On 19 Jan 2007 12:33:26 -0800, "Mizter T" wrote:

Neal wrote:

tkd wrote:

Is it possible to set up a YP railcard on Oyster prepay, so that if I use
it the maximum I would pay off peak would be 50p cheaper than the cheapest
travel card ie £4.30.

I can buy a paper ticket zone 1-D off peak for £4.80

No. If you are studying at a London University you can get an 'Student
Oyster Photocard' that gives you 30% off weekly and longer tickets. It can
also hold PAYG balance, but there is no discount.

Will this need to be addressed now that the mayor wants all the TOCs in
London to accept Oyster PAYG?

I'd say it's _incredibly_ unlikely that railcard discounts will feature
as part of the Oyster PAYG system, end of story.

I think I agree with that bit.

Oyster PAYG fares are already cheaper than their equivalent cash/paper
ticket fares, and it seems highly likely that the Oyster PAYG fare
table used on LU will be adopted without any changes on National Rail
once TOCs start accepting it (at least for journeys within the six
London zones - both Chiltern and c2c are looking to utilise Oyster PAYG
for at least part of their routes outside the zones, but how such
journeys will be priced is unclear at present).

Why is it highly likely? Even on a zonal basis we have 4 fare scales in
use - LU cash, LU PAYG, NR zonal cash, tube-train zonal cash. Do we
really want NR zonal PAYG and tube-train zonal PAYG being different
again? Maybe not but I suspect they will be the same as the cash fare or
else only offer a very small discount.

I'm struggling to see how the TOCs could afford to finance the adoption
of the LU PAYG scale given the deep discounting off peak. They've
already had to swallow the introduction of NR zonal that I doubt they
like very much and as it becomes apparent as to how passengers adjust to
it they may become more or less enthusiastic about what is happening to
their bottom lines over the next few months.

My own view is that it is very unclear at this stage as to what cash and
Oyster fares will look like on the NR network and for through journeys.
Whatever happens with the Overground concession may start to give us
some clues.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!