On 6 Nov, 12:57, "Paul Scott" wrote:
"Charles Ellson" wrote in message

...

Received from Oyster Customer Services:-

I am writing to inform you about the new train service managed
by TFL, the London Overground. This new service starts operating from
11 November 2007, when TfL takes over the running of the North
London, West London, Gospel Oak to Barking and Euston/Watford
Junction local lines.

I suspect the "new train service" will be the same "old train service"
with new vinyls for some time to come as the first mention of anything
substantial is new trains in 2009 in:-

Not even new vinyls, just removal of the 'Silverlink' name.

Paul

But Oyster PAYG will be accepted from Day One, throughout the
"Overground" network, even to Watford Jct., which is a big change.
And, according to a thread on uk.transport.london, Hampstead Heath
and Willesden Jct. will be re-zoned back to Zone 2 (or maybe 2/3) as
they were until about 10 years ago, so a pax holding a z12 travelcard
could go anywhere between Acton - Hackney Wick without having to worry
about excess fares.

The only problem I foresee is many Londoners, especially the habitual
tube-users, refer to what the rest of us call "the railway" or "the
train" as "the overground", eg "I took the overground from Walthamstow
to Liverpool St rather than using the tube".

It's hard enough when people ask if they can use "an Oyster Card" to
Bruce Grove, say, to explain that if it is a Travelcard with enough
zones on it they can, but if it is a PAYG, or a z1-2 plus PAYG, then
they have to buy a separate paper ticket, especially if English is not
their first language, as is common in that area. I find using the
expression "top-up Oyster card", rather than PAYG, is more
comprehensible to a lot of people. Even among my friends locally in
Romford, many don't see the distinction until it is explained pretty
slowly! In the pub one day I was subjected to a diatribe about "Phil
went to Sutton on his Oyster Card, and got fined when he got to
Sutton".

When it becomes known that you can use PAYG on what my namesake has
decided to call "The Overground", thousands of people will take this
to mean you can use PAYG on "the overground", i.e. all NR lines in
London, and most probably beyond. It will be confusing enough that
the distinction between "you can't use PAYG on overground trains, only
buses and tubes[1]" and "you can use a Travelcard on Oyster anywhere
in the zones which it covers, on tubes and trains, just like a paper
Travelcard [2]" will have been lost, but "you can't use PAYG/top-up on
overground trains, except Overground trains" is going to be a recipe
for total confusion.

[1] Except between two "overground" stations that are also "tube"
stations, but this represents only a tiny fraction of NR train
journeys.
[2] And, of course, on any TfL bus in any zone.

--
Ken
cross-posted to u.t.l