On 25 Jan, 11:47, Andy wrote:
This Saturday there is engineering work which means the the West
Ruislip - Marylebone services are diverted to Paddington. Currently
Oyster PAYG is valid on the Marylebone route, but not into Paddington
(this being on the list for spring 2008). Does anyone know if
provision has made for people touching in at West Ruislip and then not
being able to touch out at Paddington during the diversion? Will the
be posters saying that PAYG is not available or will people have to
phone up about unresolved journeys.


I did think about this issue when I noticed the exact same scenario a
few weekends ago. To be honest I very much doubt that there is any
provision for Oyster PAYG on these journeys, as I'm pretty sure Oyster
PAYG just isn't valid for that route - even when trains are diverted
because of planned engineering works. (Besides, I have never come
across any type of temporary, portable Oyster reader that could be
used for this purpose.)

I'd simply suggest that Oyster PAYG is not valid on these services.
Whether Chiltern Railways posters will specifically state this
information I cannot say - their website's section on planned changes
to services certainly doesn't mention Oyster PAYG at all.

However might I propose that Chiltern would argue they already have
this situation covered, because existing publicity already states that
Oyster PAYG is not valid from West/South Ruislip to Paddington. This
is explicitly stated on posters at West Ruislip, because there already
one train every weekday (the 10.12) from West Ruislip to into
Paddington (though the return working does not call at either South or
West Ruislip). Chiltern's posters at West Ruislip alert passengers to
the fact Oyster PAYG cannot be used on this Paddington-bound train,
and therefore they need a paper ticket to use this service.

In addition the fact that PAYG cannot (currently) be used into
Paddington is shown on the map of valid routes for "Oyster PAYG on
National Rail", which should be displayed on posters at stations
served by National Rail routes which accept PAYG, and is also widely
distributed as a leaflet and can also be found via a link on this page
on the National Rail website that details the validity of Oyster on
National Rail:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_...ystercard.html

Or here's a direct link to that map (PDF):
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system...OysterPAYG.pdf


It's also worth bearing in mind that, with regards to saturdays
diverted trains, on the West Ruislip to Paddington stretch of the
journey trains are timetabled at just over 30 minutes - which is
basically the same journey time as the Central line from West Ruislip
to Lancaster Gate (which is just around the corner from Paddington),
which takes 32 minutes. However it is true that the return Chiltern
working from Paddington to West Ruislip takes only 20 minutes.

All in all I don't really consider the lack of ability to use Oyster
PAYG between West Ruislip and Paddington this saturday a major
hardship - and it is a situation that will be resolved in the near
future when the new gates go in at Paddington that will enable PAYG to
be accepted on this and other routes.

Let's say however that this saturday a passenger using Oyster PAYG
gets on a Chiltern train at West Ruislip anyway. First off they may
well have to contend with the guard (bearing in mind that Oyster PAYG
is not valid on this route, AFAICS anyway) - but let's say the guard
lets them off. Once they arrive at Paddington they'll need to (or at
least want to) touch-out - and it can be done...

At the moment passengers can reach the Hammersmith and City line
platforms without passing through a gate, and on those platforms are a
couple of standalone Oyster readers. The way to get there without
passing through a gate is to get onto platforms 13/14 (it's likely
that the Chiltern train will arrive on one of these platforms anyway)
then go up the stairs onto the overbridge and then down onto the H&C
line platforms - voila, you can touch-out, and you won't get an
unresolved journey.


I would hope that there would be some information at West Ruislip that
explicitly makes this all clear - as I remember it, the existing
poster is merely concerned with the single daily weekday service to
Paddington. However, unfortunately I would't be in the least bit
surprised to find that there wasn't any such specific info at West
Ruislip regarding saturday's altered services.