Dave Arquati wrote:

Nigel Pendse wrote:

(snip)

It's funny that they allow West Ruislip/South Ruislip - Marylebone but
not Wimbledon - Farringdon, as these are both examples of identical
Tube/Rail journeys where the Rail route happens to be quicker/more
direct, but is otherwise no different. In the Chiltern case, of course,
different barrier lines are used at Marylebone (so they can detect which
train was used), but with the Farringdon example, the same barrier line
applies regardless of route. The only way that a smart barrier could
detect which route was used would be through journey time -- it would
typically (but not always) be much quicker on the Thameslink route.

The Ruislips to Marylebone is an oddity, because it's valid on PAYG but
*not* for paper Tube single tickets. That's also true for Harrow &
Wealdstone to Kenton (I think), and the reverse policy applies to the
entire North London Line and the West London Line as far south as West
Brompton. It's a bit of a mess, really...


If you're going from H&W to Kenton and buying a paper ticket then the
fare is set by the National Rail TOC - i.e. Silverlink. AIUI this is
for historical reasons - in days gone by a much longer stretch of the
north end of the Bakerloo lines had it's fares set by National Rail/
British Rail - I think it might have been from Queens Park up to H&W.
I'm not quite sure what happens if you buy a single from H&W to
Elephant and Castle - is it a H&W to Kenton fare bolted on to a LU
zonal fare?

Pre-Pay is also valid on Silverlink from H&W to Euston, either on the
stopping Metro trains or on the non-stop County trains. I travelled
this way once during the rush hour and arrived at a platform on western
side of Euston which it would seem is only used by Silverlink during
the rush hour - and after keeping my eyes peeled I spotted a lone
Oyster reader (without any associated signage) strapped to a column. It
would've been pretty easy to miss.

Anyway this is also a route where paper Tube tickets are not valid -
not least because I don't think you can get a normal zonal Tube ticket
from H&W to points south (see above query).


Lastly I see you're now referring to Oyster Pre-Pay as Oyster PAYG - I
guess as this is the terminology that TfL has adopted perhaps I should
adopt it too when posting here. It is somewhat more self-explanatory,
and of course is a term that's in common use courtesy of mobile phones.
I presume that the term Pre-Pay continues to be used internally on
ticketing systems, but UIVMM it's also still used in customer facing
situations such as on self-service ticket machines and on the blue
signage that accompanies Oyster readers ("Pre Pay users touch in here"
or something similar).

Thus TfL's flagship ticketing product appears to have a bit of an
identity crisis - given that there's already a good deal of public
confusion about the system, it should at least have a clear single name.