Confusing Charging

[iamchris]

Hello!
Twice a week, I travel from Stratford to Ealing Broadway and back and forth, both of which are in Zone 3. I get charged 3.60 every single journey.
I am currently using a Student Oyster. I scan my oyster to enter the station and scan it again to exit. Am I being charged fairly?

Another question, both stations are in Zone 3. Is this situation involves Zones 1-3 or Zone 3 ONLY category?

Lastly, with connection to the first question, was I charged that much because I don't scan to those yellow posts in Stratford and Ealing Broadway? Really, TFL should provide public info for this or at least make the online instructions clear and not confusing.

Thanks.

 

[yorkie]

Single fare finder:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/farefinder/

The fare is £2.90 at peak times, or £2.50 off peak
This is assumed via Zone 1. (most likely route would be Central Line)

However if you avoid Zone 1 via Willesden Jn and Shepherd's Bush, you will be charged £1.40 peak / £1.30 off peak, providing you touch the pink validator en-route.

Alternatively if you avoid Zone 1 and go via Gunnersbury & Turnham Green, again it's £1.40 peak / £1.30 off peak, , providing you touch the pink validator en-route.

The single fare finder says the same prices apply for an Adult or for 18+ Student.

No fare should be as high as £3.60, so I don't know what could be happening. As long as you touch in and out it should charge no more than the Zone 1 fare, with a reduction in fare if you use the pink readers travelling via the North London Line.

 

[RJ]

Hello!
Twice a week, I travel from Stratford to Ealing Broadway and back and forth, both of which are in Zone 3. I get charged 3.60 every single journey.
I am currently using a Student Oyster. I scan my oyster to enter the station and scan it again to exit. Am I being charged fairly?

Another question, both stations are in Zone 3. Is this situation involves Zones 1-3 or Zone 3 ONLY category?

Lastly, with connection to the first question, was I charged that much because I don't scan to those yellow posts in Stratford and Ealing Broadway? Really, TFL should provide public info for this or at least make the online instructions clear and not confusing.

Thanks.

Have you got any kind of Travelcard loaded on your Oyster?

 

[island]

Apologies if this sounds off the wall, but are you touching your Oyster card on a reader at both Stratford and Ealing Broadway on both journeys? On a return journey you should touch in at Stratford, out at Ealing Broadway, in at Ealing Broadway, and out at Stratford. I don't even know if there are gates at Ealing Broadway, but if you only touch on the reader at Stratford (twice) you will get an incomplete journey and/or a H2H (here to here) journey, which could conceivably cost £3.60.

The correct fare on the Central line from Stratford to Ealing Broadway or vice-versa is £2.90 peak or £2.50 off-peak (£1.65 off-peak if you have a railcard loaded to your Oyster card).

 

[Mojo]

The 18+ student Oyster only gets you a discount on 7 day or longer Travelcards or Bus & Tram Pass.

Also, are you sure you are being charged £3.60? There is no such fare as £3.60, nor is there an entry/exit charge of this amount. There are also no £1.80 charges.

 

[MikeWh]

Hello!
Twice a week, I travel from Stratford to Ealing Broadway and back and forth, both of which are in Zone 3. I get charged 3.60 every single journey.
I am currently using a Student Oyster. I scan my oyster to enter the station and scan it again to exit. Am I being charged fairly?

Another question, both stations are in Zone 3. Is this situation involves Zones 1-3 or Zone 3 ONLY category?

Lastly, with connection to the first question, was I charged that much because I don't scan to those yellow posts in Stratford and Ealing Broadway? Really, TFL should provide public info for this or at least make the online instructions clear and not confusing.

Thanks.

It definitely won't be only zone 3! The system knows which way you are likely to go and will charge accordingly. Hence if you only touch in at Stratford and out at Ealing Broadway it will assume you've used the Central Line direct through the middle of zone 1. As others have pointed out if you change en-route and touch pink validators to confirm your new route you can avoid zone 1 and just be charged a zone 2 and 3 fare.

The yellow posts at Stratford are there for people who switch from paper tickets to Oyster and vice versa (ie they are travelling to/from East Anglia/Essex). If you have touched in at the gateline at Stratford then there is no need to touch anywhere else within that station before departing by train. I don't know Ealing Broadway well enough, but given that many people may well split paper and Oyster there from the West I would imagine that the same applies. You would only need to touch out at the gateline at the end of the journey.

 

[zero]

The yellow posts at Stratford are there for people who switch from paper tickets to Oyster and vice versa (ie they are travelling to/from East Anglia/Essex). If you have touched in at the gateline at Stratford then there is no need to touch anywhere else within that station before departing by train.

