In message

, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner
remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6 July
2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they haven't
changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire will be one
of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue the
passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them earlier or
later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does, but
the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female retirement
age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

.... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...ds_for_travel/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national bus
pass.
--
Roland Perry

On 11/11/2012 12:57, Recliner wrote:

Thanks, yes it's confusing how bits of the Chiltern lines that parallel or
share LU lines have 24 availability, but others don't.

The only bit that may seem less than obvious at first is South Ruislip -
West Ruislip. It's perfectly logical though, as the gates at each end
won't know whether you've travelled on Chiltern or the Central Line.

And Marylebone - Amersham is an extension of the interavailability of
paper tickets.

Cheers,

Barry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6 July
2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they haven't
changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire will be one
of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue the
passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them earlier or
later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does, but
the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female retirement
age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...ds_for_travel/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national bus pass.

No, it clearly isn't. Local councils (including London) obviously can't
force any others to provide free travel before the national pass age. But
they are free to grant it to 60+ (or any other) locals in their own area,
as London now does.

Barry Salter wrote:
On 11/11/2012 12:57, Recliner wrote:

Thanks, yes it's confusing how bits of the Chiltern lines that parallel or
share LU lines have 24 availability, but others don't.

The only bit that may seem less than obvious at first is South Ruislip -
West Ruislip. It's perfectly logical though, as the gates at each end
won't know whether you've travelled on Chiltern or the Central Line.

And Marylebone - Amersham is an extension of the interavailability of paper tickets.

Unfortunately for me, my nearest station is one of the Chiltern ones that
doesn't participate in this (even though it has Oyster OSI with a nearby
Tube station).

In article
,
(Recliner) wrote:

Roland Perry wrote:
In message


, at 07:10:40 on Sun, 11 Nov 2012, Recliner
remarked:
For someone who becomes 60 today, they'll have to wait until 6
July 2015 to qualify for a national bus pass, assuming they
haven't changed the rules again by then.

That depends on the issuing council(s). I'm sure Cambridgeshire
will be one of the meanest.

Are you saying that councils have discretion on when they'll issue
the passes? And if so, do they generally exercise it to issue them
earlier or later than the "female retirement age" benchmark?

They can issue a local pass earlier if they want, as London now does,
but the national bus pass scheme starts when someone reaches female
retirement age. I don't think English councils can opt out of that.

Have any of the shire counties opted-in to provide the

... National bus pas scheme...

passes early?



http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/ne...unds_for_trave
l/

It's not obvious that the scheme referred to there is a national
bus pass.

No, it clearly isn't. Local councils (including London) obviously can't
force any others to provide free travel before the national pass age. But
they are free to grant it to 60+ (or any other) locals in their own area,
as London now does.

A Google search for "concessionary bus travel in England" reveals few if any
other councils issuing passes at 60.I thought I'd read that at least one of
the metropolitan areas had done something similar to Boris.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message of Sun, 11 Nov
2012 01:04:24 in uk.transport.london, Paul Corfield
writes

[snip]

My guess, as I don't know how the card has been specified, is that it
is coded as a "Permit" just like a Freedom Pass. It has the same
London area validity but is not an English Concessionary Pass so it
will not have the english rose symbol printed on it. I don't know
whether London Freedom Passes are now both Oyster and ITSO compatible
but if so then I would expect the 60+ Oyster (your card) to just be
Oyster compatible.

Permits act like a season ticket within the area, times and modes
specified. They are not able to have a PAYG purse working alongside.
This question has been raised many times in Mayor's Questions due to
the lack of 24 hour availability on National Rail services for Freedom
Passes and the answer has always been "your constituent must obtain a
separate Oyster PAYG card and pay fares before 0930 M-F".

What is the reasoning behind that?


Permits should be readable by a ticket office machine operated by a
ticket clerk but I am not certain if journey history is displayed if
you tap the card at a passenger ticket machine (POM). I think my old
TfL Staff Pass could be read at a POM so it's possible the basic (last
10) journey details would be displayed as that's what on the card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card says "... Touch screen ticket
machines report the last eight journeys and last top-up amount. The same
information is available as a print-out from ticket offices, and also
on-board London Buses by request. ..."

I can get last 8 journeys on Oyster Cards and on my Freedom Pass. I
assume the same is true on the 60+ Oyster issued to my better half.

