Adam

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  • in reply to: Oyster Maintenance and Failed Top-up #5377
    Adam
    Participant

    Im hoping this is system issue and the bit that adds the to up to the card lost connection with the finance system and generated an automated email. Here is the salient part of the email from TFL:

    We automatically topped up your Oyster card (number xxxxxxxxxx) with £10.00 pay as you go credit on 08 February 2024. However, we were unable to take payment from your credit or debit card.

    Please pay this outstanding charge within three working days otherwise your Oyster card may be stopped.

    • This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Adam.
    in reply to: Oyster Maintenance and Failed Top-up #5376
    Adam
    Participant

    It doesn’t appear so thought I haven’t tapped in since. There is no transaction on my credit card account and my balance according to the app is still £20.35 which shouldn’t have triggered an auto top-up. I last used the card on Thursday and my journey history shows:
    Start balance £19.35
    Auto top up collected £10.00 [this transaction was successfully debited from my card previously]
    Hertford North —> Kingston £4.45
    Kingston —> Hertford North £4.55
    Spent £9.00 [which gives a balance of £20.35]

    I shan’t be travelling now until Wednesday so let’s see what happens.

    in reply to: Oyster Maintenance and Failed Top-up #5372
    Adam
    Participant

    I had exactly the same. It spooked me a bit. I travelled on Thursday but my balance at the end of the day was £20.35 and my auto top-up threshold is £20 so there should have been no top-up. I checked with my bank and they confirmed no declined transaction so I’m assuming either TfL has IT issues (is this why they are down?) or it’s a scam.
    I’ve emailed TfL to ask about a manual payment so may get a reply at some point. There’s no way to make a manual payment with the system down, and I don’t want to top up at a ticket machine if there’s already a top-up somewhere in the system. After the post office scandal I don’t trust these IT systems.
    Anyone else have any thoughts?

    in reply to: 2024 fares #5370
    Adam
    Participant

    Looks like GA is a bargain compared to GN. I travelled from Hertford N. to Kingston yesterday via Willesden Jn. avoiding zone 1 at £4.45 (with railcard). From Hertford E. it’s £3.85. The difference will only get wider … at least until LO is allowed to take over the Moorgate lines from GN.

    in reply to: 2024 fares #5368
    Adam
    Participant

    Hopefully the single fare finder will be updated with the new NR fares and the caps beyond z6. I wonder how they’ll handle Cheshunt and Watford Junction where there’s a mix of Overground and NR. Similarly Reading or Shenfield with the EL.

    in reply to: 2024 fares #5360
    Adam
    Participant

    Thanks. Let’s watch and see! Looks like we’ll see more split ticketing opportunities! And lots more people interchanging at places like Bounds Green, Ealing Bwy, W Ruislip, Balham, Woolwich, Upminster etc. Also Cheshunt and Watford Jn if Overground fares are held.

    in reply to: Zone 1 peak fare charge in the evening peak #4913
    Adam
    Participant

    I did some more investigation using your fare finder, and some routes shown an alternative via z1 which is cheaper in the evening peak with a railcard (e.g. East Croydon to Elephant & Castle). Others don’t such as Ealing Broadway to Notting Hill Gate where the routing via Paddington using the EL is probably faster than the Central line and I assume would be charges at the z1 fare. Am I right then that approaching a boundary station from the z1 end will trigger a z1 fare? So I could go West Ruislip – Marylebone – Paddington – Notting Hill Gate, or West Ruislip – Queensway (OSI) Bayswater – Notting Hill Gate in order to get the z1 fare?
    What happens if I travel West Ruislip to Lancaster Gate touch out and immediately in then return to Notting Hill gate – I assume that would be seen as 2 journeys, would it?

    in reply to: Zone 1 peak fare charge in the evening peak #4905
    Adam
    Participant

