As it hasn't been mentioned here yet I thought I'd share with you
something I noticed a few weeks ago on the TfL website - there has
been a relatively minor change in the way Oyster daily price capping
operates on the extremities of the Metropolitan line, which is
nonetheless to the benefit of passengers.


-----
Source - scroll down on this webpage concerning price capping on the
Tube and DLR to see the quoted text:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/singlefares/5196.aspx
-----

Changes to daily price capping from stations north of Moor Park from 9
September 2007

If you travel on Mondays to Fridays after the following times from
stations north of Moor Park, your Oyster single fare will now count
towards the off-peak cap instead of the peak cap.

Chesham Station
Touch in after 09.00

Amersham Station
Touch in after 09.10

Chalfont & Latimer Station
Touch in after 09.15

Chorleywood Station
Touch in after 09:15

Rickmansworth Station
Touch in after 09:20
-----


This change is reminiscent of the so-called "easements" on National
Rail that allow off-peak Day Travelcards and cheap-day returns to
London to be used before 0930 from a number of stations that are quite
distant from London, and thus allow for passengers to benefit from off-
peak fares and arrive in London a bit earlier than they otherwise
would be able to.

It should be noted that to take advantage of this on the Met
passengers have to ensure they touch-in on or after the specified
time. A quick check of the journey planner states that at Amersham,
for example, the first train after 0910 is at 0913 - so pax would have
to hang back until the time had gone 0910 and then pass through the
gate and await the train. One would hope that any clocks visible to
passengers (or, indeed, staff) at these stations are accurate!

There's nothing that excludes Chiltern Railways from this change, so
pax could use Chiltern services for all or part of their journey - for
example boarding the 0924 from Amersham to get to Harrow-on-the-Hill
or Marylebone.

A small bit of good news for pax from Bucks.

"Mizter T" wrote in message
oups.com...
As it hasn't been mentioned here yet I thought I'd share with you
something I noticed a few weeks ago on the TfL website - there has
been a relatively minor change in the way Oyster daily price capping
operates on the extremities of the Metropolitan line, which is
nonetheless to the benefit of passengers.


-----
Source - scroll down on this webpage concerning price capping on the
Tube and DLR to see the quoted text:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/singlefares/5196.aspx

I see at the bottom of the page there is a link to 'maximum cash fare' so I
thought I'd follow it, cos there have been a few threads recently
complaining that it isn't easy to find the value of said fare. But the link
simply takes you to the current Oyster 'most popular questions'. Is this
intentionally misleading or just a cockup?

To be fair 'maximum cash fare' does find the info when entered into the
keyword search, but why isn't it defined in the normal fares literature?

Paul S

On Oct 14, 3:49 pm, Mizter T wrote:
One would hope that any clocks visible to
passengers (or, indeed, staff) at these stations are accurate!

I wouldn't count on it myself... because there are 3 clocks at
Amersham Station, and they are all about a minute different to each
other. There is one reason for this though - they are mechanical
(rather than nuclear) clocks, and therefore they can't be expected to
stay accurate. LU don't change the times on clocks unless they are 3
minutes or more wrong, because they are for use as a guide only. As
is the timetable.

Mind you, they should all be set right tonight, what with daylight
savings time etc...

As for maximum cash fares, this is not entirely true. The maximum
cash fare is £7.00, being a single from zone 1 to zone D (Amersham and
Chesham). The Oyster charge, as a penalty for an incomplete journey,
is £4.00, being a single fair for any zones (other than A to D)
including 1. If the incomplete (or unstarted) journey is made to/from
a National Rail station, this is increased to £5.00. Consider that a
zone 1 only single is £1.50, and other local journeys start from £1,
thats still incentive to use your Oyster properly.

So - the "maximum cash fare" for not using an Oyster properly, is £4
for LU stations, and £5 if a NR station is involved. Incidentally,
the gates will automatically deduct £4, or £5 as you enter a station,
and the correct fare is adjusted when you touch out the other end.