A Freedom Pass can't be associated with an Oyster online account.
I found it possible, but unreasonably tedious, to get an 8 week printout
on paper with a Freedom of Information Act request.
--
Walter Briscoe

In message
nternet.com of Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:18:12 in uk.transport.london,
Recliner writes
Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:19:33 -0600, Recliner
wrote:

[snip]

No harm in you tapping your card on an Oyster pad at a POM and seeing
what Journey History brings up.

Thanks for the info. Do you know what would happen if I tried to use it to
enter a NR station before 9:30? Would it open the gate? And what happens

It won't open the gate if the travel is not valid. This also happens at
London Bridge where most travel by train on these concessionary cards is
invalid in the morning peak. When my son went to school, his child was
also rejected there.

if it's an ungated station with an Oyster reader?

You get a rejection bleep. I found this happened at Bowes Park (invalid)
after starting a First Capital Connect journey at Moorgate (valid).


Having one will certainly change my journey patterns.

The Freedom Pass has curiously inconsistent validity. It is valid at
Dartford, where Oyster is not. I saw many caught by that on a visit to
Dartford. It is invalid at Chafford Hundred Lakeside, Grays, Ockenden,
and Purfleet, which are outside the zones, but where PAYG is valid. It
seems one is expected to buy a paper extension ticket.
--
Walter Briscoe

On 11/11/2012 13:45, Paul Corfield wrote:
[...]
Other sets of interavailabilities / time based restrictions have grown
up over the years because of the "early adopters" of PAYG plus the
impact of London Overground. The proliferation of discount schemes and
the reluctance of the TOCs to participate in them is another factor in
burgeoning availability complexity.

I dare say a new set will emerge when the Overground extends in a few
weeks time where you'll be able to go to Denmark Hill on a LOROL train
before 0930 but not on a South Eastern or Southern one! [...]

Though you won't be going to Denmark Hill on a Southern train from 9
December onwards, as there won't be any! (Unless a signalman sets the
wrong route, and a driver takes it...)


[...] I'm assuming
the practice will be the same as happens south of New Cross Gate where
using LOROL is fine but Southern is not (before 0930 M-F).

Agreed, there are posters up to this effect at stations south of NX Gate.

On 12/11/2012 14:41, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:00:21 +0000, Mizter T
wrote:

On 11/11/2012 13:45, Paul Corfield wrote:
[...]
Other sets of interavailabilities / time based restrictions have grown
up over the years because of the "early adopters" of PAYG plus the
impact of London Overground. The proliferation of discount schemes and
the reluctance of the TOCs to participate in them is another factor in
burgeoning availability complexity.

I dare say a new set will emerge when the Overground extends in a few
weeks time where you'll be able to go to Denmark Hill on a LOROL train
before 0930 but not on a South Eastern or Southern one! [...]

Though you won't be going to Denmark Hill on a Southern train from 9
December onwards, as there won't be any! (Unless a signalman sets the
wrong route, and a driver takes it...)

Trust me to choose a station without Southern after 9 Dec 2012. Can I
swap to Peckham Rye which I assume will keep some Southern service
coverage? I am showing up my relative ignorance of the rail network
south of the Thames!

You can - if there's no Southern service at Peckham Rye from 9 Dec
onwards then something will have gone badly wrong with the planning!

(Denmark Hill's only Southern service being the 'South London Line'
service which shuttles between Victoria and London Bridge, which is of
course being withdrawn at the timetable change.)

On Sat, Nov 10, 2012 at 04:15:28PM +0000, Lewis wrote:

I'm not too sure if this is the right place to post this but I was
wondering if anyone could help me. What is the maximum amount of times
you can use your oyster card in a set period of time? I have just
produce a list of things that I need to do on Monday and it will require
9 different uses of my oyster card in a two hour period. Will my oyster
card work for all thee journies? I heard that there is a cap of the
amount of journeys that can be made in a period of time

I expect that you're getting confused with the fare cap. If you use
your PAYG Oyster card enough in a day that it would have been cheaper to
get a one day travelcard*, then you will only be charged for a one day
travelcard.

* the exact amount will depend on what modes of transport you've used,
the time of day, phase of the moon, and what colour tie Boris is
wearing today

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
(and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary" -- H. L. Mencken