OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

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greatkingrat
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by greatkingrat »

Possibly a throwback to the days when the Met had four outer zones A/B/C/D instead of the current 7/8/9?
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Edgemaster
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Edgemaster »

I believe it was c2c who wanted the change due to pressure from customers. (or so I've picked up from some online source... it's horrible not being able to cite them)
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Mitchell&BrownLook »

scrxisi wrote:I'd hazard an uneducated guess that the nearest you'll get to a "Z1-9+G" travelcard would be to go to a National Rail station and ask for a travelcard with Grays as the origin station, and even then it's only valid for one journey from Grays to the boundary of zone 6, and one journey back, with the unlimited travel only being in Z1-6 (unless it's a period travelcard). But I could be very wrong - this is just how I have read it.
It's not impossible for me to warrant use for travel from central London to Chafford Hundred Railway station, which is now in "zone G" on occasion, but not for a long distance shopping trip I hasten to add, but for the speedway! So on the back of this I've a few questions for anyone who can help and while you describe yourself as uneducated in this field of expertise, you're doing a lot better than me!

So: What difference is made by where the home station is of a travelcard? I normally buy mine at the tube station where the coach dropped me off, or if traveling by train, Sheffield Station, like I did for the Park Challenge the other day. On that occasion I'd pre-booked the train ticket for a cheap rate and therefore did no buy the on the day train price. However would it be possible for my return train ticket to also be a day travelcard? I'm sure it wouldn't beyond greater London (however you define that for this exercise) otherwise I could buy a return ticket for the price of a day travelcard, and get the travelcard too! Thus I presume that to perform a similar exercise to what you've already described, my home station must be in Zone 1-9 or W or G. Correct? Otherwise that's a hell of a loophole and I shall exploit it!

Presuming this is correct, can I, from either Sheffield or central London or both, ask for a day travelcard with Chafford Hundred as the origin station and use the return leg (Upminster in greater London to Chafford Hundred) before my outbound leg (Chafford Hundred to Upminster)? I ask this because if I am travelling from London to the Chafford Hundred, that's what I'll be doing, and I don't want to be caught out by an inspector trying to get back afterwards claiming that I'm using my return leg when I should be using the outbound leg of my ticket!

As for Zone W, as I understand Matt you're spot on when you say that Zone 1-9+W doesn't exist as such on the ticket, it is in fact Zone 1-9+Watford Junction. I was aware of that, but for brevity in my previous post put +W rather than +Watford Junction. I also think you'll be right in saying that a Zone 1-6+G travelcard won't be available at all, and your origin station option (which I previously knew nothing of) is a fantastic alternative.

However if very few people want unlimited travel (let's call that more than 2 journeys) with zone G and adjacent zones, why bother doing it with Watford Junction - zone W? If you're correct (which I think you are, but I've got nothing to prove or counter prove it and neither has anyone else currently) it just seems inconsistent to me that travelcards are available with one " lettered zone" and not the other. With the knowledge of the Edgemaster's slightly cryptic source, I presume, that this is because Zone G was established by a TOC that is a plc, rather than by a TOC that is effectively part of a public body. (TfL)
Either this is a silly inconsistency or I've tunneled so deep into the recesses of travelcard technicalities that I've emerged into world removed from a reality that to be frank, no one really cares about all that much. While this feasible, or perhaps even a fact, I'd still like an answer to my outstanding questions, with which I'll line my metaphorical tunnel.

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al
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by al »

Hopefully the rules haven't changed significantly since I used to work in a ticket office!

If you start your journey at a (what was) Network South East station, you can buy a Cheap Day Return that includes a One Day all zone travelcard. Strictly speaking, the journey must be done outward to London and return back again, and if you were travelling the wrong way late in the day, I'm sure an RPI would be suspicious.

If you have a travelcard and wish to travel outside your zones to a NSE station, then you can ask for an extension ticket, which will be issued from the appropriate boundary, so for instance from Boundary Zone 6 to wherever. If I remember correctly, this is no more expensive than doing the former option, but has the benefit of being legitimate for the journey you wish to undertake.

How these new lettered zones fit into it all I've no idea! I'll leave that to more learned individuals than myself.
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Sam
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Sam »

Things haven't changed much Al. I tend to sell 1-6 or 2-6 travelcards plus an extension from Boundary zone 6 to wherever they going outside the zones. However, if they are just going one way and it's cheaper then I will sell the travelcard with the origin being the station outside of the zones - effectively passengers are not using the outward part as that is already "used" so to speak.

