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Hi Ealinger,
You are correct in all your assumptions. The back office software will not adjust fares for a discounted Oyster card. On the return journey you should be charged as per the fare finder because the zone 1 bit hasn’t happened when you touch out at Wanstead Park.
Colin: I suspect that this fare will be changed once TfL have spotted it. The default will then assume travel via zone 1 with a cheaper option if you change at Shepherd’s Bush. For now it’s possible to take advantage of the anomaly by understanding how the system works.
Hi, Quite a bit I’m afraid.
The Oyster system combines legs of a journey into one journey, which in your case is Chafford Hundred to Watford Junction. Fenchurch Street to Aldgate and Euston Square to Euston are recognised out-of-station interchanges (OSI). The off-peak fares between Euston and Watford Junction only apply if the whole journey is between those two stations, or any intermediate stations on the Lioness line.
Whilst you could break the OSI at Euston by walking from Kings Cross, it probably won’t save you anything because you are curently only paying for zones 1-9 once. If it becomes two separate journeys then you’d be paying twice, albeit that the off-peak leg might be a bit cheaper.
Finally, with contactless you are benefitting from the application of the best combination of caps and extension fares. You’ll find that your journey home is charged at less than the outward journey because the system applies a cap for some zones and adds extension fares for the bits at each end. Oyster can’t do this on the fly, but will apply a credit the next day, but only if the Oyster card is undiscounted.
I would go back to using contactless for your commute, but use the Oyster at weekends when you will benefit from the discounted off-peak fares. Your railcard will obviously give you discounts on journeys further afield from London.
Ok, so a 60+ means you won’t be overcharged. I’d be inclined to write to SWR, who run Wimbledon, and ask them why you are having problems. It almost certainly is some sort of timeout. My concern would be whether invalid taps might pose problems for people with chargeable cards.
If it happens again, please do note the error code.
Hi Steve,
I would have thought that a timeout for that would be cleared after about 5-10 minutes. It would be helpful to know what the error code was on the gate. Do you have TfL Go? Can you see what that is saying about times?
A further update. Just after replying to this I received the email asking me to pay for the yearly address check. This means that they are probably close to catching up as mine was due in December.
Hi A,
Sorry for the delay getting to this.
Option 1 would work fine, though it might not be the cheapest way. Extension fares are just the zone 1 fares for the journey, except if you use both NR and LU you won’t be charged the mixed mode premium.
Option 2 would indeed require changing trains. The best place might actually be Vauxhall because it’s dual zoned 1/2 and a smaller station than Clapham Junction. You can either get back on the next NR train for Waterloo or use the Victoria line for Victoria depending on where your eventual destination is. You also have the option of walking between Battersea Park (2) and Battersea Power Station (1) if you want the Northern line.
You might actually be better off with just PAYG. If you only travel between Streatham Common and Clapham Junction on some days then you won’t cap then. Otherwise your journeys will count towards the zone 2-3 weekly cap with extensions for zone 1. At weekends your daily journeys will cap at zone 1-2 whilst still contributing towards the zone 2-3 weekly cap. You might like to try that out for a week or so and see how you get on. Feel free to copy a weeks journey history here so I can comment on how it was worked out.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for reminding me about this.
To answer the original query, the 60+ Oyster is internally described as an elderly persons freedom pass. They are apparently not allowed to be added to Oyster online, so the card had been hidden from my account. The nice lady I spoke to has unhidden mine again, but said that it might get hidden again at some point in the future. Anyone else with the same issue can call the helpdesk. You need to speak to the Oyster card section, NOT the photocard section. I was batted between both until I got someone who understood.
Now about expiry dates. Yes, this is a long standing problem. My 60+ Oyster says that it expires before my 66th birthday on Oyster online (6 years after it was issued). On the photocard website it says both the correct date (15 days after my 67th birthday) and the incorrect one under the somewaht superfluous line showing no credit. I’m certain my kids zip cards all had similarly weird dates printed on the card which didn’t match the actual expiry. While potentially confusing, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The correct date will be encoded on the card itself.
Hope that helps everyone.
What are my options?
