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Hi there Mike,
Thanks once again for all the invaluable help you provide on this site!
Given the 2025 fare rise (and previous ones), the difference between the bus cap and tube Z1-Z2 cap (for example) has continuously risen this might become more and more of a thing. I’d like to ask how Contactless (and Oyster following back-office processing) treats the follow journeys:
1. Bus 1.75
2. Bus 1.75
3. Tube Z1 (Off Peak — from 2025) 2.80
4. Bus 1.75
5. Bus 1.75Will the charge be 8.05 (5.25 bus cap + 2.80 Z1-Z2 single off peak journey) or 8.90 (2025 Z1 Cap)? If it is the former, will this also apply to Oyster via the back-office correction?
Separately, is it still the case that Photocards do not go through back-office correction? In that case, if I have an 18+ Oyster Photocard but don’t use it as I don’t require discounted Travelcards, would I be better off using a regular Oyster card (and loading my Railcard on there too instead)?
Hi Matthieu,
Bus (and tram) journeys will always be limited by the bus cap in the first instance. The bus fares also count towards whatever rail cap might be triggered, but you’ll only ever pay up to the bus cap on buses/trams. The back office follows the same rules in relation to caps.
Neither photocards, nor blue Oyster cards with a discount attached, go through the back office calculation at the end of the day.
Thanks Mike!
Looks like I’m better off using two cards then — though that relies on me knowing exactly what modes I’m going to take in sequence!
Is there any news on back-office correction coming to all Oyster cards? Or most likely will we be waiting till Oyster inevitably gets moved onto account based ticketing?
I’m confused. Neither a Student photocard or a blue Oyster with a discount will go through the back office, so why are you better off using different cards? Am I missing something?
And no, there’s no update on all Oyster cards going through the back office.
Under the scenario I laid out in the original post, assuming no back-office correction one would be better off it seems using a separate Oyster card for the bus leg of the journey and a separate Oyster Card/Photocard with discount — especially if we assume the tube leg is on peak fares where the discount doesn’t apply.
Using current rates this is what would happen assuming all travel is after 0930 with a railcard discount.
Bus £1.75
Bus £1.75 total £3.50
Tube £2.10 zone 1-2 off-peak cap £5.60
Bus Free
Bus FreeHope that helps.
Thanks Mike!
In that case the only advantage to using two separate cards is if one with a discounted card triggers the higher daily peak cap by travelling during the morning peak as the first trip (so doesn’t benefit from 1/3 off) but then subsequently only uses buses the rest of the day?
Tube Z1 (Peak from 2025) 2.90 (triggers higher daily cap)
Bus 1.75
etc…
capping at the full-rate future 8.90 Z1-Z2 daily cap.Whereas a separate cap via either Contactless or back-office Oyster processing would be 2.90 + 5.25 = 8.15.
So in short on days like these where I do travel the morning peak the full rate standard blue Oyster would be better whereas on days I travel after 9:30 the discounted Oyster card would be better!
A single pre 0930 tube journey followed by 4 chargeable bus journeys will cost the price of the tube journey plus the bus cap.
I think you’re conflating two issues. If you start in zone 6 on a train then make lots of zone 1-2 journeys then you will reach the zone 1-6 cap, and that will be corrected by the back office if the zone 6-1 journey plus zones 1-2 cap is less than the zone 1-6 cap. However, where buses are concerned, they will NEVER charge more than the bus cap.
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