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Old November 29th 09, 10:01 AM posted to uk.transport.london
Clive Page[_3_] Clive Page[_3_] is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jun 2009
Posts: 164
Default Cannot get Railcard discount loaded on to Oyster

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
Clive - if you can let me know which tube stations you tried I can raise
this with the relevant Revenue people at LU so they know there are some
issues re training and awareness. Given extension of PAYG to NR in the
New Year it is likely the volume of such transactions will increase and
it makes sense to deal with any inadequacies now.


Paul - thanks. I guess you are right about a greater number wanting to
do it in the new year. Except that the facility is so well hidden, that
probably nobody will try to use it.

My wife tried at Lambeth North some time in October - the ticket clerk
got my wife to fill in a form and experimented with his machine for some
time, then said it wasn't possible.

Then at City Thameslink (ok not a TfL station, but explicitly listed on
the TfL website as one where you can do this): on 25th Nov around 17:30
the ticket clerk took a photocopy of the printout from your website but
could not work out how to do it. He said it probably wasn't possible
until January, but he would ask his management for information.

She tried around the same time the following night, hoping to see the
same man, but he wasn't on duty, and the clerk claimed that it simply
wasn't possible at NR stations. A long queue was building up behind
her, so she didn't pursue it.

That's not a huge sample, of course. But a year ago we managed to get
the discount loaded, and though I don't remember the details, it took
attempts at several stations before we succeeded.


The other issue is that the ability to get a NR Railcard loaded at all
and that it gives you a lower daily cap is very well hidden on the TfL
websites, and I've never seen it described in printed literature. I
would never have known about it if it weren't for this newsgroup.

I've just searched the TfL website again, the main leaflet is a 22-page
document
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...s-zones1-6.pdf
which says at the foot of page 11: "holders of some National Railcards
can get discount off-peak daily price capping" but it doesn't say which
railcards, or how you get it. There are lots of fare tables later in
the leaflet, but none of them seem to be the relevant ones.

Fortunately, because of an earlier thread in this newsgroup, I was able
to read
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresa...ares/6769.aspx
but that URL does not seem to be linked from anywhere else on the TfL
site (and I've rooted around for some time). I wonder how anyone who
does not read this newsgroup is expected to find this document.

I also thought that I saw somewhere that the reduced price cap does not
apply to travel on buses when using a NR railcard - not all that
unreasonable I guess. But I can't find this reference any more, and I
haven't the faintest idea how it would apply if you were to use some
combination of buses and trains during the day.

Regards

If you have a local tube station that is convenient then I'm sure we can
do something to ensure you get a successful transaction. If you wish to
reply off group then my E mail address works.


Thanks Paul, but living in Bedfordshire our usual first encounter with
the tube is St.Pancras, but the ticket offices there always have such
horrendous queues so I'd never bother. I guess we'll try at random tube
stations on future trips around London, whenever we have half-an-hour to
spare :-). (By the way, my email address at page2.eu also works).

--
Clive Page