Sadly there aren’t any. The fare between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon is historically very low compared to the fare between Gatwick and London. This initially allowed much cheaper commutes, but was rapidly ‘sorted’ at the behest of the Department for Transport. For more background to this, see the following post on this site shortly after the PAYG area was extended to Gatwick: Oyster and Gatwick – The Truth
I don’t know whether the whole history is available, somehow. I haven’t used my card for over 2 years now as I use the 60+ whenever I can.
Anyway, see what Greater Anglia say. If it turns out that the gates did disable a perfectly valid ticket then I would be inclined to ask TfL for a refund. I respect your view if different, though.
Hi,
You do not need to touch validators at Farringdon if it’s in the middle of a PAYG journey. Those validators are intended for people using a traditional ticket on Thameslink services beyond the PAYG area. If you do touch the validators there is a possibility that you may be charged an incomplete journey.
Yes, that does appear to be a bit all over the place. Most of that will be down to SWR. The only one I’m not sure about is Grays which could be priced by C2C or SWR.
Hi Hugo,
No, it’s got nothing to do with where you start. Tell her to make the most of it, but expect it to be corrected at some point.
My apologies, I’d looked at so many different variations I missed that. I think it is an error, but it may well work. Let me know what the charge was if you can.
Hi,
Thank you for raising this. I’ve just logged in to my web account and I have the same issue. I will be querying this at some point. The 60+ Oyster card still appears in TfL Go, so I’m really not sure what’s happened. If I’m checking up on things at home I will usually use the web account, so I’d prefer it to be back there if possible.
And yes, the address check functionality is still suspended as far as I know. You can carry on using the card until they get round to sending an address check email, at which point you will have to pay the fee to continue using it.
Hi Hugo,
I’m afraid you’ve got a little confused by the options for getting from Balham to Clapham Junction. The expensive routes all use the Southern line from Balham (NR) via Wandsworth Common, whereas the cheaper ones take the Northern line from Balham (LU) to Clapham North and change onto the Windrush line at Clapham High Street. Travelling via Clapham North/High Street is solely using TfL services, even if you end up on the Southern service between Clapham Junction and West Brompton only. The decider for the fares depends on which station you use at Balham.
I hope that helps, but do come back if you’re still not sure.
Hi Meglos,
I completely agree that Epsom to Strawberry Hill is wrong. When I have time I will try and contact SWR, but in the meantime feel free to contact them yourself. The more who do, the more likely it will change.
Whilst changing at Whitechapel avoids zone 1, it also involves NR between Clapham Junction and Richmond, so I think the fare is correct.
This was picked up by the local rail user group and Southeastern said it would be corrected. I suggest that you contact them about this issue as it is they that supply the data to TfL’s system.
Hi Michael,
It’s because every route has to be set up in the system to be charged. They haven’t put via Canada Water etc in as a valid route between East Finchley and Denmark Hill, so the system charges the default fare.
I hope that makes sense.
Hi Michael,
This is the secondary usage of pink readers, to say you’ve only used TfL services instead of you’ve avoided zone 1. As with all journeys, a decision has been made on the liklihood that people will take any specific route. In the case of Denmark Hill I agree with TfL that you’re far more likely to stay on the Northern line to Clapham North and then use the Windrush line from Clapham High Street as it’s a shorter route and only one change of trains. In the case of the Forest Hill line they clearly reckon that Underground/Underground/Windrush is the most likely route, and the alternative via London Bridge can be identified by the interchange there, so they don’t mandate the pink readers at Whitechapel etc.
You may find they add Denmark Hill as a result of your query, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide it’s not worthwhile.
Two things. That April journey history was an off-peak Friday which proves that there was 10p difference off-peak as well. It must just be the railcard off-peak which was the same, or maybe it’s Oyster vs contactless.
The other thing I’ve sent you an email with some specific details for the helpdesk.
I’m calling the helpdesk right now and they are puzzled. There is definitely something strange going on.
Hi Chris,
So, are you saying that there is a bus and tram discount which can be loaded on a normal adult Oyster card, which is different to the bus and tram discount photocard? The photocard certainly seems to have a weekly cap according to https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/bus-and-tram-fares.
