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RTV and TfL rail

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mrmartin

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Anyone know if I can load RTV on an oyster card at TfL rail stations? I assume it should be possible but not sure how well trained they are to actually do it?
 
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matt_world2004

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Anyone know if I can load RTV on an oyster card at TfL rail stations? I assume it should be possible but not sure how well trained they are to actually do it?
Some tfl rail stations are no longer retailing oyster at the ticket office. They were until the pandemic and it might be they just don't want to handle cash with the ticket machines being able to do card. So they might do rtvs on Oyster still

I'm at Hayes and Harlington in an hour so I will check
 

matt_world2004

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The ticket office at Hayes and Harlington said they didn't accept cash oyster top up but that you could too up using the ticket machines and card. Or at the newsagent.
 

RJ

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That list may now be out of date, I know for certain that St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars & Liverpool St National Rail stations no longer have Oyster retailing equipment
How recently was the equipment removed do you know?
 

MikeWh

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That list may now be out of date, I know for certain that St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars & Liverpool St National Rail stations no longer have Oyster retailing equipment

How recently was the equipment removed do you know?
Any information would be gratefully received. I've recently been made aware that Greater Anglia stopped retailing Oyster at their ticket offices at some stage in the last six months. That might account for Liverpool Street if they run the ticket office there. C2C is stopping at the end of this month. I've not heard anything from GTR, but have asked the question.

In the meantime I've taken all the GA stations off that list (apart from Liverpool Street until I get confirmation).
 

CyrusWuff

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Any information would be gratefully received. I've recently been made aware that Greater Anglia stopped retailing Oyster at their ticket offices at some stage in the last six months. That might account for Liverpool Street if they run the ticket office there. C2C is stopping at the end of this month. I've not heard anything from GTR, but have asked the question.

In the meantime I've taken all the GA stations off that list (apart from Liverpool Street until I get confirmation).
Liverpool Street is definitely still a GA Ticket Office. The December 2020 issue of Schedule 17 to the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement lists Stratford - Brentwood (inclusive) on GE Metro, and Acton Main Line - Taplow (excluding Slough) on the GWML as being run by TfL Rail. (Mind you, it also still refers to Tribute as a TIS and Apex/SuperApex tickets in places. Still, at least it doesn't still include APTIS and SPORTIS references!)
 

LA50041

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How recently was the equipment removed do you know?
They certainly didn’t have the equipment when I tried to get my priv oyster updated with the new priv in the summer.
I tried the Thameslink core stations who all said they didn’t have oyster, walked to Liverpool st, which is GA, who again have had oyster retailing removed and ended up at Shoreditch High St to get it done
 

RJ

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They certainly didn’t have the equipment when I tried to get my priv oyster updated with the new priv in the summer.
I tried the Thameslink core stations who all said they didn’t have oyster, walked to Liverpool st, which is GA, who again have had oyster retailing removed and ended up at Shoreditch High St to get it done

Ok. I had my Priv added to my Oyster at St Pancras Thameslink late last month and I'm pretty sure Blackfriars still has the equipment there!
 

LA50041

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Ok. It's just that I had my Priv added to my Oyster at St Pancras Thameslink late last month and I know Blackfriars still has the equipment there.
OK, maybe it's just the staff on the day I went that couldn't be bothered to do it then
 

Wallsendmag

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Liverpool Street is definitely still a GA Ticket Office. The December 2020 issue of Schedule 17 to the Ticketing & Settlement Agreement lists Stratford - Brentwood (inclusive) on GE Metro, and Acton Main Line - Taplow (excluding Slough) on the GWML as being run by TfL Rail. (Mind you, it also still refers to Tribute as a TIS and Apex/SuperApex tickets in places. Still, at least it doesn't still include APTIS and SPORTIS references!)
I believe at least some of those are using or about to be using Worldline Mtis
 

MikeWh

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Ok. I had my Priv added to my Oyster at St Pancras Thameslink late last month and I'm pretty sure Blackfriars still has the equipment there!
You were lucky. GTR decommisioned the system at the end of February, apart from Essex Road which remains until 29th March.
 

Wolfie

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Anyone know if I can load RTV on an oyster card at TfL rail stations? I assume it should be possible but not sure how well trained they are to actually do it?
You certainly can at Stratford. I did exactly that last month.
 

mrmartin

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Tried at homerton today but got nowhere. Usual nonsense, LO isn't NR. The woman did try though and rang 3 different stations/managers who also all said it wasn't possible. I'll try at Stratford soon!
 

Horizon22

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Tried at homerton today but got nowhere. Usual nonsense, LO isn't NR. The woman did try though and rang 3 different stations/managers who also all said it wasn't possible. I'll try at Stratford soon!

