I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

--
Clive Page

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:11:56 +0100
Clive Page wrote:
I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

Go to amersham and pay the difference when you get there.

B2003

On 19/06/2012 15:37, d wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:11:56 +0100
Clive wrote:
I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

Go to amersham and pay the difference when you get there.

Wrong answer - a penalty fare that way lies...

On 19/06/2012 15:47, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:11:56 +0100, Clive
wrote:

I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

Is your Travelcard is on magnetic ticket stock rather than on an
Oyster card?

If it is magnetic then you will need to pay a cash excess at a ticket
office before starting your journey.

It's also now possible to buy extension tickets from Tube ticket
machines (an possibility which is fairly new I think) - "Extension
tickets" is an option on the main menu screen.

On 19/06/2012 15:47, Paul Corfield wrote:
If it is magnetic then you will need to pay a cash excess at a ticket
office before starting your journey.

You could do as you suggest by breaking your journey at Moor Park
which is on the Z67 boundary by catching a Watford service, doing the
necessary at the ticket hall and going back up to catch an Amersham
train. A quick look shows a 7 minute gap between an arriving Watford
train and the next Amersham. A pain in the posterior I know but
feasible.

Thanks Paul - it will indeed be on a paper ticket because will have been
issued at a National Rail station. Changing at Moor Park would work,
but I agree that it's not ideal. It seems ridiculous to have to change
trains because the ticketing system is so intractable.

Actually I only just realised that Amersham is a national rail station
as well, so maybe I can buy in advance from an NR station an
out-boundary zone 6 to Amersham return before starting my journey.
That would obviously be valid (assuming such a ticket is available) on a
NR train from Marylebone in combination with my Z1-6 travelcard. It's
not clear to me whether it would also be valid on the Metropolitan line.
And I failed to work out how to find the cost on the National Rail
website.

I've been caught by these complications once before when going to
Watford - it seems high time the system was made simple enough that
ordinary mortals can understand it.

--
Clive Page

On 19/06/2012 17:35, Mizter T wrote:
It's also now possible to buy extension tickets from Tube ticket
machines (an possibility which is fairly new I think) - "Extension
tickets" is an option on the main menu screen.

So new I didn't know about it, and indeed it wouldn't have occurred to
me to try. Thanks.

--
Clive Page

On 19/06/2012 17:42, Clive Page wrote:

Thanks Paul - it will indeed be on a paper ticket because will have been
issued at a National Rail station. Changing at Moor Park would work, but
I agree that it's not ideal. It seems ridiculous to have to change
trains because the ticketing system is so intractable.

If you're starting from a station inside the Travelcard Area, you can
get an Amersham to Zones 1-6 Travelcard for £11.60, which is NR's
workaround to deal with Zones 7-9.

Cheers,

Barry

wrote:

Go to amersham and pay the difference when you get there.

Which will be a penalty fare, 50 quid now I believe.

The OP is right to seek to do it first.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

On 19/06/2012 15:47, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:11:56 +0100, Clive Page
wrote:

I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

Is your Travelcard is on magnetic ticket stock rather than on an
Oyster card?

If it is magnetic then you will need to pay a cash excess at a ticket
office before starting your journey.

You could do as you suggest by breaking your journey at Moor Park
which is on the Z67 boundary by catching a Watford service, doing the
necessary at the ticket hall and going back up to catch an Amersham
train. A quick look shows a 7 minute gap between an arriving Watford
train and the next Amersham. A pain in the posterior I know but
feasible.

If your Travelcard is on an Oyster Card you just need to make sure you
have added some PAYG value to your card and touch in and out as usual
and the excess fare will be deducted on exit at Amersham.


Why doesn;t he just pay the excess at Amersham, before exiting the system?

On 19/06/2012 23:52, wrote:

On 19/06/2012 15:47, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:11:56 +0100, Clive Page
wrote:

I may be going from central London to Amersham at the weekend - if so
will already have a travelcard which covers zones 1-6. I realise
Amersham is in Zone 9 and don't want to be clobbered with a penalty fare
on arrival. I would be happy to pay the excess from zones 6 to 9 by
Oyster Card, but I don't see how to do it. The train is hardly likely
to stop at a station in the boundary area long enough to allow me to hop
off, find an Oyster Validator, and hop on again, but with only about one
train every 30 mins, waiting for the next one isn't attractive.

I can't find anything about this on the TfL website, but it must be a
non-uncommon problem. Does anyone know how to solve it?

Is your Travelcard is on magnetic ticket stock rather than on an
Oyster card?

If it is magnetic then you will need to pay a cash excess at a ticket
office before starting your journey.

You could do as you suggest by breaking your journey at Moor Park
which is on the Z67 boundary by catching a Watford service, doing the
necessary at the ticket hall and going back up to catch an Amersham
train. A quick look shows a 7 minute gap between an arriving Watford
train and the next Amersham. A pain in the posterior I know but
feasible.

If your Travelcard is on an Oyster Card you just need to make sure you
have added some PAYG value to your card and touch in and out as usual
and the excess fare will be deducted on exit at Amersham.

Why doesn't he just pay the excess at Amersham, before exiting the system?


You're something like twenty years out of date...

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14436.aspx