Last week I sent the following email to oyster customer services:

"I'm glad to see daily pre-pay is now becoming available with
discounts but the information on fares makes no mention of 1-day
travelcards. I had assumed that a pre-pay Oyster would only debit the
value of the appropriate 1-day travelcard if this was less than your
accrued single fares in a day. Is this not the case?"

Today I received this reply:

"Thank you for your email regarding Oyster card pre-pay. Pre-pay will
be available on Oyster card from January 2004. Initially Pre-pay will
only be available on London Underground and Docklands Light Railway.
Each time you validate your card at the beginning and end of your
journey the single fare will be taken off your Pre-pay account.

From March 2004 you will also be able to use your Pre-pay Oyster card
on London Buses and this is when fare capping will be introduced.
Your card will then recognise that you have made multiple journeys and
will take off the cheapest fare available for the journeys that you
have made.

If you need any further assistance or questions regarding your Oyster
card please do not hesitate to contact the Oyster card helpdesk."

On 15 Dec 2003 03:06:52 -0800, (umpston) wrote:

[snip]
From March 2004 you will also be able to use your Pre-pay Oyster card
on London Buses and this is when fare capping will be introduced.
Your card will then recognise that you have made multiple journeys and
will take off the cheapest fare available for the journeys that you
have made.

Hmmm - that is a rather odd answer to me. If fares are capped to the
price of the equivalent day ticket for the zones travelled through there
should come a point where no more deductions are made because you've
reached the cap. That is not how I read the answer you received - i.e.
to take off the cheapest fare for each trip made. It would only work if
there is a price of zero pence.

Methinks I need to talk to the Prestige team!
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 21:15:33 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote in :
On 15 Dec 2003 03:06:52 -0800, (umpston) wrote:

[snip]
From March 2004 you will also be able to use your Pre-pay Oyster card
on London Buses and this is when fare capping will be introduced.
Your card will then recognise that you have made multiple journeys and
will take off the cheapest fare available for the journeys that you
have made.

Hmmm - that is a rather odd answer to me. If fares are capped to the
price of the equivalent day ticket for the zones travelled through there
should come a point where no more deductions are made because you've
reached the cap. That is not how I read the answer you received - i.e.
to take off the cheapest fare for each trip made. It would only work if
there is a price of zero pence.

I read it differently, Paul. It says "...for the journeys...",
not "...for each journey..."; I take it to mean the totality of the
journeys, not each one individually.

Methinks I need to talk to the Prestige team!

But yes, a clarification wouldn't go astray. ;-)

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

Paul Corfield wrote in message . ..
On 15 Dec 2003 03:06:52 -0800, (umpston) wrote:

[snip]
From March 2004 you will also be able to use your Pre-pay Oyster card
on London Buses and this is when fare capping will be introduced.
Your card will then recognise that you have made multiple journeys and
will take off the cheapest fare available for the journeys that you
have made.

Hmmm - that is a rather odd answer to me. If fares are capped to the
price of the equivalent day ticket for the zones travelled through there
should come a point where no more deductions are made because you've
reached the cap. That is not how I read the answer you received - i.e.
to take off the cheapest fare for each trip made. It would only work if
there is a price of zero pence.

I think I disagree with your logic since it says "cheapest fare
available for the journeys" (plural) - not for each trip.