"Barry Salter" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,

As has been reported in the past, the extension of Oyster PAYG to
National Rail will see an end to the current fixed maximum journey
time of 2.5 hours for certain journeys. Instead, a *variable* maximum
will be applied when you touch out, based on the zones travelled
through.

The latest list of stations affected by this has now appeared, and
reads as follows:

Acton Town Hammersmith (D&P) Southall (NR)
Amersham Hanger Lane Sudbury & Harrow Rd
(NR)
Bank / Monument Hayes & Harlington (NR) Sudbury Hill
Barking Kenton Sudbury Hill Harrow
(NR)
Bond Street Liverpool St (LU & NR) Upminster
Camden Road (LO) Mile End Victoria
Camden Town Northwick Park West Drayton (NR)
Canary Wharf (LU & DLR) Paddington (LU & NR) West Ham
Canning Town Park Royal West Hampstead (LU &
NR)
Earl's Court Poplar (DLR) Westminster
Euston (LU & NR) Rayners Lane White City
Greenford Royal Victoria (DLR) Wimbledon
Gunnersbury Shepherd's Bush (Cen) Wood Lane
Hammersmith (C&H) Shepherd's Bush (NR) Woolwich Arsenal (DLR)

I have made a FOI request to TfL for more details on what these variable
journey times are - below is the answer.

*****
For most journeys made with Oyster pay as you go, a standard maximum
time limit of 150 minutes currently applies at all times.

However, as part of plans to extend Oyster pay as you go to the
remainder of National Rail stations in London, we have agreed with the
National Rail train companies that we will have arrangement in which
Maximum Journey Times (MJTs) vary;

(a) by day/time of travel and
(b) according the number of zone boundaries crossed in the journey.

The new variable Maximum Journey Times require an update to the Oyster
software and this new software is now being rolled out progressively for
test purposes. At the time of this reply variable Maximum Journey Times
apply for journeys made to any of approximately 50 test stations
[presumably the stations Barry has listed above]. Depending on the
success of future test stages we plan to have the variable Maximum
Journey Times active system-wide by September. The table below
summarises how the variable Maximum Journey Times work (times in
minutes).

Monday - Friday before 1900 hrs
Travel within one zone - 70 mins
Each additional zone (e.g. a journey from Zone 6 to Zone 6 via Zone 1,
would be 10 additional zones) - 10 mins

Monday to Friday after 1900 and Saturday
Travel within one zone - 77 mins
Each additional zone - 11 mins

Sunday
Travel within one zone - 84 mins
Each additional zone - 12 mins
*****

Peter Smyth