On 7 Apr, 17:10, " wrote:

On Apr 7, 4:54 pm, wrote:

Where exactly are you touching in or out during all this? It sounds
like you're being issued the £3 unresolved journey penalty fare for
not touching in.

I'm touching in at Gunnersbury, taking the London Overground to
Willesden (on my Oyster Z2-3 weekly travelcard) and from there to
Watford Jn where I touch out.

That looks like there's something seriously wrong (or at least unfair)
with the system.

Gunnersbury to Watford Junction is 3.50GBP at that time on PAYG. But
Willesden Junction to Watford Junction would be 1GBP at that time. It
looks like you're being charged an extension at the the peak 3.50GBP
fare.


Yeah, this does seem wonky and whilst I can normally figure these
things out I'm a bit stuck in working out what's actually happening
here.

Considering the journey when using PAYG only (rather than using a
Travelcard and PAYG combo), then the cheaper daytime Oyster fares
available on the Euston - Watford Jn (London Overground) route are
nullified as soon as one transfers to the Underground (or indeed onto
other LO routes such as the NLL). This makes sense when one considers
people travelling in from Watford and changing to the Tube at Euston
for zone 1 destinations, but if one starts to look at journeys outside
zone 1 then things make less sense.

Thus the Gunnersbury to Willesden Jn PAYG fare is £1 at any time, and
the Willesden Jn to Watford Jn PAYG fare is also £1 (at the lower
'discount' Oyster rate that applies on this line at all times except
between 1600 and 1900 in this direction). In my mind the through fare
should really be charged at £2.

The TfL Fares Finder meanwhile quotes it as being £3.50 - which is in
fact the zones 3-W Oyster PAYG fare (the higher 'standard' - i.e. non-
discount - PAYG fare). This tallies with the definitive fares table in
the TfL December board papers - see page 48 of this 6.9MB PDF (the
entry is listed as 3456W***):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...s-dec-2007.pdf


But all this is without considering the Travelcard that's also loaded
on the Oyster card. This really should mean that system is aware that
the passenger only has to pay for the Willesden Jn to Watford Jn
stretch, which costs £1 (except between 1600 and 1900 when it costs
£3.50).

I'm curious as to whether the OP has made a mistake in saying that the
system charges him £3 rather than £3.50 - if it is £3.50 then this
would fit my hypothesis that the system either can't cope or hasn't
been configured to cope with journeys that are subject to two separate
Oyster PAYG fares brackets - i.e. 'standard' PAYG fares (weekdays
7am-7pm), and 'discount' PAYG fares (all other times, plus most of the
day on the Watford Jn - Euston line) - and simply defaults to charging
the more expensive fare.

Alternatively if the OP really is being charged £3 then perhaps
something even odder is going on, with the system charging the Euston
to Watford Jn fare (£3 'discount', £5.50 'standard').

I would certainly suggest that the OP contacts the Oyster helpline for
a refund - perhaps someone might look into this and change how things
are configured.

The other solution is Tim's...


I'd suggest getting a second PAYG card, touching out on your travel
card and then in on your PAYG card at willesden.


At the moment holders of Travelcards on Oyster don't actually need to
touch-out, so if there are still any standalone Oyster readers at
Willesden Jn then the OP could simply touch-in his second Oyster card
on one of them and that should work fine. Just don't get them muddled
up (different colour wallets is the obvious suggestion!).


The unresolved journey would be 5GBP.


Yes and no. The max cash fare 'penalty' for unresolved journeys is £4,
except where one has passed through a National Rail terminus stations
such as Euston, Liverpool St or Marylebone where it is £5.