Over-60s Oyster Card During the Corona Pandemic — Restrictions on Peak-Time Use

[Dr_Paul]

I'm not sure whether this is the best place for this thread, so I'll be happy for Moderators to shift it to a more suitable place if needs be.

Does anyone know the situation in respect of changed conditions for the Over-60s Oyster Card? I have heard 'through the grapevine' that peak-time travel has been temporarily suspended in the morning rush-hour, which implies that one is unable to use the card prior to 09.30 on any form of transport. The Mayor of London's website states 'the Government has insisted that free travel is temporarily suspended for Freedom Pass and 60-plus card holders at peak times', which implies a suspension during the evening rush hour as well, although no details are given as to what 'peak times' actually are, morning or evening. I have been unable to find anything on the Transport for London site on this topic. I have an hospital appointment coming up fairly soon, which will involve a South-Western train and a bus journey, and I'd like to know the hours during which my Old Codger's Pass will be valid (and thus work out whether I'll have to find my old Pay As You Go Oyster Card).

 

[matt_world2004]

I'm not sure whether this is the best place for this thread, so I'll be happy for Moderators to shift it to a more suitable place if needs be.

Does anyone know the situation in respect of changed conditions for the Over-60s Oyster Card? I have heard 'through the grapevine' that peak-time travel has been temporarily suspended in the morning rush-hour, which implies that one is unable to use the card prior to 09.30 on any form of transport. The Mayor of London's website states 'the Government has insisted that free travel is temporarily suspended for Freedom Pass and 60-plus card holders at peak times', which implies a suspension during the evening rush hour as well, although no details are given as to what 'peak times' actually are, morning or evening. I have been unable to find anything on the Transport for London site on this topic. I have an hospital appointment coming up fairly soon, which will involve a South-Western train and a bus journey, and I'd like to know the hours during which my Old Codger's Pass will be valid (and thus work out whether I'll have to find my old Pay As You Go Oyster Card).

It's currently not in force yet irrc

 

[nacs]

The email from TFL says the Temporary restriction is from 4.30am to 09.00 mon to Fri. It’s being introduced from 15th June.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Would you believe it! Five minutes after posting my message, I receive an e-mail from TfL saying that the Over-60s Oyster Card and the Old Folks' Freedom Card will not be valid before 09.00 on a weekday. This starts on 15 June. (It's shown as 'temporary', but I'm old enough to know how some 'temporary' things have ended up becoming permanent: let's see what happens when the virus dies down.)

 

[Dstock7080]

TfL press release:
Temporary changes to Older Person’s Freedom Pass and 60-plus Oyster card

They will mean that all passengers with an Older Person's Freedom Pass, 60+ Oyster photocard or English National Concessionary Scheme pass will not be able to use those passes during morning peak hours in order to help support social distancing on the public transport network and help control the coronavirus.

From Monday 15 June, changes to the ticketing system will mean these cards are automatically set to be not valid during the morning peak period (04:30 to 09:00) Monday to Friday. They will continue to be valid at all other times on weekdays and all day on weekends and Bank Holidays.

 

[MikeWh]

Oh dear,

So the restriction is now 9.00 on TfL services and 9.30 on other NR services. It would really have been better if they could have synchronised it.

 

[Taunton]

Interesting to see if this leads to gross crowding at 09.01. Though I did believe it was introduced along with other TfL charges alterations as a revenue increase measure rather than anything to do with the health side.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Oh dear,

So the restriction is now 9.00 on TfL services and 9.30 on other NR services. It would really have been better if they could have synchronised it.

What will that mean for parallel routes? If a concession pass holder arrives at Brockley at 09.15 wishing to travel to Norwood Junction, would they be allowed on the 0917 London Overground service but not the 0921 Southern service?

 

[matt_world2004]

What will that mean for parallel routes? If a concession pass holder arrives at Brockley at 09.15 wishing to travel to Norwood Junction, would they be allowed on the 0917 London Overground service but not the 0921 Southern service?

That's what happens currently there are some exemptions to this on the old lul interavailable routes

 

[Farningham]

What will that mean for parallel routes? If a concession pass holder arrives at Brockley at 09.15 wishing to travel to Norwood Junction, would they be allowed on the 0917 London Overground service but not the 0921 Southern service?

That is already the situation.
The barriers at Brockley and other TfL-controlled stations on the East London Line, including West Croydon, will currently allow passholders onto the platform before 9:30 and will presumably contine to do so for any time after 9:00, so the control of peak use on non-permitted Southern services might be described as 'light'.

 

[Skymonster]

Though I did believe it was introduced along with other TfL charges alterations as a revenue increase measure rather than anything to do with the health side.

This change was one of the conditions of the bailout of TfL by the government. In principal the funding is meant to keep TfL going until mid-October, so I guess the restrictions will be in place at least until then. What happens after that, if TfL is still not able to cover its costs, remains to be seen.

 

[Dave242]

With the debt that has been built up over the last 4 years, I expect this to continue.

Dave.

 

[Horizon22]

I do like how it syncs (more or less noting the point of @MikeWh above) with NR as this used to cause me unnecessary grief when I worked on a station with a LU interface. However the removal of the concessionary rate for Under 18s is more of a social issue.