Hi! Just back from the UK. In London I remembered what someone mentioned
here -- that there's a little screen at the gates to the Underground
where you can see your Oyster balance as you're about to pass through.
Yes. And no. My first station had it. I was overjoyed (well...). After
that it was iffy. Some stations had screens, some had them but they
didn't work, and some didn't have them at all.

At Queensway one evening I hesitated while peering at the little screen
and then the gate wouldn't let me through. I compounded this sin by
touching the sensor with my Oyster again. I was still stuck, only now I
had about 100 tired commuters behind me saying to go see the station
master.

Really long story short, I got electro-charged 2 more fares by the time
I was liberated, but I had the money put back by the fare booth man up
the road at Bayswater. (Something told me to check my balance.) He
printed out a slip of paper with all my underground journeys!

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money. It's
now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time. Last year
I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of money on a
given day within your zones.

Cat

"redcat" wrote in message
m


Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money. It's
now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time. Last
year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of money
on a given day within your zones.

Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central London
lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every ten minutes
or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much lower
than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the rules are
complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster is now valid on
more NR routes. This means you're less likely to benefit from it than in
the past.

Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
m

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money. It's
now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time. Last
year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of money
on a given day within your zones.

Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central London
lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every ten minutes
or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much lower
than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the rules are
complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster is now valid on
more NR routes. This means you're less likely to benefit from it than in
the past.


Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That daily
cap for us was £7.20. I see the bus cap is really reasonable. I enjoy
the buses. But it seems the one I want is always zooming by, yet when I
get to the stop to wait for the same number bus it never comes. The 38
along Piccadilly - Victoria comes to mind.

rc

"redcat" wrote in message
m
Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
m

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money.
It's now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time.
Last year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of
money on a given day within your zones.

Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central
London lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every
ten minutes or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much
lower than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the
rules are complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster
is now valid on more NR routes. This means you're less likely to
benefit from it than in the past.


Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That
daily cap for us was £7.20.

No, the peak fare capping is triggered if you travel before 9:30 (or
such trips are left out of the off-peak cap).

Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
m
Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
m

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money.
It's now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time.
Last year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of
money on a given day within your zones.
Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central
London lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every
ten minutes or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much
lower than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the
rules are complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster
is now valid on more NR routes. This means you're less likely to
benefit from it than in the past.


Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That
daily cap for us was £7.20.

No, the peak fare capping is triggered if you travel before 9:30 (or
such trips are left out of the off-peak cap).


Hmmmmmm. OK, I see. Travelling at rush hour in the evening I would pay
the peak oyster fare for that time. Still, take a couple of trips at
that time and you're up to the £7.20, anyway, even if you started your
Underground day after 9:29 am. Correct?

On 21 May, 13:04, redcat wrote:
Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
om
Recliner wrote:
"redcat" wrote in message
news:jd6dncx9svR0WGjWnZ2dnUVZ_sOdnZ2d@earthlink .com

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money.
It's now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time.
Last year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of
money on a given day within your zones.
Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central
London lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every
ten minutes or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much
lower than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the
rules are complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster
is now valid on more NR routes. This means you're less likely to
benefit from it than in the past.

Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That
daily cap for us was £7.20.

No, the peak fare capping is triggered if you travel before 9:30 (or
such trips are left out of the off-peak cap).

Hmmmmmm. OK, I see. Travelling at rush hour in the evening I would pay
the peak oyster fare for that time.

Yes - but you are only subject to the off-peak daily caps during the
evening peak.

Still, take a couple of trips at
that time and you're up to the £7.20, anyway, even if you started your
Underground day after 9:29 am. Correct?

Not quite sure what you mean by that. If you only travel after 09:30
on weekdays then you can only ever be subject to the off-peak cap
(which applies up to 04:29 the next day).

The important thing to note is that the peak periods for single PAYG
fares and for capping purposes is different - for single fares the
peak period is 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00 weekdays, whilst for
capping purposes the peak period is 04:30-09:30 (with no evening
period).

