In article
,
(Matthew Dickinson) wrote:

On 31 Dec 2009, 21:48, MIG wrote:
On 31 Dec, 17:36, John B wrote:

On Dec 31, 4:43*pm, MIG wrote:

On 31 Dec, 14:28, Chris wrote:

Just been nosing around London TravelWatch's webpage for Oyster
on the rails & the last para here
-http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news.php?id=696, says
"Oyster Extension Permits

If your Travelcard is on Oyster, and you wish to travel outside
your zones, but still within London by national rail, you will
now be required to set an Oyster Extension Permit before the
start of your journey at a ticket office or machine. If you
do not do this, you will liable for a penalty fare of £20,
even if you have ample credit on your card.

I am pretty sure that this is illegal. *There is no way that it
could comply with the penalty fare rules.

How d'you figure that?

In order to avoid being charged a PF in a PF area, you must on
demand "produce a ticket or other authority authorising your
travelling by that train", subject to the usual exceptions (no
facilities to buy, inadequate notices, a notice or railway staff
said you could travel).

For Oyster cards that have Travelcards loaded, Oyster PAYG will not
be valid on National Rail services outside your Travelcard zones
unless you also have an IEP loaded. This means that, if you're
gripped outside your Travelcard zones and don't have an IEP, then
you don't have a ticket or other authority authorising your
travelling by that train, so you're eligible for a PF.

It's exactly as if you were to try and travel outside your
Travelcard zones on Oyster on NR today (on one of the
non-inter-available routes) - the amount of PAYG balance on your
card is irrelevant, and you are thoroughly eligible for a PF,
because Oyster PAYG is not a valid means of payment.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/pf/

But in the relevant context, it will be valid means of payment. In
fact, it's the only means of payment you'd be able to use in the
circumstances. *An OEP isn't a means of payment. *Will the exit
barrier refuse to charge the card if it hasn't got an OEP on it at the
end of an ungripped journey?

But more importantly, how is the warning displayed when you start your
journey? *That's going to be the main issue. *It's not enough having
the information on the Web or discussed in forums.

Under Penalty Fares, the TfL site currently only mentions not having
touched in for liability.

A FoI request to TfL has revealed some more information about OEPs.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reques...ension_permits

Of interest is a full list of National Rail self-service machines
where PAYG can be added.

The added stations can be used to pick up online purchases and auto-
topup from the 13th January.

The OEP document highlights a nightmare possibility with OEPs that hadn't
previously occurred to me:

"Examples
TICKET HELD FROM TO OEP REQUIRED?
....
Zones 1-4 GOODGE STREET HARROW & WEALDSTONE YES - if using TOC
....
Does it apply to LU journeys?
No. There is no change to the arrangements for use of PAYG on LU or other
TfL services, but an OEP could apply if the customer is using a TOC
service serving one of our stations."

So, here am I travelling out from Zone 1 to Harrow and Wealdstone which is
in Zone 5. I change trains somewhere North of Queen's Park and want to
take the first train which could be a Bakerloo or NR train. Only on the
latter do I need and OEP!

Or does this only apply to LM and SN and not to LO and would therefore
only be a problem if I changed at Wembley Central (at the limited times
when that is possible to get to Harrow and Wealdstone)?

It's getting nearly as stupid as the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
ticketing arrangements where you have to buy an operator-specific ticket
from a machine at a bus stop before boarding without knowing for sure
which operator's bus will arrive first.

--
Colin Rosenstiel