Oyster singles and through trips onto suburban rail at London terminals

[evil_hippo]

I am wondering whether, if one makes a continuous trip within the travelcard zones which involves an out-of-system connection between tube and national rail at a London terminal (for example, Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground to Ealing Broadway, changing at Paddington), one gets a free out-of-system connection, or one must pay for two journeys.

Thanks in advance.

 

[barrykas]

I am wondering whether, if one makes a continuous trip within the travelcard zones which involves an out-of-system connection between tube and national rail at a London terminal (for example, Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground to Ealing Broadway, changing at Paddington), one gets a free out-of-system connection, or one must pay for two journeys.

Providing you don't exceed the time limit for interchange (generally 40 minutes for LU -> NR and 15 minutes for NR -> LU), and the overall time limit for the zones you've passed through, it should be treated as one continuous journey.

This can, however, work against you if you only stay at your destination for a short time, as Oyster will try and treat the entire trip as one journey, and charge you for both an unfinished and an unstarted journey, which you then need to call the Helpdesk to resolve.

HTH,

Barry

 

[sonic2009]

Agree with You don't have to pay twice. When you tap out to come off the underground to change to FGW services at London Paddington. It will charge you between Kings X and Paddington on the Underground. Then when you tap out at Ealing Broadway, i think it automatically works out you have traveled from Kings X to Ealing Broadway and charges you the appropriate fare which should be :

£2.90
Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.

£2.50
At all other times including public holidays.

But as barrykas states do watch out for the recommended journey times.

 

[evil_hippo]

That 40 minutes for LU -> NR might just work in my favour if I want to grab some food at Paddington.

Thanks for the help.

 

[MikeWh]

I am wondering whether, if one makes a continuous trip within the travelcard zones which involves an out-of-system connection between tube and national rail at a London terminal (for example, Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground to Ealing Broadway, changing at Paddington), one gets a free out-of-system connection, or one must pay for two journeys.

It would be one journey. You have 40 minutes to get between touch out at the Underground and touch in at the NR platforms at Paddington. It's 20 minutes the other way because you are less likely to wait on the concourse for a train to be advertised. You can see a full list of these out-of-station-intercahnges on my website.

You do need to be aware of maximum journey times, as barrykas mentioned, but if you really are making the journey in one go then you won't hit a problem. Kings Cross to Ealing is a zone 1-3 journey which allows 110 minutes during the day and more evenings and at weekends. Again, there is a full list of the allowances on my website.

 

[island]

You don't have to pay twice. When you tap out to come off the underground to change to FGW services at London Paddington. It will charge you between Kings X and Paddington on the Underground. Then when you tap out at Ealing Broadway, i think it automatically works out you have traveled from Kings X to Ealing Broadway and charges you the appropriate fare which should be :

£2.90

Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
£2.50

At all other times including public holidays.

Agree with You don't have to pay twice. When you tap out to come off the underground to change to FGW services at London Paddington. It will charge you between Kings X and Paddington on the Underground. Then when you tap out at Ealing Broadway, i think it automatically works out you have traveled from Kings X to Ealing Broadway and charges you the appropriate fare which should be :

£2.90

Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
£2.50

At all other times including public holidays.

But as barrykas states do watch out for the recommended journey times.

To be clear, you must touch in at Paddington NR (which you'll likely need to do in order to get through the gates in any case), otherwise the system will not join the journeys and you will be charged a maximum cash fare of up to £6.50 at Ealing Broadway.

 

[evil_hippo]

To be clear, you must touch in at Paddington NR (which you'll likely need to do in order to get through the gates in any case), otherwise the system will not join the journeys and you will be charged a maximum cash fare of up to £6.50 at Ealing Broadway.

It's certainly always necessary to do so for suburban trains during the day, though not at night. I'll bear in mind to definitely remember to do so, thanks.

 

[bb21]

If you have a continuous journey from LU onto NR then you will be charged the National Rail Through Fare (half way down here) if the NR portion is a red route. If the NR portion is a green route, eg. Paddington - Ealing, then the whole journey will be charged as a through LU fare.

 

[MikeWh]

To be clear, you must touch in at Paddington NR (which you'll likely need to do in order to get through the gates in any case), otherwise the system will not join the journeys and you will be charged a maximum cash fare of up to £6.50 at Ealing Broadway.

It's certainly always necessary to do so for suburban trains during the day, though not at night. I'll bear in mind to definitely remember to do so, thanks.

You are quite right, but that is down to a "dumbing down" feature where the touch out at Paddington LU doesn't properly end the journey. Be aware though, if you meet an RPI between Paddington and Ealing Broadway they may not understand this feature, and you could be landed with a penalty fare. Guess what, more information is available on my website.

 

[swt_passenger]

You do need to be aware of maximum journey times, as barrykas mentioned, but if you really are making the journey in one go then you won't hit a problem. Kings Cross to Ealing is a zone 1-3 journey which allows 110 minutes during the day and more evenings and at weekends. Again, there is a full list of the allowances on my website.

There is no need to touch out from LU and back into NR at Paddington on this particular journey though, unless you give yourself the extra hassle of a change at Edgware Rd, you will normally arrive on an H&C or Circle train and you are already behind the same barrier line as the Ealing Broadway platforms...

 

[evil_hippo]

There is no need to touch out from LU and back into NR at Paddington on this particular journey though, unless you give yourself the extra hassle of a change at Edgware Rd, you will normally arrive on an H&C or Circle train and you are already behind the same barrier line as the Ealing Broadway platforms...

My recollection is that there are now barriers between the station footbridge and the small Hammercircle concourse.

 

[Mike395]

My recollection is that there are now barriers between the station footbridge and the small Hammercircle concourse.

There are, but the local FGW platforms are the same side of said barriers as the H&C platforms

 

[evil_hippo]

There are, but the local FGW platforms are the same side of said barriers as the H&C platforms

Ah! That's useful to know. Thanks.

 

[swt_passenger]

My recollection is that there are now barriers between the station footbridge and the small Hammercircle concourse.

There are barriers as you arrive at the northern footbridge, but since Oyster PAYG on the GW inners they give access to the suburban platforms as well as the H&C.

The original H&C gateline between platforms 14 and 15/16 alongside the old LU ticket office was removed, the office is currently for enquiries only. However things will change back again on completion of the current rebuild, and the H&C platforms will once again be effectively a separate station.

Edit: The National Rail stations made easy explains the current situation quite well: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/PAD/plan.html

 

[MikeWh]

My recollection is that there are now barriers between the station footbridge and the small Hammercircle concourse.

I was at Paddington the other day. The barriers on the bridge separate the main station from the last few suburban platforms and the Hammersmith and Circle platforms. The main advice remains the same though, either touch out and back in again or don't touch at all.