A lot of this is staff not willing / lost competency having not done it in such a long time (Covid can't have helped). I imagine TfL Rail will try and play the "isn't NR" card soon enough...
 

sparky18

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I visited Stratford station this weekend (26/27 June 2021) to do exactly this but was told that they don't do it there anymore. The staff were helpful and sent me to Liverpool Street.

I made it to Liverpool Street and was told they don't do it there either (turns out this is mentioned earlier in the thread so I could have saved myself a journey!) Nevertheless the staff at Liverpool Street recommended I visit Shoreditch High Street. I was out of time so didn't try.

Incidentally, the c2c website states - "You can also use the [National Rail travel vouchers] to top up your Oyster card at Fenchurch Street, Limehouse, Barking and Upminster."
- https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/help_c...here-can-i-use-national-rail-travel-vouchers/
 

Wolfie

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I visited Stratford station this weekend (26/27 June 2021) to do exactly this but was told that they don't do it there anymore. The staff were helpful and sent me to Liverpool Street.

I made it to Liverpool Street and was told they don't do it there either (turns out this is mentioned earlier in the thread so I could have saved myself a journey!) Nevertheless the staff at Liverpool Street recommended I visit Shoreditch High Street. I was out of time so didn't try.

Incidentally, the c2c website states - "You can also use the [National Rail travel vouchers] to top up your Oyster card at Fenchurch Street, Limehouse, Barking and Upminster."
- https://www.c2c-online.co.uk/help_c...here-can-i-use-national-rail-travel-vouchers/
Suspect that Stratford ticket office is run by TfL Rail (the LU equivalent disappeared some while ago) which stopped doing Oyster at ticket offices recently (new ticket machines?), as did, as far as l am aware, London Overground which likely means Shoreditch High Street is a no-go too. The C2C advice is interesting. At some point l'll have to give that a go.
 

mattdickinson

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Suspect that Stratford ticket office is run by TfL Rail (the LU equivalent disappeared some while ago) which stopped doing Oyster at ticket offices recently (new ticket machines?), as did, as far as l am aware, London Overground which likely means Shoreditch High Street is a no-go too. The C2C advice is interesting. At some point l'll have to give that a go.
Oyster top up is no longer available at any ticket offices, as the FASTIS machines formerly used have all been replaced.
 

Wolfie

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Oyster top up is no longer available at any ticket offices, as the FASTIS machines formerly used have all been replaced.
So how exactly does one use a RTV, which the rail industry says is a valid form of payment, to top up an Oyster card?
 

MikeWh

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So how exactly does one use a RTV, which the rail industry says is a valid form of payment, to top up an Oyster card?
You don't anymore. See my site: https://oysterfares.com/no-more-oyster-at-ticket-offices/
So, after June 21st it will no longer be possible to carry out any Oyster transactions at any ticket office. Most functions can be carried out elsewhere, but there are a couple of changes that need noting. Most importantly, it will no longer be possible to convert NR travel vouchers into PAYG credit.
 

MikeWh

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So what are C2C doing at the four stations mentioned by mattdickinson? The link that he posts is definitely still on C2C's website.
I suspect it's been left unamended in error since the FASTIS machines were decommisioned. I've contacted them to let them know.
 

Wolfie

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I suspect it's been left unamended in error since the FASTIS machines were decommisioned. I've contacted them to let them know.
I had wondered if they'd done something special at those stations (as there are others inside the Oyster area that they didn't list) but you are likely right.
 

MikeWh

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(as there are others inside the Oyster area that they didn't list)
West Ham is run by LU and Dagenham Dock, Rainham may be too small to have had the facility. They were never on my list.
 

clagmonster

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What is the score with the TfL Visitor Centres? Are they
a) Open again after COVID
b) Still able to retail Oyster
c) Able to accept RTVs (this last point seems a little unlikely but worth asking).
 

Wolfie

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West Ham is run by LU and Dagenham Dock, Rainham may be too small to have had the facility. They were never on my list.
I was thinking of Chafford 100 and Grays, both of which had signs up a couple of months ago saying that the ticket office would no longer be able to do anything to Oyster.
 

MikeWh

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What is the score with the TfL Visitor Centres? Are they
a) Open again after COVID
b) Still able to retail Oyster
c) Able to accept RTVs (this last point seems a little unlikely but worth asking).
a) I believe so, b) in the same way as shops can, yes*, c) No - they have no way of handling RTVs.

* The visitor centres can do a few things shops can't, but it's basically the same system as far as I'm aware.
I was thinking of Chafford 100 and Grays, both of which had signs up a couple of months ago saying that the ticket office would no longer be able to do anything to Oyster.
Never on my list, which may have been an omission, but it's moot now.
 
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