    Hi Mike,
    Can you help me understand the rationale for evening peak fares to boundary stations that lie in both zones 1 and 2 (Notting Hill Gate, Elephant & Castle, Hoxton, Vauxhall etc.)? If I travel from an outer zone without going into zone 1 before the final station (e.g. West Ruislip to Notting Hill Gate) I get charged a peak fare to zone 2. If I travel via zone 1 (e.g. Epping to Notting Hill Gate) I get charged an off peak fare to zone 1. While in many cases the peak fare to z2 is cheaper, this is not always the case, especially for NR railcard holders. Shouldn’t the system offer whichever is the cheapest?
    If the purpose of evening peak fares is to discourage travel out of zone 1, I have never understood why a journey from an outer zone to zone 2 is greater than travelling to zone 1 (e.g. Epping – Bethnal Green is £3.40; Epping – Notting Hill Gate is £2.35 despite travelling on a heavily congested section of the line west of Liverpool Street). The difference is even more marked with a discounted Oyster.

    in reply to: Elizabeth Line fares confusion #3888
    Adam
    Participant

    Thanks Mary. I’ve emailed GN to ask what the rule is for London Terminals. I’ve also checked the Oyster fare and the fare to Liverpool St. underground is the same as to Moorgate (i.e. the London Terminals fare, no tube) which would even allow you to you use the Circle line between Moorgate and Liverpool Street.

    in reply to: Elizabeth Line fares confusion #3864
    Adam
    Participant

    It was an e-ticket on the Grant Shapps sale HFN-LON. I exited the Liverpool Street station exit as I was headed to Brick Lane area.

    in reply to: Elizabeth Line fares confusion #3862
    Adam
    Participant

    Just travelled into Moorgate on Great Northern with a NR ticket to London terminals and tried to exit at the Liverpool Street end of the Elizabeth Line station. The gate staff wanted me to tap out (which would have landed me a penalty fare)and didn’t want to let me through. Is anyone aware of the policy on this? The London Terminals ticket is specifically valid at Liverpool Street according to the NR website.

    in reply to: Elizabeth Line fares confusion #3817
    Adam
    Participant

    This morning the Elizabeth Line fares are on the TfL single fare finder. Unfortunately the TfL journey planner doesn’t have them or the Elizabeth Line services.
    National Rail does better but is missing some of the interchanges such as Moorgate and I’ve spotted some incorrect fares (I assume) where it is offering Paddington via Farringdon or Liverpool St. at the London Terminal fares from Thameslink and Greater Anglia stations

    Adam
    Participant

    If you have contactless on card and devices (e.g. Apple Pay etc.) you can use each one separately so you could use card, phone, watch etc. aat the same time for different people, remembering to touch each one in and out.

    Adam
    Participant

    I get what you say about Moorgate to Bank being one stop on the Northern, just as Liverpool Street to Bank is one stop on the Central. Many other OSIs are one stop tube journeys: Waterloo to Embankment; Charing + to Embankment; Marylebone to Baker Street. Let’s see what happens!
    On a similar point GN stations to TfL Rail stations via Moorgate & Liverpool street currently charges for a zone 1 tube journey between Moorgate and Liverpool Street as there is no OSI and the connection via the new Elizabeth line station is not yet open. Once this becomes an Elizabeth Line journey, I presume these fares will reduce on the basis that there is a direct connection at Moorgate; I wonder if using a Greater Anglia train (including the destinations served by the Elizabeth line) from Liverpool Street (using the Liverpool Street LU-NR OSI) will continue to include the tube journey as there would be no way of knowing if the Moorgate to Liverpool street journey had been made by tube or on foot.
    I wonder if we need a separate Elizabeth line forum …

    Adam
    Participant

    I live close to a NR station and the nearest underground or travel stop is several miles away. I turn 60 shortly and I have discovered that I can order a Senior Railcard online 2 weeks in advance of my birthday. However I now won’t be able to link it to an oyster card until I’ve made a journey to an underground station (or travel stop). Do you happen to know if:
    1. The system will retrospectively discount the initial journey that day once the link has been made (and will it give me the discounted cap)?
    2. Can I get the railcard linked a few days before my birthday when I visit an underground station so that the discount starts as soon as the railcard becomes valid?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)