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Understanding Oyster card.

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Vespa

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Hi I thought I would put my question in one box, sorry if its long wonder.

I've had my disabled railcard tagged to my Oyster card, do I need to renew this tag every year or does stay on for as long as the Oyster card is valid ?

Whenever I enter disabled on the ticket machine to buy a weeks pass for my Oyster card, I only get zone 1-6 off peak travel ticket, when I would have liked an all day ticket, why is this ?

Also if you have a week Oyster travel ticket for example peak or off peak can it be used on the bus for any zones even if it's only paid zone 1-2 or 1-4 ?

I also have £15 credit to use in case I go out of my zone from what understand if you go out of your zone, it simply deducts a single ticket value when you exit and enter.

Never really understood the pink tap out point.

I do have a non London ENCTS which should work on London buses but whenever I tap on it their machine doesn't recognise it so had to show it to the driver. Whats the issue with their machine ?
Can it be used anytime after 9.30 including evening rush hour ?

I'm planning to revisit London when the pandemic is over.

Thanks in advance if you have knowledge to share, hopefully there are underground staff in the know on this forum as well who can advise.
 
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Watershed

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I've had my disabled railcard tagged to my Oyster card, do I need to renew this tag every year or does stay on for as long as the Oyster card is valid ?
When you get your Railcard discount loaded onto an Oyster card, the member of staff will look at the expiry date of your Railcard and use this as the expiry date for the discount. You'll therefore need to get your discount re-loaded whenever you get a new Railcard.

Whenever I enter disabled on the ticket machine to buy a weeks pass for my Oyster card, I only get zone 1-6 off peak travel ticket, when I would have liked an all day ticket, why is this ?
You can't buy day tickets for Oyster at the ticket machine. The idea is that you don't need to, because you pay per journey when you tap in and out, and the cost of each day's journeys will be capped at a certain amount, which will never exceed the cost of the equivalent (paper) Travelcard.

Having a Disabled Railcard wouldn't give you any general discount on weekly Travelcards or season tickets, although there may be relevant schemes under certain circumstances.

Also if you have a week Oyster travel ticket for example peak or off peak can it be used on the bus for any zones even if it's only paid zone 1-2 or 1-4 ?
Yes, any Travelcard, regardless of Zones, is valid on the bus. There is no concept of Zones for buses.

I also have £15 credit to use in case I go out of my zone from what understand if you go out of your zone, it simply deducts a single ticket value when you exit and enter.
Yes, you can see the cost of individual journeys here. The system will automatically work out how much to charge you if you have a Travelcard (weekly or longer) loaded onto your Oyster card.

Never really understood the pink tap out point.
If you pass a pink reader, tap your Oyster card on it. Nothing more to it, it just means you pay the right fare.

I do have a non London ENCTS which should work on London buses but whenever I tap on it their machine doesn't recognise it so had to show it to the driver. Whats the issue with their machine ?
This article suggests it's an incompatibility issue. Just show your pass, shouldn't be a problem.

Can it be used anytime after 9.30 including evening rush hour ?
TfL used to allow ENCTS passes to be used at any time, they are now valid on buses from 9am M-F.
 

Vespa

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Thanks for the clarity Watershed, it's very useful.

So is the only advantage of a disabled railcard is a discount on single tickets and daily capping ?

Otherwise what can you use the disabled railcard for ?
 

Haywain

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Thanks for the clarity Watershed, it's very useful.

So is the only advantage of a disabled railcard is a discount on single tickets and daily capping ?

Otherwise what can you use the disabled railcard for ?
It’s a national railcard primarily designed to give travel discounts on National Rail services but even on the national network it does not offer discounts on season tickets. Oyster is a TfL product which covers some National Rail services in addition to London Underground and London Buses, so the discount opportunities are slightly limited but still pretty generous.
 

Vespa

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It’s a national railcard primarily designed to give travel discounts on National Rail services but even on the national network it does not offer discounts on season tickets. Oyster is a TfL product which covers some National Rail services in addition to London Underground and London Buses, so the discount opportunities are slightly limited but still pretty generous.
So if I use TFL rail does it apply ?, sorry so many questions.

In the past I before I added my railcard, I used to load a full peak week pass onto my Oyster just to cover myself.

I don't fancy being an extra on London Underground fare Dodgers documentary :lol:

=======================
EDIT: Just saw Kraiken posting a link to LU railcard benefits. Thank you for the linky. :)
 
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kraiken

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So if I use TFL rail does it apply ?, sorry so many questions.

In the past I before I added my railcard, I used to load a full peak week pass onto my Oyster just to cover myself.

I don't fancy being an extra on London Underground fare Dodgers documentary :lol:
It looks like you will be better off getting a day travel card from the ticket office if you are using TFL Rail where Oyster is not available (between Reading and West Drayton), otherwise I would simply use pay-as-you-go. You will get the 1/3 off, but avoiding Zone 1 will save you more.
 

Horizon22

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So if I use TFL rail does it apply ?, sorry so many questions.

=======================
EDIT: Just saw Kraiken posting a link to LU railcard benefits. Thank you for the linky. :)

Yes TfL Rail is considered a NR service at this time (excepting Reading - West Drayton) and same with London Overground.
 

PeterC

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It looks like you will be better off getting a day travel card from the ticket office if you are using TFL Rail where Oyster is not available (between Reading and West Drayton), otherwise I would simply use pay-as-you-go. You will get the 1/3 off, but avoiding Zone 1 will save you more.
Last time I checked travel cards were only available for numbered zones. You can buy a day return that incorporates a travel card but it does not give "ride at will" validity outside of the zones.
 

Vespa

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I remember reading my journey history when travelling on my peak week travel card previously.

Noticed on 2 lines it mentioned "failed to tap out" not sure how that happened, is that significant with a peak time week travel pass as you're already have unlimited travel anyway ?
 

Watershed

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I remember reading my journey history when travelling on my peak week travel card previously.

Noticed on 2 lines it mentioned "failed to tap out" not sure how that happened, is that significant with a peak time week travel pass as you're already have unlimited travel anyway ?
You're supposed to tap in and out even with a Travelcard, if the facilities are available to do so at either end. There are circumstances where this obviously isn't possible, e.g. travelling beyond the covered zones with a separate, additional ticket on a non-stop train.

There is no penalty for failing to tap in or out if you travel solely within your covered zones.
 

PeterC

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You're supposed to tap in and out even with a Travelcard, if the facilities are available to do so at either end. There are circumstances where this obviously isn't possible, e.g. travelling beyond the covered zones with a separate, additional ticket on a non-stop train.

There is no penalty for failing to tap in or out if you travel solely within your covered zones.
There have been reports here of PFNs being issued by a TOC if you fail to touch in and your ticket is checked on board a train originating from outside the zones. TfL don't care if you fail to touch in or out with a travelcard unless somebody spots a suspicious pattern of travel.

I remember reading my journey history when travelling on my peak week travel card previously.

Noticed on 2 lines it mentioned "failed to tap out" not sure how that happened, is that significant with a peak time week travel pass as you're already have unlimited travel anyway ?
The system assumes a maximum time for a journey from any station. If you exceed this and touch out there are two possibilities:
At a gated station 2 journeys are assumed, 1 with no touch out and one with no touch in
At an unbarriered station the touch out is taken as the start of a second incomplete journey.
 

Deerfold

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This article suggests it's an incompatibility issue. Just show your pass, shouldn't be a problem.
That's a very old article. The hardware was upgraded to accept ITSO some years ago (it happened when I was at TfL which I left over 5 years ago). It's not clear why the software upgrade has never happened.
 
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