Also, if passengers wish to travel to zones 7, 8 or 9 then I have to make the origin "Amersham" or "Watford High Street" for example so that it gives full zones, obviously tube stations can do this easily but for Overground stations, it's the only way to do it :D
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greatkingrat
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by greatkingrat »

Although you can't buy a day travelcard from Sheffield, you can buy an annual travelcard if you happen to have £9364.00 to spare!
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Mitchell&BrownLook »

Thank you very much everyone, that's certainly answered my questions/musings about how best to get to Chafford Hundred! I must say that it's slightly bizarre that at Overground ticket office Sam doesn't have the ability to issue the same tickets as they can at a LUL ticket office, when effectively you are both controlled by TfL as TfL sets the ticketing for both. But then again, it's the same system that produces the oddity that a Overground single on the Watford DC line costs less than a single between the same stations on the Underground, and they shame the same tracks!

Finally Greatkingrat it is possible to buy a day travelcard at Sheffield station, however I believe that you can't buy them for advance days, not that I've ever tried it, nor am I certain on this little variant. I've bought on the day travelcards more than once now, and it's just a standard Rail Settlement Plan ticket with the roundel printed at the top with London Terminals as the home station. The service has been advertised by East Midlands Trains, so maybe it's only something they offer at the stations where they have a ticket office. I don't know, and as long as it's still offered, I don't really mind either as it's a nice convenience not to have to stand and que on arrival at King's Cross St Pancras.
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Edgemaster »

Online buying is the way to go, allows purchase in advance, and collection from your local station's machine. Plus you can use 'novelty' station names :)

It's not been noted (explicitly) yet, but I believed that W and G are for PAYG Oyster customers and that you couldn't get Travelcards to them. Now, having closely re-read scrixi's post (and the TfL Travelcard fares page) I've realised I was wrong about W.

This page backs up my theory about PAYG only for Zone G.

Again, apologies for the poor grammar, sentence structure and logic of arguments made - (too much playing about with logic circuit state assignment tables)
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al
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by al »

M&BL, I believe what greatkingrat was offering with his Annual Season was a ticket with origin Sheffield and destination Zones 1-6,but what you buy at Sheffield for the day is just as useful, you just get three tickets instead of one. Its not just EMT who can do this, any station is obliged to sell 'core' tickets for anywhere on the network. This couldn't really happen when APTIS was used, as special ticket stock was needed for Travelcards so stations outside NSE weren't usually supplied with them, but now they just print Day Travelcard at the top of a normal ticket then it doesn't matter. Obtaining obscure tickets away from their locality could be problematic with regards staff knowledge, however. Getting a rural Cornish station to issue a 3 in 7 (or is it 4 in 7?) Freedom of Scotland Travelpass may take a while!
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Sam
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Sam »

If you were to buy an outboundary travelcard then yes it would just cover zones 1-6 hence full well the issues I had at Gerrards Cross with people who wished to return to Amersham as the stations were so close together.

LO can sell pretty much the same ticket range as LU, the difference is, that we use a different Ticket system to them which is why things have to be issued in a different manner.

Ah yes it used to be cheaper on London Overground but not anymore!! They've changed the fares on our network to bring them in line with LU. I had quite a few disgruntled passengers when they realised a single to Olympia/Shepherds Bush etc had increased from 1.60 to 3.50!!
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by mullardo »

Question for people with better Oyster knowledge than me...

Say I traveled INSIDE the system all day only tapping in the once at the beggining of the day, at what point does my oyster stop being validated?
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by jamesthegill »

Edgemaster wrote:Online buying is the way to go, allows purchase in advance, and collection from your local station's machine. Plus you can use 'novelty' station names :)
I'd like more information about the novelty station names...
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by Going Underground »

scrxisi wrote:I got a Turkey Street travelcard for the Christmas Parks* challenge once. It seemed seasonal.

* talking of which (not that I'll take part)...?
Ouch yes we had better sort something out...
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by The Raven »

Has anyone else, like me got a "Will and Kate wedding" Oystercard?
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Re: OYSTERCARDS - THE ONLY THREAD!

Post by tubeguru »

My wife has managed to get us a couple for souvenir purposes.
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