This Sunday (3rd September) will see a number of changes to Oyster fares. They affect people travelling via Stratford and Highbury & Islington, from Watford Junction and in the Charing Cross and London Bridge areas. Here are the details:
Route Validators
Gatwick Simplification
I’ve just discovered that a partial simplification occured back in May with fares on the Merstham to Gatwick section. Originally Govia (backed by the DfT) had mandated that fares avoiding zone 1 should often be more expensive than the equivalent via zone 1 fare. This had the particularly nasty side effect that sometimes touching a … Read more
Pink Readers – Interchange only
I’ve just been informed that TfL has tightened up the use of pink readers from an unspecified date in March such that they will no longer start a journey if the Oyster card is not touched in at the time. Sadly it appears as though the fact that this was an unpublished feature means that … Read more
Touch pink to say you avoided zone 3
I’ve just become aware of an interesting twist on the pink validators. If you travel between Finsbury Park and Hackney Central there are three fares. The default fares are the same as the via Highbury & Islington fares with a more expensive one via zone 1 as you’d expect. However, there are a couple of … Read more
Updated Wimbledon Diagram
I have updated both the Wimbledon page and the diagram showing the positions of the readers around the station. Platform 10 is now split into 10a and 10b and references to FCC have finally been changed to Thameslink.
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.
New Route Validators
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 Page – An Oyster Rail Journey
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.
Pink Route Validator Change
On Sunday I travelled round the new overground orbital route starting with the newest link from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction. I also tried out exceeding the normal one zone journey time but not the extended time allowed near Central London. Somewhat disappointingly this worked, meaning that the issues some people have had with Whitechapel … Read more
New Pink Validator at Woolwich
Earlier today I travelled to the Excell Centre via Woolwich Arsenal and was surprised to see a pink route validator has appeared on platform 2 (Southeastern towards Dartford) where the access to the DLR platforms is. I touched on it in both directions and it certainly seems to be working. It was surprising because