Boundary tickets with Oyster card

[island]

I have an annual z123 on my Oyster card and want to get a single on the Stansted Express (from Liverpool Street to Stansted). I expect I should be able to get a single from boundary zone 3 to Stansted with gold card discount, but will I get a maximum cash fare if I touch in at LST and fail to touch out, there being no opportunity to do so (unless I develop extreme sprinting skills in the meantime for use at Tottenham Hale)? If so, is there any way to get around this?

 

[Daniel]

IIRC as long as you have no OEP set on your card you shouldn't be deducted an entry charge as you are covered by your season.

 

[bb21]

I have a question about this. I assume that Oyster seasons record the station of entry on the system when you 'clock in'. Does that mean that any entries without a corresponding exit is set to be ignored by the system, and vice versa?

If the station of entry is not recorded, then how does it keep up with the validity of a journey such as Epping - Feltham on a Z6 Only season?

 

[MikeWh]

IIRC as long as you have no OEP set on your card you shouldn't be deducted an entry charge as you are covered by your season.

Correct. And if staff on the train or at Stansted do not have Oyster reading equipment to check that you have the travelcard then that is their problem, not yours.

I have a question about this. I assume that Oyster seasons record the station of entry on the system when you 'clock in'. Does that mean that any entries without a corresponding exit is set to be ignored by the system, and vice versa?

If the station of entry is not recorded, then how does it keep up with the validity of a journey such as Epping - Feltham on a Z6 Only season?

Yes, records of all touches are maintained, not just for the current journey but previous ones as well (presumably up to the storage limit). A visitor to my site wondered why his PAYG balance went down when he used the Central line from East to West London with a zone 2-4 travelcard stored.

 

[bb21]

A visitor to my site wondered why his PAYG balance went down when he used the Central line from East to West London with a zone 2-4 travelcard stored.

I came up with this question after reading your story.

 

[island]

Correct. And if staff on the train or at Stansted do not have Oyster reading equipment to check that you have the travelcard then that is their problem, not yours.

Thanks. I'll have to have my Gold Record card with me anyway to get the discounted ticket and that shows what zones are on my Oyster annual.

 

[RJ]

I have a question about this. I assume that Oyster seasons record the station of entry on the system when you 'clock in'. Does that mean that any entries without a corresponding exit is set to be ignored by the system, and vice versa?

If the station of entry is not recorded, then how does it keep up with the validity of a journey such as Epping - Feltham on a Z6 Only season?

It is recorded, normal time limits/routing rules applies.

 

[swt_passenger]

It is recorded, normal time limits/routing rules applies.

Surely it can't be calculated though, if (as he pointed out) he didn't have corresponding touches in and out - we're talking about the unusual case of an LU station without barriers now, and obviously the same applies to NR stations without barriers?

So, especially if it's a failure to touch out, I can't see how the system can deal with the journey on a Oyster season, whether PAYG is operative or not.

 

[Mojo]

Surely it can't be calculated though, if (as he pointed out) he didn't have corresponding touches in and out - we're talking about the unusual case of an LU station without barriers now, and obviously the same applies to NR stations without barriers?

So, especially if it's a failure to touch out, I can't see how the system can deal with the journey on a Oyster season, whether PAYG is operative or not.

Because when you have a Travelcard on Oyster which is valid in the zone which you enter the system at an entry charge is not deducted, unless an OEP is enabled.

A Zone 6 only Travelcard with no PAYG credit would not be valid at Feltham (I don't know if the gates there would accept it or not; they may well do) as there is nowhere you could go from there which is also in Zone 6. Obviously at Epping it would work, as you could have travelled from Loughton/Debden/Theydon Bois.

I do understand the point you're making though; a Zone 6 customer could just as well touch in at Hampton, not out at Teddington and do another journey (not using the Oyster card) from to Loughton (without touching in), and then touch out at Epping. Would they be charged for this?

 

[MikeWh]

As far as I know you cannot buy a travelcard season for just one zone. This year you might have been able to get a zone 5 and 6 season, I think next year that you will need at least zones 3-6 following TfL's simplification.

 

[Mojo]

Ah yes, it would be a Zone 5-6 travelcard rather than 6 only so of course would be valid from Feltham, but it's still an interesting point. Would one get credit deducted from their PAYG balance assuming travel via Zone 1 or would it be treated like it is, 2 x zone 5-6 journeys.

 

[yorkie]

Surely it can't be calculated though, if (as he pointed out) he didn't have corresponding touches in and out - we're talking about the unusual case of an LU station without barriers now, and obviously the same applies to NR stations without barriers?

So, especially if it's a failure to touch out, I can't see how the system can deal with the journey on a Oyster season, whether PAYG is operative or not.

If there is no OEP loaded, and you do not touch out, it will not charge anything. So yes, if you found an NR station without barriers and exited there, you could get away with it, if that's what is being asked. Obviously once someone has gone beyond the barriers, if they are then caught while exiting the station, and asked to show a ticket, if they cannot show a ticket that is valid at that location then they can be in trouble!