Ealing Broadway is similar to Stratford but less confusing, as there is only one gateline. There are multiple standalone yellow readers on the tube platforms, which would presumably be for people changing from District/Central lines to Oxford/Reading/HeathrowConnect.

However the signage is not clear at all and some people must end up touching the readers when they shouldn't.

 

[yorkie]

However the signage is not clear at all and some people must end up touching the readers when they shouldn't.

Touching such readers should have no detrimental effect.

(I am aware of a case where someone touched a similar reader and an RPI acted in a way that, let's just say gives the whole industry a bad name, but the TOC dropped the case once we got on their case)

 

[iamchris]

Single fare finder:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/farefinder/

The fare is £2.90 at peak times, or £2.50 off peak
This is assumed via Zone 1. (most likely route would be Central Line)

However if you avoid Zone 1 via Willesden Jn and Shepherd's Bush, you will be charged £1.40 peak / £1.30 off peak, providing you touch the pink validator en-route.

Alternatively if you avoid Zone 1 and go via Gunnersbury & Turnham Green, again it's £1.40 peak / £1.30 off peak, , providing you touch the pink validator en-route.

The single fare finder says the same prices apply for an Adult or for 18+ Student.

No fare should be as high as £3.60, so I don't know what could be happening. As long as you touch in and out it should charge no more than the Zone 1 fare, with a reduction in fare if you use the pink readers travelling via the North London Line.

Thanks for the reply.
Here is my journey history.
I have a railcard but I have not linked it to my Student Oyster yet.

 

[iamchris]

Have you got any kind of Travelcard loaded on your Oyster?

Hi! I have a 16-25 Railcard but I have not loaded it to my Student Oyster yet.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Apologies if this sounds off the wall, but are you touching your Oyster card on a reader at both Stratford and Ealing Broadway on both journeys? On a return journey you should touch in at Stratford, out at Ealing Broadway, in at Ealing Broadway, and out at Stratford. I don't even know if there are gates at Ealing Broadway, but if you only touch on the reader at Stratford (twice) you will get an incomplete journey and/or a H2H (here to here) journey, which could conceivably cost £3.60.

The correct fare on the Central line from Stratford to Ealing Broadway or vice-versa is £2.90 peak or £2.50 off-peak (£1.65 off-peak if you have a railcard loaded to your Oyster card).

I touch the Oyster once to enter Stratford then once again to exit in Ealing and vice versa. Yes, I take the central line to travel to both stations.

 

[iamchris]

The 18+ student Oyster only gets you a discount on 7 day or longer Travelcards or Bus & Tram Pass.

Also, are you sure you are being charged £3.60? There is no such fare as £3.60, nor is there an entry/exit charge of this amount. There are also no £1.80 charges.

I am not really sure if I read my journey history right. Here, take a look at it.

 

[MikeWh]

Thanks for the reply.
Here is my journey history.
I have a railcard but I have not linked it to my Student Oyster yet.

Ah, that's easy. When you touch in the system deducts £6.50 which is the maximum fare. When you touch out it credits back £3.60 meaning that you have been charged £2.90. That is the correct fare for a peak time direct journey. When you touch out you should see two figures displayed on the screen. The first is your new balance, the second one is the deduction for the journey which is in brackets. On that printout you'll see a minus sign above the £6.50 entries. It is very poorly laid out, as I mention on my site.

 

[Lad Brookes]

Thanks for the reply.
Here is my journey history.
I have a railcard but I have not linked it to my Student Oyster yet.

Isn't that £3.60 positive and so being credited to you?

In other words, you are charged £6.50 for entry, and the difference between that and the correct fare is returned to you when you exit.

-6.50 + 3.60 = -2.90, which is the correct fare going via Zone 1.

 

[iamchris]

Ah, that's easy. When you touch in the system deducts £6.50 which is the maximum fare. When you touch out it credits back £3.60 meaning that you have been charged £2.90. That is the correct fare for a peak time direct journey. When you touch out you should see two figures displayed on the screen. The first is your new balance, the second one is the deduction for the journey which is in brackets. On that printout you'll see a minus sign above the £6.50 entries. It is very poorly laid out, as I mention on my site.

Oh sorry. Now I get it. I don't know if it's just me or tfl is really confusing. Hehe. Anyway, many thanks to everyone!
Gotta link my Railcard to Oyster soon!
Nice day!

 

[island]

Gotta link my Railcard to Oyster soon!

Do, but remember it won't give you anything off peak fares.

 

[cslusarc]

Would it be practical for you to take an orbital route rather than a through route via Zone 1? If so, you could lower your fare paid further.