On 31 Jul 2006 03:07:00 -0700, wrote:

Just been reading the rules about Oyster pre pay and it says that there
is a price cap equal to (or less than ) the cost of a travel card. I
thought travel cards could only be used after 9:30?

You can use Oyster before 09.30 on Pre-Pay. Note that all Oyster cards
have the ability to hold both Travelcard season tickets (7 day and
longer) and also a store of cash in the Pre-Pay part of the card. The
two can work in tandem if you travel beyond your travelcard validity
where Pre-Pay is valid. Your card will automatically auto-extend your
travelcard by deducting value from the pre-pay part of the card on exit.
This is why it is sensible to have some value in the Pre-Pay part of
your card if you normally have a Travelcard season.

With respect to daily capping there are three variables that will
trigger differing forms of cap being applied. The variables are

a) Where you travel - i.e. how many zones for rail. There are no
zones for buses.
b) What modes you use - only bus & tram or bus / tube / dlr / tram
/ interavailable NR services.
c) What time of day / day of the week you travel. Obviously peak
travelcard rates do not apply at weekends, after 09.30 M-F and on Bank
Holidays.

Please note that availability on National Rail services is very
restricted at present.

The caps are as follows :-

For bus use only - the One Day Bus Pass price less 50p = £3
For peak travel on all modes (as above) - the Peak One Day Travelcard
price less 50p
For off peak travel on all modes (as above) - the Off Peak One Day
Travelcard price less 50p

What Oyster will do is keep a running total of all your trips. If, for
example, you make two peak bus trips and then two off peak ones it will
go £1 + £1 + 80p + 80p = £3.60 but no I must cap at £3 so it it only
deducts 20p for the last of the 4 bus rides. If you only kept on using
buses for the rest of the day all subsequent trips would be at no extra
charge.

However if you had done your 4 bus rides and then caught the tube from
Zone 2 to Zone 1 in off peak times the cap would rise to £4.40. If your
tube trip was between 07.00 and 19.00 then the Oyster fare would be £2
taking your running total to £5. However this would automatically be
capped to £4.40 as only £1.40 would be deducted from your card balance.

If you had made tube journeys prior to 09.30 in the morning then your
cap would be set at the higher rate for the Peak One Day Travelcard less
50p which is £5.70 (for Z12 ticket).

It is very important to note that if you travel from Z1 to beyond Z2
then the cap rises to the appropriate value for Z14 or Z16 tickets
depending on what zone you exit the tube or DLR in.

As someone else has additionally pointed out Oyster is clever enough to
compare your running total both with the appropriate cap price but also
with a lower cap (for fewer zones) and the cost of the latest journey
deducted where this may be lower than the cap for a One Day Travelcard
less 50p.

...what happens if I use my Oyster prepay before 9:30, does this cap
still apply? Sounds like an loop hole for using a travel card before
9:30?

See above.

Does anyone know how much a zones 1-6 travel card costs these days?

One Day Peak Travelcard £12.40
One Day Peak Travelcard £ 6.30
7 Day £41.00
Monthly £157.70
Annual £1640.00

Lots more info at

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...er/general.asp
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...fares-2006.pdf

HTH

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!