Laurence Payne wrote:
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 22:36:33 +0000 (UTC), Mike Bristow
wrote:


ODTs can be bought at "Ticket Stops" (ie, newsagents) on Oyster these
days... can't they?

Nope. An Oyster loaded with pre-pay automatically acts as a ODT.
Except that most National Rail stations within the ODT zone won't read
it :-(

Lawrence, you've misunderstood the situation somewhat. An Oyster card -
when used in it's Pre Pay guise - will be capped at the price of a ODTC
if it's used enough during a particular day - but it does *not* become
an ODTC, and can only be used on National Rail routes that accept Pre
Pay (and the majority of NR routes in London don't accept Pre Pay).

See this official 'Ask Oyster' answer:
http://snipurl.com/capping_and_ODTC

Next year the levels for a daily capping will be set 50p below the
'equivalent' prices for a ODTC, so that might help people understand
the difference. It's also fairer as with a capped Pre Pay Oyster card
you can travel on less routes than you could with a ODTC, as most
National Rail routes don't accept Pre Pay.


People who may be travelling on National Rail services during their day
out in London will therefore find that in most situations a ODTC is the
most appropriate ticket for them. ODTC are available, as they always
have been, from both Tube and NR ticket offices and from 'Ticket Stop'
newsagents, and they come as a printed ticket (and no, you can't get an
ODTC on Oyster).