was no internal out-of-station interchange (OSI) set up between the Oyster validators for platforms 1-4 and the gateline for platforms A-B. Thus a journey from Elstree to Blackfriars was charged as two journeys; Elstree to St Pancras and St Pancras to Blackfriars.
OSI Issues
Most Used OSIs May 2019
TfL have very kindly provided updated data showing how many journeys made use of each OSI in the system. The data was recorded over a four week period in April/May 2019. The top 3 remain the NR to LU interchanges at South London termini, though London Bridge has overtaken Victoria. The accessible route OSI at Woodford has now started being regularly used while no-one now walks between Hackney Downs and Central other than by the footbridge linking the two stations. The slightly lower figures for many entries is probably down to the fact that there were 3 bank holidays in the period.
Bayswater to Queensway – New OSI
I’ve received clarification from TfL that they have indeed added a new OSI between the above two stations. This means that you can now avoid Notting Hill Gate when changing between Circle/District Lines and the Central Line.
New OSI – Euston Sq – Warren Street
After many people have suggested it, TfL have finally added a new OSI between Euston Square and Warren Street. You are allowed 20 minutes between touches in each direction. The entry is live on my list and a map will be added shortly. They’ve also recently added an OSI between the gatelines at West Harrow. … Read more
Missing route in SW London
A site visitor queried why they had been charged the zone 1-3 cap instead of the expected zone 1-2 cap recently, and it has thrown up a missing route option between a number of stations in SW London. The system thinks you’ve gone via zone 3 even when you haven’t. The problem
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.
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
New Hackney Interchange
Thanks in part to Noel and PC for spotting this. I visited the stations at Hackney Central and Downs last night and spoke with staff. The new link is due to open in the summer and will provide a direct walkway from Platform 1 at Hackney Downs to Platform 2 at Hackney Central. There will … Read more
Interchanges and Maps
A recent project for this site has involved walking between each pair of stations in OSIs and generating Google maps so people can see what is involved. The full list of OSIs can now be found on it’s own page while the general explanation has been re-written from scratch and renamed Interchanging Trains. In the … Read more
Blackfriars to Southwark OSI
During the last week I’ve had a chance to test out the new OSI between Blackfriars and Southwark. This has been described as a temporary one while the work at London Bridge moves forward, although I think a case could be made for keeping it permanently. The walk took 7-10 minutes depending on how busy the traffic was on Blackfriars Bridge which is quite reasonable. There is unfortunately a flaw which means caution should be exercised when making journeys across zone 1.