My own personal use of Oyster has been ticking along quite nicely of late. I check journey history regularly and get statements from time to time to keep records for posterity. You can imagine my surprise
Important change to OEPs
Note: This post is now irrelevant as Oyster Extension Permits have been abolished.
I’ve just become aware that there has been a very serious change to the way OEPs are handled. It definitely affects Southeastern and may well affect other operators as well. Originally the system was set up so that if you didn’t set an OEP but nevertheless touched in within your zones and touched out outside your zones then the system would work out what you should pay and deduct that, exactly like it does on the TfL operated Underground, Overground and DLR. However, now it seems that exit gates have been programmed
Changes for 2011
Over the last few weeks details of several changes to the Oyster charging structure have been announced. The biggest changes are obviously the actual fares and you can now see what effect the review will have on your fare on the single fare finder on the TfL website. Some of the other changes are summarised below:
New OSIs (inc Bank-Cannon St)
In late October I was provided with a new list of OSIs which had come from the ATOC fare manual rather than my usual source at TfL. It looked like there were some useful new OSIs, including the long awaited Bank to Cannon Street interchange. Later I received my usual update from TfL which showed that the ATOC list was rather inaccurate with most of it’s changes.
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
Touching in twice
I’ve recently become aware of an issue at some National Rail stations, e.g. Stratford, Barking. These are stations where people will often arrive from outside the Oyster area on a paper ticket and wish to continue using their Oystercard without visiting the gateline. These stations sometimes have yellow standalone readers which record either entry or exit, often with a sign telling PAYG users to touch in here. You might not want to do this.
Canada Water to the rescue!
If you travel from Sutton (or further out) to Whitechapel or beyond using Southern to West Croydon and then London Overground you will probably be overcharged. This is because the oyster system decides that you are likely to have used First Capital Connect to Farringdon followed by Hammersmith and City to Whitechapel. This issue was first highlighted by Barry Doe in RAIL magazine earlier this year.
New Pink Route Validators
I have finally received a reply to my suggestion that TfL need to install a pink route validator at Surrey Quays. Whilst not promising anything specific, it does appear as though there will be some new opportunities to avoid zone 1 in the new year. Here is the reply:
OEP should really be OTEP
I’ve decided that TfL have got the name of the OEP wrong. It should actually be called the Oyster Travelcard Extension Permit (or OTEP). This would avoid the first confusion where people think it extends the oyster system so that they can travel beyond oysterisation into the home counties. It still won’t help with the … Read more
New Pages for Trams and Wimbledon
I recently needed to visit Wimbledon and decided to use the tram to Croydon in one direction for a bit of variety. I was struck by how poor the instructions for touching in and out were, especially when interchanging between train or tube and tram. It seems like they have forgotten to update the instructions … Read more