Sorry, I get you now. Yes, Epsom and Cuffley are the two where contactless caps are both higher.

Yes, in very limited cases. I’m waiting for feedback from GTR at the moment and will soon be publishing full details. There are 12 stations involved and in almost every case the contactless cap is cheaper. Epsom is by far the most affected, along with Cuffley to a slightly lesser extent. Watch this site/space.

Hi Michael,

The answer is shown on the fare finder when searching for a fare with Epsom at the outer end. The contactless daily caps are more expensive.

Well, that’s an interesting development. I would imagine Cuffley will go the same way at some point, although more people probably use Epsom than Cuffley.

Both stations are part of a growing list of places where there are different caps applied when using contactless compared to Oyster. If you use an Oyster card to these places then you will be capped at the Oyster zonal rate (not always zone 9) because that’s all Oyster can do. The adult fares get put through the back office later, but I’m assured that it won’t retrospectively increase the charge. However, when using contactless you will be subject to the contactless caps (which aren’t always more expensive).

This is a consequence of the political desire to expand Oyster to places where the cap structure did not match the travelcard prices already in place. When they finally get round to allowing discounts on contactless PAYG I fully expect Oyster to be discontinued at those places.

I think I need to look at documenting the arrangemnets at these dual-capped stations shortly.

Hi Daniel,

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. It will be an unexpected consequence of the fares freeze which wasn’t allowed to include Underground set fares. The lines out of Liverpool Street, especially beyond zone 6, have additional considerations as part of the deal to allow TfL to take over those services from Greater Anglia.

We’re still under 2 months from the fares revision, so it’s possible that no-one has yet noticed. I’d imagine that most people on Underground set fares are resigned to the fact that the fares freeze doesn’t apply to them. I’m a little surprised that MPs in affected constituencies haven’t kicked up more of a fuss, but perhaps they just don’t realise.

Sadly there are lots of routes that journey planners will suggest which don’t necessarily take account of programmed interchanges. There are no direct trains between Euston NR and St Pancras NR, and as someone making that transition would need to use two OSIs with plenty of internal walking, I imagine that it was requested by ATOC in the run up to Oyster extending to all NR routes. They also requested Marylebone NR to Paddington NR which is almost never used. There are also no direct trains between Aldgate and Aldgate East unless you count a Circle line train which turns into a District or Ham&City train at Edgware Road.

Finally, Richmond to Clapham Junction is quite frequent and some of the services are limited stop, Clapham Junction to East Croydon has plenty of non-stop services, so I’m not surprised that the route sometimes turns out to be quicker.

Hi Michael,

So, the zones 1-5 off-peak railcard cap is £10.15, as you found out on the 11th. If you have capped at £6.95 for zones 1-3, the most you will be charged extra is £3.20. You are correct that breaking the OSI did save you 30p, but the cap would have prevented the full £4.15 mixed mode fare being charged from either Seven Sisters or Ravenscourt Park. You could also touch on a bus at Victoria which would be free as you had capped and would also have broken the OSI. Unless you are certain that you won’t travel again I wouldn’t recommend using a different card because you lose the protection of the cap.

In the case of Ravenscourt Park you could have changed at Earls Court, West Brompton and Clapham Junction for a cheaper zone 2-5 fare of £2.45. You might even have got the direct Southern service from West Brompton to East Croydon.

As for the £1.00 refund, I have no clue. If it had been £0.95 then I’d think it could be the difference between the full fare from Victoria and the extension fare from boundary zone 3. However, I don’t think that discounted Oyster cards are put through the back office overnight, yet. You’ll have to ask the helpdesk and see if they can explain it.

Hi Jase,

That’s fine. The ticket seller at Harold Wood is definitely wrong.

Hi Robin,

I think Michael is correct here. The sytem can’t differenciate between changing between LU and NR at Blackfriars or Waterloo, even though you did it the other way round (NR to LU). However, they have put in place an automatic adjustment for when people do actually do it.

Yes, KeyGo allows break of journey but is restricted to just the participating TOCs.

(sigh)

TfL are actually correct. I would write back to Greater Anglia and point out that they are wholly responsible for setting fares from any station beyond Broxbourne. They also set whether afternoon peak applies or not.

Hi Gary,

£10.40 is the incomplete journey charge at peak times which is deducted to disuade against not touching out. As you saw, it is adjusted if you do touch out.

That’s actually another issue which really needs sorting out. Walthamstow Cenral is also a National Rail station so the fares are not actually assuming use of the Underground. I’m afraid Walthamstow Central is quite a hornets nest of issues and you’ll sometimes be charged different fares to the one you expect by looking at the TfL fare finder. If you use my fare finder then I have added a patch to expose the different fares from stations where that is a problem. Stansted Mountfitchet is fine, but both the Airport and Bishop’s Stortford have the issue.