Using Over-60s Oyster in conjunction with paper ticket

Shimbleshanks · 11 Jan 2020

I have an Over-60 London Oystercard that gives me free travel within the London Oystercard zones. Can it be used in conjunction with paper tickets for travel beyond the Oystercard zone?

Say, for example, I want to travel from Purley to Redhill. Purley is one station into Zone six with Coulsdon South being the last station within the zone. Am I within my rights to buy a paper ticket from Coulsdon South to Redhill using the ticket on demand facility to print the ticket at Purley station, go through the ticket gate using my Over-60 Oystercard catch a train that passes through Coulsdon South but not get off there and then get off at Redhill where I then go through the gate at Redhill using the paper ticket?

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Belperpete · 11 Jan 2020

If you go to a booking office and show your Oystercard, you should be able to buy a zone 6 boundary to wherever ticket, that may be cheaper. Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, you cannot buy these extension tickets on-line or at TVMs, as they are effectively excess tickets that need you to prove that you have the ticket being excessed.

If you tap-in but don't tap-out, then you will be recorded as having an incomplete journey. For most types of Oystercard this would result in a penalty fare being charged based on you travelling to the Oystercard limit. However, as you inherently have free travel to the boundary, I seem to recall a previous thread that says this does not apply to over-60 Oystercards. I would wait for confirmation of this from someone with more knowledge of over-60 Oystercards.

island · 11 Jan 2020

My mum had an over 60 Oyster Card; it is for all intents and purposes treated as an "off-peak" zone 1-6 Travelcard. Extension tickets can be purchased from Boundary Zone 6 (NLC 0072) from booking offices and some ticket vending machines. The missing touch-out does not cause any difficulties.

You may in practice also purchase a ticket from the last station at which the card is valid. This may be slightly more or less expensive depending on the journey.

Belperpete · 11 Jan 2020

One other thing worth noting. Normally, if you travel with split tickets, you have to travel on a train that stops at the station where the two tickets meet. However, this does not apply where either of the tickets is a season, and I think your over-60 Oystercard is effectively a season. So if you bought a Coulsdon South to Redhill ticket, you could travel on any train that passed through Coulsdon South, stopping or not.

Surreytraveller · 11 Jan 2020

Yes, all perfectly legal and above board. Your Oystercard does not need to be tapped in or out anywhere, unless any Pay as you Go needs to be used (and I believe a 60+ Oystercard cannot be used for PAYG?)

Shimbleshanks · 11 Jan 2020

island said:
My mum had an over 60 Oyster Card; it is for all intents and purposes treated as an "off-peak" zone 1-6 Travelcard. Extension tickets can be purchased from Boundary Zone 6 (NLC 0072) from booking offices and some ticket vending machines. The missing touch-out does not cause any difficulties.

You may in practice also purchase a ticket from the last station at which the card is valid. This may be slightly more or less expensive depending on the journey.

Many thanks for everyone's replies to my query.

One advantage of buying a ticket from the last station at which it is valid is that you can buy them from online sites instead of having the faff of going to the ticket office. At least, the online site that I use (Transpennine Express) didn't seem to want to sell me a ticket from Boundary Zone 6 when I tried it.

bubieyehyeh · 11 Jan 2020

You can buy the boundary zone tickets from some ticket machines (on overground and TFL rail for sure), but only on day of travel. You need to select the buy ticket from a different station option (provided TVM has is) and then type "london zone" and it then they appear, then select destination, as far as I remember.

Hadders · 11 Jan 2020

Boundary Zone tickets offer more flexibility where there is a choice of route.

Take somewhere like Cambridge, permitted routes from London are via Hadley Wood, Crews Hill, Turkey Street or Enfield Lock. If you buy a ticket from a named station you’re restricted to that route only. A Boundary Zone ticket allows any permitted route to be taken.

Some TVMs sell Boundary Zone tickets but they cannot be bought online.

MikeWh · 12 Jan 2020

In this particular instance there is no benefit to using the 60+ Oyster for part of the journey unless it is one way. Because Purley and Coulsdon South are both in zone 6 the fares to Redhill are identical. The BZ6 return fares are also the same, but you can save 10p with the BZ6 to Redhill single.

Joe Paxton · 12 Jan 2020

Surreytraveller said:
Yes, all perfectly legal and above board. Your Oystercard does not need to be tapped in or out anywhere, unless any Pay as you Go needs to be used (and I believe a 60+ Oystercard cannot be used for PAYG?)

Correct - a 60+ Oyster card cannot be used in PAYG mode, ditto a London Freedom Pass.

Surreytraveller · 12 Jan 2020

Joe Paxton said:
Correct - a 60+ Oyster card cannot be used in PAYG mode, ditto a London Freedom Pass.

But that does then raise the question - if someone wants to use their 60+/Freedom Pass within the Oyster area, but outside the validity of the card (such as to Gatwick), then why is that not possible to put PAYG on it?

PeterC · 12 Jan 2020

Surreytraveller said:
But that does then raise the question - if someone wants to use their 60+/Freedom Pass within the Oyster area, but outside the validity of the card (such as to Gatwick), then why is that not possible to put PAYG on it?

I agree that it seems odd but I would imagine that the possibility of Oyster / contactless being accepted outside Greater London on non TfL services wasn't considered when these cards were designed.

You now have the apparrent anomoly of the Freedon Pass being accepted at Reading where Oyster isn't available but not at Grays or Gatwick where it is.

MikeWh · 12 Jan 2020

Surreytraveller said:
But that does then raise the question - if someone wants to use their 60+/Freedom Pass within the Oyster area, but outside the validity of the card (such as to Gatwick), then why is that not possible to put PAYG on it?

The problem isn't so much the extensions beyond the area of the pass, but the different treatment of services within the zones. There is no way to cater for someone travelling between say West Croydon and New Cross Gate who can use any Overground train, but Southern trains only after 0930. Or London to Shenfield which is free on TfL Rail but only as far as Harold Wood on Greater Anglia.

MikeWh · 12 Jan 2020

PeterC said:
I agree that it seems odd but I would imagine that the possibility of Oyster / contactless being accepted outside Greater London on non TfL services wasn't considered when these cards were designed.

Oyster acceptance at Grays predated the 60+ Oyster by a few years.

PeterC said:
You now have the apparrent anomoly of the Freedon Pass being accepted at Reading where Oyster isn't available but not at Grays or Gatwick where it is.

Reading is served by TfL Rail whereas Grays and Gatwick are not.

PeterC · 12 Jan 2020

MikeWh said:
Reading is served by TfL Rail whereas Grays and Gatwick are not.

Which is why I said "apparent anomoly". I was talking about what the card readers accepted not the colour scheme of the trains.

MikeWh · 13 Jan 2020

PeterC said:
Which is why I said "apparent anomoly". I was talking about what the card readers accepted not the colour scheme of the trains.

Well in that case it gets worse ... Reading gates won't accept the freedom pass, you have to be let through.

Using Over-60s Oyster in conjunction with paper ticket

Shimbleshanks

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Belperpete

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island

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Belperpete

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Surreytraveller

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Shimbleshanks

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Hadders

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MikeWh

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Joe Paxton

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