On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 16:20:19 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:
Some stations clearly do. Some don't.
Until they get their arse in gear and somehow manage to make prepay work on
all zonal NR stations, it's always a lottery. An expensive lottery.
My season ticket ran out last month and I'm now on pre-pay. I don't travel
before 9:30 and normally I always travel enough to make up the equivalent
of an off-peak travelcard.
Sometimes I don't, and I've actually saved some money. Which is the good
thing about pre-pay.
I was going to Camden Road from Canning Town and because I wasn't sure
whether Camden Road had barriers or pre-pay, I bought a paper day-time
travelcard (doubly annoying as I'd just wasted £0.80 on my pre-pay to get a
bus to Canning Town in the first place).
You bought the right ticket as you were going on to NR services where
Pre-Pay is not valid.
Lo and behold, I could have used the barriers at Camden Road, and saved
myself that money. However, had I decided to go to eg West Hampstead on the
Silverlink instead, I could have faced difficulties.
No you couldn't as Pre-Pay is not valid on the NLL between Gunnersbury
and Stratford or between Canning Town and North Woolwich. Just because
there is a target on a gate does not mean Pre-Pay works at that
location. It means Oyster cards can be read by the gate which might be a
travelcard or a Freedom Pass for the elderly and disabled.
Another example is taking NR from Waterloo to St Helier (which requires a
change at Wimbledon). In Wimbledon, beside the platform where you change,
there is a yellow pre-pay swipe thingie, but then nothing at St Helier.
Yes there are targets at Wimbledon for Tube and for Tramlink where
Pre-pay works alongside Travelcards. Holders of Travelcards in Oyster
format who need to get in and out of the station have to have the means
to do so as well - even if they are simply using TOC trains services.
Pre-Pay is NOT valid for the Waterloo - St Helier journey.
The whole thing is confusing, and it is potentially making people offenders
when they have no intention of being one.
I agree - up to a point.
Any idea when pre-pay will be adopted throughout all zonal NR stations and,
if not, any idea of a list of stations that *do* accept pre-pay?
When Ken is given control of all London rail services which is looking
increasingly likely. The first slice of this will be the TfL takeover of
the Silverlink Metro network. It will remain a franchise but will be
paid for by TfL and will be under their control and management via the
franchise agreement.
List of stations / lines in this document.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...006.pdf#page=1
"Ask Oyster" on the Oyster website also covers these sorts of questions.
--
Paul C
Admits to working for London Underground!