I don't think Oyster will ever reach as far as Sheffield....
I think having some form of universal way to pay, regardless of what mode of transport you use, can't be so far off into fantasy. It probably wouldn't happen for a few generations though.
I don't think Oyster will ever reach as far as Sheffield....
I think more what is meant is that Oyster only has the capability to deal with up to 15 internal zones. Whilst, in theory, it would of course be possible to allocate Sheffield to Zone '15', that would probably require defining all of what is currently Zones 1-6 as Zone '1'.I think having some form of universal way to pay, regardless of what mode of transport you use, can't be so far off into fantasy. It probably wouldn't happen for a few generations though.
If your local MP is the guy who ran one of those businesses which has no satisfied customers, then that can only be a good thing. And better luck next time.My MP will be gutted he wasn't mentioned!
Would this also mean that they have to keep the barriers closed at WGC? It's a scrum in the evenings trying to get off the platform so they usually just open them up and my Key card doesn't register when they do this (not sure if it's because the barrier is open or if there are so many people piling through that the gates never 'clear'). It will be interesting to see how they deal with this.
Fundamentally, the issue with smartcard ticketing over such long journeys is that the highest fares may be very expensive: what do you do if someone taps out at Sheffield, having not tapped in. Is the maximum fare charged the London-Sheffield fare? It works OK over a smaller geographic area where the fares may be lower, but it doesn't work terribly well with such a large scheme.
News update today- Contactless coming to Welwyn, but not Oyster...
No firm timeline, just sometime 'later this year'
https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/welwyn-garden-city-oyster-and-contactless-fares-1-5977578
Though that mentions contactless facilities, is that to do with the TVM's where you can pay by contactless for tickets and Key-go tickets or the actual validators on the Gatelines? If the former then it could just mean that there will be no facility to top-up Oyster cards at the station, rather than the validators not accepting Oyster. It is not clear from the article!
Radlett is definitely to be contactless only, so I would imagine that Welwyn will be the same.
Just Radlett? I thought the scheme proposed was for it to be extended to Luton Airport Parkway, so it brings another question if all those stations (Luton Airport Parkway, Harpenden, St Albans and Radlett) will only take contactless then, it doesn't seem to make much sense to be so anti-Oyster as it will confuse a lot of passengers when it does go live!
It's not anti oyster. Sadly they just use different technologies, and oyster doesn't have the ability to add any more stations whereas contactless does.
Thank you, that makes sense! I guess if Thameslink don't agree with the pricing that the current zones are then I can see why these stations won't be allocated zones. Though the fares between London and Luton airport parkway/Luton Airport are actually cheaper than the fares from London to Reading so they could well use Zone 14 or 15 for Luton Airport. I guess TFL doesn't have much incentive to make those back office changes unless it gets funding from the TOC!It's to do with the number of 'zones' that Oyster can cope with. IIRC it's limited to 15 and they're all used up (I think one is reserved for Reading for when Crossrail starts). Until Oyster switches to back office processing (which is what contactless uses) it can't be extended any further, unless new stations are put into an existing zone.
Does anyone know when oyster/contactless is coming to Hatfield.
freedom pass not valid outside of zones except on tfl servicesThe proliferation of contactless only had me wondering. In the operation of readers / gates does 60+ and Freedom Pass acceptance come as a bundle with accepting Oyster or can they be separated.
Apart from the mechanics of of the readers I can see that not accepting Oyster PAYG does remove an expectation for acceptance of other Oyster based cards.
I know about the validity, I was asking about the mechanics of the Oyster readers / gatesfreedom pass not valid outside of zones except on tfl services
Define 'zone'. Surely anywhere that accepts contactless or Oyster is in a zone?freedom pass not valid outside of zones except on tfl services
Define 'zone'. Surely anywhere that accepts contactless or Oyster is in a zone?
Any station that accepts Oyster is in a zone (sometimes unpublicised.)
Brookmans Park and the other stations that will have contactless only acceptance are not.
Is Potters Bar the same 'zone' as Broxbourne, or has it actually been put inside zone 6?
Yes, Potters Bar is zone B or 11. They probably want to test out the contactless only option before adding more stations. Ie how many passengers turn up from London with Oyster cards, how much use does it get etc etcI heard it was Zone B. Whatever that means. So i suspect it isn’t in the travel card zone.
Any reason they can’t go all the way to WGC in 1 hit. Surely it is the same system(s) as Brookmans park.
Yes, Potters Bar is zone B or 11. They probably want to test out the contactless only option before adding more stations. Ie how many passengers turn up from London with Oyster cards, how much use does it get etc etc
I haven’t seen the fares yet, but from what I understand the savings are not as good as most people expect and in many cases you are better sticking with the paper tickets.
I think it will be used a lot as most people thing oyster = cheaper. I think many will find out the hard way it isn't always.