On 16 Dec, 00:13, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

(Paul Corfield) wrote:

Adult PAYG fares will be charged but there is a discounted daily off
peak cap. Note that it is only off peak travel that gains a
discount under this system.

Off-peak being defined how for this purpose, pray?


With regards to daily capping, the peak period has always been 0430 to
0930 weekdays except public holidays (0430 being the start of the
charging day for Oyster PAYG purposes, and 0930 the traditional end of
the peak period - for example with regards to off-peak Travelcards).

The two periods when different Oyster PAYG fares are payable - i.e.
more expensive during weekday daytimes (7am - 7pm) and less at all
other times - have never been described as peak or off-peak,
presumably so as not to confuse the situation with the above
definition of peak.


However all is not clear - there is something I've been intending to
query with regards to the new 2008 TfL Fares booklet - available here
as a PDF...

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...s-08-01-02.pdf


On page 17, underneath the table for the different Oyster daily
capping rates, there is this text - the first bit about peak/off-peak
times is exactly the same as I described above, it's the second bit
about London Overground (LO) that's interesting...

---quote---
On the Tube and DLR: peak times are
0430-0930 Monday to Friday (except
Public Holidays). Off-Peak is at all other times.

For details of peak and off-peak times on
London Overground, please see page 21.
---/quote---


OK, let's turn to page 21. There's a table of Oyster PAYG fares for
London Overground - and at the top of the table is the description for
the two columns - "(Monday to Friday from 0700 and before 1900)*"
and then
"(All other times including public holidays)".

If we follow the asterisk to the text under the column, we'll find
this intriguing footnote:

---quote---
*For local journeys, Watford Junction to Euston
inclusive, these fares apply as follows:
Towards Euston:
Monday to Friday from 0700 and before 0930.
From Euston:
Monday to Friday from 1600 and before 1900.
---/quote---


I'm genuinely confused as to what that means - it could mean that all
journeys on the Watford Jn - Euston line will be treated differently
to the rest of LU and LO in not just simply charging the more
expensive PAYG fare between 7am-7pm - in which case Bakerloo
passengers would also benefit from these cheaper fares on the shared
stretches.

Or it could mean that all journeys from or to Watford Jn only will be
treated in this manner. This is what I think it might be trying to
say, not least because the Watford Jn (or "zone W" in internal TfL
communications only) to Euston fares will be higher than other fares,
as they have to be agreed with London Midland. The problem is that
this fares booklet then doesn't publish those fares at all. (And this
would mean that Oyster PAYG fares from Watford Jn are set to increase,
as currently Watford Jn - Euston is £5.50, the same price as Watford
High St/zone 8 to Euston/zone 1.)

I'm really not sure about all that - and I haven't even got to the bit
about daily capping!

I'm sure that, as with LU, these different charging period for Oyster
PAYG on London Overground won't affect the fundamentals of daily price
capping - i.e. that the peak period for capping is 0430 to 0930
weekdays (except public holidays), all other times are off-peak.

Of course, as Watford Junction isn't in a zone ("zone W" being a term
solely intended for internal TfL use) then things get complicated
here. I suppose every journey to/from Watford Jn will be charged, and
there won't be any capping - thus someone who goes between Watford Jn
and Euston several times a day will be capped at the zones 1-8 cap,
plus will have a boundary zone 8 to Watford Jn fare charged on top of
that (which I guess could be the same as a Watford High St - Watford
Jn fare).

I really don't know - I can see all sorts of possibilities, but
without exact information on how things will be working to/from
Watford Junction, including a table of fares and confirmation of
whether there will be a "zone W" cap or not, it's all just
speculation. Paul C - can you help!!!