On May 29, 12:24*am, wrote:

On 29 May, 00:04, Mizter T wrote:

On May 28, 11:42*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Thu, 28 May 2009 15:21:00 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Hello!

Just recently noticed the prepay oyster readers (as in the stand-alone
on platform ones for when the ticket office area is closed and
passengers enter through an open gate) have appeared, albeit covered
up at the moment, at Crayford station in Z6 which is a Nat Rail
station.

Obviously this means that they are extending the payg system to
National Rail in London, but the million dollar question is will my
"Bus Operator" staff pass be valid on these services once Pay as you
go is active - as it has become on the new London Overground out to
watford etc?

There has been no info whatsoever published about if or how staff
facilities will be handled on National Rail PAYG. * If you are a bus
company employee that does not have privilege ticket facilities as a
result of being a former LT employee (prior to rail privatisation) I
would doubt very much if there will be any extension of validity. *Even
for those of us with NR privilege facilities I'd be surprised if the
TOCs mirror what LUL has done in providing a priv rate PAYG facility -
they'll probably prefer that people queue at ticket offices!

I'd have thought the TOCs might quite like the idea of getting priv
rate folks away from clogging up their ticket queues - you obviously
think otherwise! Would there be any possibility of activating the TfL
staff Oyster passes of qualifying employees for priv rate PAYG on NR -
or are they programmed in such a way so as to preclude them from ever
being used as an 'electronic purse' for PAYG purposes?

Overground concessions are funded by TfL - I wasn't aware they'd been
extended to bus employees unless you work for East Thames Buses?

I thought everyone with a TfL staff pass got free travel on all TfL
services, including the entire London Overground network?

Thats what my line of thinking was, that the passes were a "bottomless
purse" or such for any purchases that one could usually use Pay as you
go for. Just need to know if this will exclude the NR services when
they are PAYG enabled!


Hi Tom, sorry I think we've got our wires crossed a little bit!

I don't think for a second that TfL Staff Passes will be valid on
National Rail (NR) at all whatsoever, even when Oyster PAYG is
(eventually) introduced on NR - indeed, there are already NR routes
where one can use Oyster PAYG but cannot use a TfL Staff Pass - e.g.
Rainham to Barking, West Drayton to West Ealing [1].

(I am no expert at all on TfL Staff Passes so I'm unclear on whether
they are valid on NR routes where interavailable ticketing applies,
e.g. Stratford to Liverpool Street.)

When I was talking about the possibility of TfL Staff Passes being
enabled for an 'electronic purse' facility, I was thinking of those
TfL staff who get priv rate travel on NR and whether they could pay
for that priv rate travel using their TfL Staff Pass - their TfL Staff
Pass in effect acting as a normal Oyster card albeit one that affords
the holder priv rate fares as opposed to full rate fares.

Unfortunately bus company employees (apart from ex-LT employees from
pre-rail privatisation days) don't get priv rate fares on NR.

When Oyster PAYG eventually comes to Crayford, I'm afraid that you'll
have to pay the full whack fare along with everyone else - and it also
seems quite likely that single Oyster PAYG fares on NR won't actually
be any cheaper than their paper/printed equivalent.

Just to be super-clear about this, when I referred to "London
Overground" I was specifically referring to those mainline railway
services that are branded as such and are now the responsibility of
TfL - all of these routes are however north of the river, see (PDF):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...etwork-map.pdf


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[1] The National Rail routes on which Oyster PAYG can be used are
explained here - also see the accompanying PDF map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/5823.aspx