OK, I've had a little think and realise that a couple of the
presumptions I made in my last post were probably a bit wide of the
mark, so I'm going to correct myself here!

Note that the other points and queries I made in my other post still
stand.


Mizter T wrote:

(big snip)

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.

I think, on reflection (given the use of the term"Watford Jn to Euston
inclusive") the above explanation is perhaps the more likely - i.e.
that the cheaper Oyster PAYG prices will apply on this line after
9:30am until 4pm, then again from 7pm. I presume the Euston - Watford
line is not heavily loaded during the day, so cheaper prices for
daytime travel might attract patronage.

If this is the case, then they're not doing a very good job of
actually explaining it to anyone!

And why do they use the term "local journeys"? Perhaps the booklet was
written, approved and printed before London Midland agreed to accept
Oyster PAYG on their trains between Watford Jn and Euston/ Harrow &
Wealdstone - so the phrase "local journeys" was meant to mean travel
on London Overground services only (because only loonies would take
the LO stopper all the way to Euston!).


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.)


And as a result of my reflection I now don't think that what I say
above is in fact the right explanation.

The question of what fares will be charged and when for journeys on
the Watford - Euston line remains somewhat unclear - and the question
of what fares will be charged when a passenger starts or finishes at
Watford Junction remains a very murky one!

Also will there be a "zone W" daily cap?

And lastly there is the reference on page 17 of the TfL Fares booklet,
which hints that peak and off-peak times for daily capping might be
different on London Overground and refers readers to page 21. I just
can't imagine that the times for the peak/off-peak cap will be any
different whatsoever if a passenger travels on London Overground than
if they travelled on LU or the DLR, which leads me to think this is
somewhat misleading.

All that said, I might be a complete idiot and have got it all wrong.