On 15 Feb, 11:23, wrote:
This is especially for Mizter T but I hope that it may be of benefit
to others.
You may recall my proposed journey Greenford - Camden *Road via
Shepherd's Bush (London *Overground), nor crossing into *Z1 and the
availability of my z2-6 YPRC cap on Oyster. * I was told that perhaps
breaking my journey at *White City may force the cap. Well here is
what happened.
I had to go to Stratford to meet some friends first.

Greenford - White City (Central Line ) = £1.10

Shepherd's Bush - Stratford ( London Overground, changing at Willesden
Junction) = £2.20

Stratford - Camden *Road ( London Overground) = £1.10

TOTAL = £4.40

[Z2-6 CAP = £3.00]

I had thought that going from ShepB to *Stratford via LO would have
resulted in my fare being capped, obviously this did not happen. I was
also charged for the Stratford - Camden Road journey. I queried this
with Ticket Staff and they said that to get from Shepherd's Bush to
Stratford I must have gone through Z1 and that I was going to reach my
cap for the day when my Oyster usage reached £5.80 ( 1-6 cap). When I
said I used LO via Willesden Junction and did not travel through Z1
they were flummoxed and said I should ring Customer Service. So *can
we conclude that Shepherds Bush (LO /WLL/NLL) - Stratford is a via
Zone 1 journey / fare *even though the obvious route of choice is not
via the central *line ( ie via z1) but via WLL/NLL ? Unfair ?
Incorrect ?


Yes, you can conclude that a Shepherd's Bush (LO/ WLL) to Stratford
journey is assumed to be via zone 1. I can tell you this because
that's what the TfL Fare finder tells me - specifically that the fare
from "Shepherd's Bush [London Overground]" to "Stratford" is either
£2.70 peak or £2.20 off-peak, and those are the zone 1-3 fares.

TfL Fare finder:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/fa...09/farefinder/

And yes, I do think it's daft. My guess as to why this is the case is
that perhaps both Shepherd's Bush Central line and WLL stations are
treated as kind of being the same station on the Oyster database,
either because the architecture of the Oyster database means this is
required (in order to maintain the out-of-station interchange) or
because it hasn't been thought through well enough.

If it is the former problem - that the system can't cope with it -
then I'd hope that the upcoming upgrade to the whole Oyster PAYG
system would resolve that.

If you look at the TfL fare finder you'll see that "Shepherd's Bush
[London Overground]" to "Camden Road" is charged at £1.10 (both peak
and off-peak) - therefore if you had broken your journey at White City
and travelled on from Shepherd's Bush (LO/WLL) only as far as Camden
Road then I'm confident you'd be in line for the zone 2-6 cap of £4.60
(or £3.00 with a Railcard). Going to Stratford unfortunately pushes it
over the edge to a via z1 fare.

I suppose you could try writing to Oyster customer services about this
- not the Shepherd's Bush out-of-station interchange issue (best to
keep it simple) but just the fact that journeys from Shepherd's Bush
(LO/WLL) to Stratford fares are charged as being via z1 even when you
travel on the NLL.