Changes to OSIs from October

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I’ve just received the latest update to OSIs which appears to have been introduced in October. There are a few housekeeping changes including deletion of the now redundant OSIs between Blackfriars NR and Temple/Mansion House. They’ve also deleted the OSI between the parts of Wembley Central as you no longer have to leave the station to get to the Southern platforms.

On the plus side they have introduced a new OSI between Ickenham and West Ruislip as suggested by a visitor to this site back in September 2011. They have also added same station OSIs at both Richmond and Woodford, apparently to accomodate step free routes which require leaving the station and re-entering at a different point.

Finally, there are some OSIs relating to the Emirates cable car in the list. I’m informed that these have no effect on Oyster cards but are there to allow paper tickets to be returned for souvenir purposes.

22 thoughts on “Changes to OSIs from October”

  1. Good news about Ickenham and West Ruislip, when I suggested it all I got back was the standard email reply.
    Could you let us know the allowed minutes Mike

    • Ooops! Not sure how that managed to escape the edit. It’s 30 minutes each way and does now appear on the OSI page.

  2. Very good news about the Ickenham/West Ruislip OSI! My only minor concern is that by far the quickest way between the two stations is by a 5 min bus ride (if one happens to be coming) – if someone was to get the bus, this would obviously cancel the OSI, so I think this needs to be clarified – it’s a rare case in this regard.

    • Hi Mike,

      Taking the bus will definitely break the OSI, and I wouldn’t want that to change considering how useful it is in other situations.

  3. Hi Mike,

    I am aware it’ll break the OSI, and I agree it is very useful to be able to break it by touching in on a bus – I just think that it needs to be made more apparent on the TfL site that this is the case, to avoid people being overcharged.

    • Hi Mike,

      I agree. The trouble is that TfL don’t want to talk extensively about OSIs. The only mention of them is on the page explaining touching in and out and even then they don’t call it an OSI. However, lower down under same station exits they do say that if you travel between stations by bus or tram after a same station exit you won’t get the maximum journey charge refunded.

  4. I seem to get overcharged when using the interchange at West Ruislip/Ickenham travelling from Northolt Park to Uxbridge. I’ll get charged the fare as if going through zone 4 even though I only went through zones 5 and 6.

    If I use Northolt Underground station I’ll get charged the fare for zones 5-6, but if I use Northolt Park I’ll get charged for zones 4-6.

    Do you know why this happens?

    • Hi Stephen,

      Sorry for the delay replying. That’s an error in the fares table. It is assuming you travel via Sudbury Hill Harrow. I’ll report that one to the helpdesk.

  5. Thanks, the same thing happens if I use Shepherd’s Bush as an interchange, e.g. Northolt Park to Kensington Olympia going via South Ruislip & Shepherds Bush. I will get charged the fare for zones 1-5 even though I am only going through zones 2-5.

    • Hi Stephen,

      That’s even worse as the official avoiding route has hardly any trains now. I’ll let them know again.

  6. Is there an OSI between Caledonian Road & Barnsbury (Overground) and Caledonian Road (Piccadilly Line)? These stations are only about a 15 minute walk apart. Can I suggest an OSI to TfL, and are they likely do adopt it?

    • Hi Neil,

      No, there is not currently an OSI between those two stations. Yes, you can suggest adding an OSI to TfL. They might. Someone on here suggested an OSI in Ruislip/Ickenham over a year ago and it was finally added this October. This one may be easier to decide as both lines are run by TfL. If another TOC has to be consulted it may well take longer. If you don’t ask you’ll never know, and the worst they can say is “No”.

  7. If it’s a 15 minute walk I’m struggling to see any journeys for which using the Caledonian Road OSI would be quicker/better than changing elsewhere or using a bus for part of the journey.

  8. Hello, Mike.

    I don’t suppose you know whether Transport for London has any plans to make Southwark LU and Blackfriars NR an OSI?

    Now that Blackfriars railway station has an entrance at the south of the bridge, it’s no more than five minutes’ stroll away from the entrance to Southwark Tube station. That’s a hell of a lot shorter than the walk between Embankment and Waterloo East, which is, I believe, a well-established OSI.

    Cheers,

    Neil

    • Hi Neil,

      None that I am aware of, but I agree it ought to be looked into. You can always send them an email and ask whether they would consider it.

  10. Hi, Mike. I have an answer. Not a very revealing one, admittedly, but an answer nevertheless:

    Thank you for contacting us on 2 August regarding Southwark London Underground and Blackfriars National Rail station becoming an Out of Station Interchange (OSI).

    This is currently under consideration, although I am not able to confirm if and when it would be approved. Currently, Southwark is an OSI with Waterloo East and Embankment is an OSI with Charing Cross.

    Thank you for contacting us. Please contact us again if you need any further assistance or if you would prefer to call us about this matter, please use our new cheaper number 0343 222 1234.

    Yours sincerely

    *** ***

    Customer Service Adviser

    Transport for London Customer Services

    • Hi Neil,

      Thanks for sharing that. I’m not quite sure why they mentioned Embankment, but it’s positive news none-the-less.

  11. No probs, Mike.

    I think they mentioned Embankment because in my original message to them I queried why Embankment should be an OSI with Waterloo East (a good 10 mins’ walk away across the Thames) when the nearest entrance to Blackfriars NR is now only five mins’ walk from Southwark. I think I must have got my facts wrong and it was their way of telling me so.

    • Ha, you’re right! Embankment is OSI’d with Waterloo East as well as Charing Cross.

  12. Hi, Mike. Well, I persevered with TfL over the Southwark/Blackfriars OSI issue and they’ve just responded again, somewhat more helpfully:

    Thank you for your further email regarding Southwark London Underground and Blackfriars National Rail station becoming an Out of Station Interchange (OSI). I apologise for the delay on replying to you.

    The OSI between Southwark and Blackfriars is currently programmed to become effective in January 2014. We do not currently publish this information on our website. As this is an automated service, when customers use an OSI the right fare is applied automatically.

    I hope this information is useful to you. Thank you for contacting us. Please contact us again if you need any further assistance or if you would prefer to call us about this matter, please use our new cheaper number 0343 222 1234.

    • Thanks Neil,

      I just need to set a reminder to ask about any new OSIs from January towards the end of November.

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