David Buttery wrote:
Before I begin: yes, I have spent some time looking through the archives,
but I'm just as confused as ever, if not more so!

snip

Something that I've always found incredibly convenient is having a ticket
- a one-day Travelcard being what I've always used before - that has
*unlimited* validity. I do *not* want a card that I either have to: a)
top up beforehand like a mobile phone; or that b) is only valid for a
limited number of journeys. As far as I can tell, that's what you get
with Oyster cards.

Not quite. The PAYG component of an Oystercard is valid for the number
of journeys that can be made with the current stored value on the card.
If you store sufficient value on it (say 10GBP) and reach the price cap
for the fare zones you travel in, you can make unlimited journeys for
the rest of the day.


I do see that one-day Travelcards are continuing, albeit at a slightly
higher rate than Oyster fares, but what I can't tell is what I do with
them at stations. Are they still the National Rail-sized card tickets to
go in NR-style barriers, have they been changed to "touch in and out" in
an Oyster-style way (something I've never done, having not been to London
for several years), do I have to go to the side gate and show actual
staff, what?

The magnetic readers are still in situ and still in use at all LU
stations. A standard magnetic ODTC will work the gates just fine.


Also, there seems to be an implication that paper Travelcards' days are
numbered. If that's so, then will there be no *unlimited-validity* day
tickets suitable for day trippers like me who don't want either a PAYG
system or an "account"? And will there be any way to have a ticket valid
on (nearly) *all* London National Rail services, as I see Oyster cards
are not. If not, why not?

ODTCs will continue as magnetic tickets. It's the period travelcards
that are being stamped out and replaced with Oyster - I believe it is
now almost impossible to get magnetic weekly/monthly/yearly travelcards
from LU stations. AFAIK it is still possible at NR stations.

And Oyster cards ARE valid everywhere within Greater London - just not
PAYG-only cards. If you load a 7-day travelcard onto your Oyster, you
can go anywhere on any transport mode you want within the zonal
validity of the travelcard. The only danger is a stroppy RPI, but
that's what the record card that the ticket office gives you is for.

*cue Paul Corfield*