Late night Oyster

alywin · Post by **alywin** » 6 Mar 2010 01:32

Getting back(ish) to the original subject, here's something that was bugging me this evening. Coming back from Charing Cross, and knowing that I was going to miss the Crystal Palace loop train, I wondered what would happen if I chose to pick the train up at Clapham Junction? So I'd go Charing X - Waterloo East - Waterloo - CJ ... - might have been quicker and less hellish than changing at London Bridge has become. So, touch in at CHX, and then what do you do at Waterloo East? Touch out, and get charged a within-one-zone fare? Touch back in at Waterloo and out at Syd/CP/wherever? Or do you just simply not touch out at WE. But then presumably you have to touch in at W mainline in order to get through the ticket barriers. Does this confuse the Oystercard? I just want to make sure that I don't get charged more than my 2 quid.

I suppose the situation's really no different than if you get a train from CHX to LB, find you've missed the connection, and want to go off and buy something to eat/read from the concourse while you're waiting, except that there I've usually managed to persuade someone to let me out and in again without touching in.

noangel · Post by **noangel** » 8 Mar 2010 01:13

alywin - me again

I will assume you have a PAYG Oyster. Fares are capped so no matter how many times you touch in & out during the day you will be charged only the capped price. More info here http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/9261.aspx

In you touch in at Charing Cross you must touch out at Waterloo East or will you be over charged at the end of your journey. You do have to touch in at Waterloo Main station therefore must touch out at your end station. I think also if you don't touch out at WE your card will go into a tizz at Waterloo Main. You do know it's quicker to walk across the bridge from CC to Waterloo rather than wait on the train? Then again I am a fast walker.

Give this new travel solution ago but Clapham Junction can be a nightmare at times. The journey is longer and you do have a long wait if you miss a train. If you miss the last train you don't want to be hanging around that area of Clapham at night. Plus it's two night buses home!! I use to do that journey, CJ to SYD a year ago and I always ensured I had a good book on me. But that was a year ago. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Weeble · Post by **Weeble** » 8 Mar 2010 07:58

noangel wrote:alywin - me again I will assume you have a PAYG Oyster. Fares are capped so no matter how many times you touch in & out during the day you will be charged only the capped price. More info here http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/9261.aspx

I don't think the daily price cap is the issue - it's whether Charing X > Waterloo East and Waterloo > Clapham Junction is charged as one journey or two.

I noticed the other day when I made a journey the other day from Sydenham > Charing X and then Charing X to Paddington by underground, when I checked my Oyster record I'd been charged £0 for the Sydenham to Charing X journey, then I had another journey Sydenham > Paddington for which I'd been charged about £3.

So it does seem to have some facility to make sense of consecutive journeys which should only be charged once, even including on the underground which surprised me. Quite what the in's and out's are of how it works, I don't know.

noangel · Post by **noangel** » 8 Mar 2010 13:27

Sorry I misunderstood

But I still stick with my suggestion of walking from CC to Waterloo to avoid that hassle. It's only 10 mins which is probably the time it would take to get the train to WE then walk through to Waterloo Main.

rbmartin · Post by **rbmartin** » 20 Mar 2010 19:40

Weeble wrote:
I noticed the other day when I made a journey the other day from Sydenham > Charing X and then Charing X to Paddington by underground, when I checked my Oyster record I'd been charged £0 for the Sydenham to Charing X journey, then I had another journey Sydenham > Paddington for which I'd been charged about £3.

So it does seem to have some facility to make sense of consecutive journeys which should only be charged once, even including on the underground which surprised me. Quite what the in's and out's are of how it works, I don't know.

You're charged the National Rail oyster single to Zone 1 which is £2 (£2.60 peak) then £1.10 to use the tube which is charged as a combined fare of £3.10. (£3.70 peak)

bobmcbob · Post by **bobmcbob** » 20 Mar 2010 20:56

Getting back(ish) to the original subject, here's something that was bugging me this evening. Coming back from Charing Cross, and knowing that I was going to miss the Crystal Palace loop train, I wondered what would happen if I chose to pick the train up at Clapham Junction? So I'd go Charing X - Waterloo East - Waterloo - CJ ... - might have been quicker and less hellish than changing at London Bridge has become. So, touch in at CHX, and then what do you do at Waterloo East? Touch out, and get charged a within-one-zone fare? Touch back in at Waterloo and out at Syd/CP/wherever? Or do you just simply not touch out at WE. But then presumably you have to touch in at W mainline in order to get through the ticket barriers. Does this confuse the Oystercard? I just want to make sure that I don't get charged more than my 2 quid.

I've often travel to Stonebridge Park on the Overground, changing at Clapham junction. Half of the time my Oyster didn't open the gates at the other end, as apparently the 'journey has taken too long'. I never knew there was a time limit (afterall i'm a paying customer - its my business whether i wait longer for a train so i can get a seat) - So now I've gone back to using a paper season ticket...

alywin · Post by **alywin** » 21 Mar 2010 00:09

There is indeed a time limit, and it varies according to what time of day you're travelling. Think I saw it on the Oyster site somewhere. I always thought it was rather unrealistic.

LivesNearby · Post by **LivesNearby** » 26 Mar 2010 14:47

There's an article on Forest Hill's website explaining the intricacies of Oytser PAYG, maximum journey times and Out of Station Interchanges (such as Waterloo East - Waterloo)

leenewham · Post by **leenewham** » 26 Mar 2010 15:49

I stopped using my oyster when I used it to go into london, used it on tubes and buses thinking it would be capped and I was charged nearly 10 quid. It was a few years ago. Hopefully they sorted it but it certainly overcharged me and my wife on a few occasions.

I had a travelcard on it once and I went through one barrier and I couldn't get through. Somehow my card owned money. I'm not sure when I had paid for all the zones I had travelled through.

So I'll stick with paper! Never had any problems with it.

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Late night Oyster