14 thoughts on “New Page – An Oyster Rail Journey”

  1. I need to get an update on my oyster card which goes back to December 2012 is it possible to obtain information on a journey that took place this far back if not through normal means is there a log of all journeys on a particular card for forensic purposes.

    • Sorry, no there isn’t. After 8 weeks the journey data is disassociated from the individual card records and is only held in aggregate form for statistical analysis purposes. The only way journey history might be viewable from that far back is if it is within the last 8 journeys made on the card. If that was the case then an Underground station can produce a report of what is on the card.

  2. Hi Mike,
    looking for some help, I am visiting family at end of August and on Friday 30th I arrive into London kings cross from the sleeper from Scotland, I want to pop into London for some shopping then I need to make my way to Broxbourne Friday early afternoon, my question is do I purchase an oyster card or a travel card, this need to cover Broxbourne, returning on Sunday 1st september from Broxbourne back to London kings cross only

    • Hi bigfurgie,

      This is a difficult one. I think that the cheapest way to do this is with Oyster PAYG, utilising a bit of an anomaly with the fares from Broxbourne. My only concern is how much travel you will make around Central London. If it’s just a single from Kings Cross to Oxford Circus (for instance) then back to Broxbourne then Oyster will be much cheaper. The other variant is what time you start from Kings Cross. If it is before 0930 then it may add a further £2.10 to the days travel if you do a lot. Here is how it might work out:

      Kings Cross St Pancras to Oxford Circus £2.10
      Oxford Circus to Knightsbridge £2.10
      Knightsbridge to Seven Sisters £2.70
      Seven Sisters to Broxbourne £3.10

      Broxbourne to Seven Sisters £3.10
      Seven Sisters to Kings Cross St Pancras £2.70

      I’ve used Oxford Circus/Knightsbridge as an example. You could go to/from anywhere within zones 1. If you make any further journeys within zone 1 then the off-peak cap of £7.70 will apply to your journeys up to Seven Sisters.

      Now the important bit. Although Seven Sisters is one station you need to exit and re-enter while changing there. This will split the journey into two and avoid the premium fare for mixing NR and TfL rail in a journey including zone 1 which is £7.30. The same applies to the reverse. It is possible that you might return via Tottenham Hale. Here the station is split in two and you have to touch out of one before touching in to the other. Unfortunately this means that the system joins the two journeys together (which we don’t want) unless you wait over 20 minutes between touch out and touch in. What I would suggest doing is taking the Victoria line one stop to Seven Sisters and then getting off, touching out and in again, then get a slightly later tube (but it won’t be 20 minutes later). This will reduce the cost to the same as via Seven Sisters direct.

      Hope this helps.

  3. Would my oyster card Cap on a Weekend if i’m Traveling around Zone 1&2 in the morning and then Travel to stratford Which is Zone 3 around lunch time and then travel back around Zone 1&2 for the rest of the day, And How much is it going to cap me ??

    • Hi Christopher,

      Initially it will cap at the zone 1-2 rate, then when you go to Stratford it will go up to the zone 1-4 rate, and stay there unless you venture out beyond zone 4. The adult caps are £7.00 (Z1-2) and £7.70 (Z1-4).

  5. Mike

    On Friday I made a journey into Paddington from West Drayton using my PAYG oyster.
    The journey was heavily delayed taking 75 minutes to complete do I make a customer charter claim via Oyster or is it via FGW obviously they want a ticket for the journey involved which I do not have, would a printout of my oyster history suffice do you think.

    • Hi Malcolm,

      I would imagine that an Oyster journey statement would suffice. You could ring them to check, but I can’t see how else you could prove you travelled. Definitely claim from FGW though as it’s their charter.

  6. Thanks Mike for your advise you were correct a copy of my Oyster statement was sufficient along with a FGW customer charter form.
    Received my voucher within 14 days which I don’t think is to bad a time scale.

  7. Hi Mike Please could you advise best options for a 23 year old visitor staying 4 months, studying short courses at various universities (so does not seem to qualify for student benefits) . Staying mostly in Hatfield, there will be the initial trip from Heathrow to Hatfield (it seems that the Greenline bus 724 could be viable), a return trip Hatfield to Brighton for 4 days (would a 09h55 Southern train departing Hatfield qualify for off-peak) and for the rest of the period there will be many trips into London, at this stage only 1 week consecutive days, as others would be random round trips. Could an Oyster card and a 16-25 Railcard be a good option and can the railcard be loaded on to the Oyster? Would it be viable to have a Zone 1-6 and would it be required to disembark at Hadley Wood to touch out and in en route to/from Hatfield? The more I read, the more confusing, so your advice would really be appreciated as the budget is extremely limited.

    • Hi Carol,

      I’ll do my best, but a lot of this isn’t Oyster related. Yes, an 0955 departure from Hatfield would qualify for the off-peak day return. The 16-25 railcard will pay for itself on the 4 day trips to Brighton, so yes to get that. The railcard can be loaded onto the Oyster and will discount off-peak fares and caps, but has no effect on season tickets. If you have a zone 1-6 travelcard season on the Oyster card then there is no need to touch in or out at Hadley Wood, but if you are using PAYG then you would need to.

  8. Please advise the most cost effective way to travel from Luton Town to Knightsbridge Harrods 5 days per week inclusive of weekends?? Regards Beverley Haynes

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