On May 21, 12:39 pm, "Recliner" wrote:

"redcat" wrote:

Recliner wrote:

"redcat" wrote:

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money.
It's now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time.
Last year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of
money on a given day within your zones.

Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central
London lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every
ten minutes or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much
lower than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the
rules are complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster
is now valid on more NR routes. This means you're less likely to
benefit from it than in the past.

Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That
daily cap for us was £7.20.

No, the peak fare capping is triggered if you travel before 9:30 (or
such trips are left out of the off-peak cap).

Correct - however doing just a single z1 Tube journey before 09:30
will mean that one is capped at the peak UKP7.20 rate for z1&2 travel
- that is if one stays within z1&2 for the rest of the day of course
(or if one only ventures beyind on buses, which aren't zonal).

On 21 May, 13:53, Mizter T wrote:
On May 21, 12:39 pm, "Recliner" wrote:





"redcat" wrote:

Recliner wrote:

"redcat" wrote:

Trains ran very smoothly, btw, and I lucked out with timing, hardly
having to wait for them at all. Was I just fortunate? Or have things
improved? I notice the Oyster no longer works to save you money.
It's now L1.80 per journey (in zone 1&2 for me)each and every time.
Last year I seem to recall you wouldn't go over a certain amount of
money on a given day within your zones.

Yes, there's usually a pretty frequent service on all the central
London lines. It's sparser on the more distant branches (eg, every
ten minutes or so).

Oyster definitely saves you money. Not only are Oyster fares much
lower than cash fares, but there is still day capping. However, the
rules are complex and the cap is now higher than before, as Oyster
is now valid on more NR routes. This means you're less likely to
benefit from it than in the past.

Thanks, that makes sense. I guess the peak fare capping was triggered
each day by us travelling after 4 pm. Well, who doesn't? :-) That
daily cap for us was £7.20.

No, the peak fare capping is triggered if you travel before 9:30 (or
such trips are left out of the off-peak cap).

Correct - however doing just a single z1 Tube journey before 09:30
will mean that one is capped at the peak UKP7.20 rate for z1&2 travel
- that is if one stays within z1&2 for the rest of the day of course
(or if one only ventures beyind on buses, which aren't zonal).

.... because £5.60 plus £1.80 is more than £7.20 anyway, but a zone 2
peak journey wouldn't stop your off-peak travel being capped at £5.60,
resulting in a total of £6.90 no matter how much off-peak zone 1 - 2
travel you did.

One thing I am not clear on: now that there is no different peak fare
for buses, does a bus journey before 0930 get included in the off-peak
cap, or result in, say, £6.80?

On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 07:29:54PM -0400, redcat wrote:

At Queensway one evening I hesitated while peering at the little screen
and then the gate wouldn't let me through. I compounded this sin by
touching the sensor with my Oyster again. I was still stuck, only now I
had about 100 tired commuters behind me saying to go see the station
master.

Really long story short, I got electro-charged 2 more fares by the time
I was liberated, but I had the money put back by the fare booth man up
the road at Bayswater. (Something told me to check my balance.) He
printed out a slip of paper with all my underground journeys!

But remember, Oyster is easy to use and so much more convenient than
proper tickets!

--
David Cantrell | London Perl Mongers Deputy Chief Heretic

comparative and superlative explained:

Huhn worse, worser, worsest, worsted, wasted

David Cantrell wrote:
On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 07:29:54PM -0400, redcat wrote:

At Queensway one evening I hesitated while peering at the little screen
and then the gate wouldn't let me through. I compounded this sin by
touching the sensor with my Oyster again. I was still stuck, only now I
had about 100 tired commuters behind me saying to go see the station
master.

Really long story short, I got electro-charged 2 more fares by the time
I was liberated, but I had the money put back by the fare booth man up
the road at Bayswater. (Something told me to check my balance.) He
printed out a slip of paper with all my underground journeys!

But remember, Oyster is easy to use and so much more convenient than
proper tickets!


It is. I like it. As long as don't get stuck again. But now I know --
just touch the Oyster and keep walking! :-)

rc