How will Heathrow Crossrail prices be enforced

[Haywain]

A hypothetical scenario here, but how would a Highbury & Islington - Heathrow Rail work with Oyster or contactless?

There are various routes that could be used such as:

Victoria Line to Oxford Circus, Central Line to Ealing Broadway, then London Crossrail
Overground to Stratford, then either Crossrail direct or Central Line to Ealing Broadway, then Crossrail
Overground to Willesden Junction, then Bakerloo Line to Paddington, then Crossrail or the Express
Overground to West Brompton or Kensington Olympia, District Line to Earl's Court, District to Ealing Broadway, then Crossrail
Overground to West Brompton or Kensington Olympia, District Line to Earl's Court, Piccadilly Line to Heathrow
Northern City Line to Moorgate, then Crossrail direct

There may be other variations for this journey.

Anything involving a change at Paddington will involve going through two specific gatelines there, so will be easily distinguished. I expect, but don't know for certain, that Ealing Broadway has validators which should be used when changing between LU and NR/TfL platforms. If that's the case then travelling to Heathrow using the Piccadilly Line could be the default option (although that isn't actually a journey to Heathrow Rail). In any event, the Piccadilly platforms at Heathrow will have separate gatelines so the mode of arrival will be clear.

 

[plcd1]

I can't think of any suitable analogy really for a situation where there will be three different Oyster/contactless fares for journeys between two points in Greater London / the PAYG area. (I'm just thinking about rail transport here, not buses.)

The irony here is that in some respects Oyster has simplified matters. Many moons ago I worked in the team that created data for the Underground Ticketing System (UTS) devices. Back there there were certainly three different and distinct fares from Highbury and Islington to Richmond - a BR one via the NLL, a LU one using just the tube and the combined LU and BR fare via Waterloo. There may even have been another different fare for travel via Vauxhall as the fare composition would be different. With TfL in charge of Overground and the Tube there is just one fare to PAYG via Tube or NLL courtesy of no intermediate validators or gates on either route. Back in the 80s things were both complex in some parts of the network but also simple in others - no route options on the tube for example for some journeys (e.g. trips in West London weren't charged via the Rayners Lane branch but via Zone 1). Also the range of through bookings was limited with passengers having to rebook. It's a different world these days but not without its challenges as to how complexity is presented simply to passengers who are waving a card on a device.

 

[Clip]

The irony here is that in some respects Oyster has simplified matters. Many moons ago I worked in the team that created data for the Underground Ticketing System (UTS) devices. Back there there were certainly three different and distinct fares from Highbury and Islington to Richmond - a BR one via the NLL, a LU one using just the tube and the combined LU and BR fare via Waterloo. There may even have been another different fare for travel via Vauxhall as the fare composition would be different. With TfL in charge of Overground and the Tube there is just one fare to PAYG via Tube or NLL courtesy of no intermediate validators or gates on either route. Back in the 80s things were both complex in some parts of the network but also simple in others - no route options on the tube for example for some journeys (e.g. trips in West London weren't charged via the Rayners Lane branch but via Zone 1). Also the range of through bookings was limited with passengers having to rebook. It's a different world these days but not without its challenges as to how complexity is presented simply to passengers who are waving a card on a device.

Surely there's a pink validator if going via the ball as you're not going through zome 1 and will have a different fare so still complicated ish