Contactless Reading to Heathrow

[DailyCommuter]

Is the contactless information shown on the National Rail website correct for Reading to Heathrow T5? Or like with the recent Reading to Gatwick example, is this another data inaccuracy?

TfL Single Fare Finder has the off-peak as £16.60 and includes "Fares shown do not include travel on Gatwick Express, Heathrow Express or Southeastern high speed services unless stated."

Whereas National Rail show a £17.80 fare via Paddington and then Heathrow Express, or £11.60 if using the Elizabeth Line only changing at Hayes & Harlington.

Another oddity is that changing at Hayes & Harlington but using the free T2/3 to T5 shuttle is shown as £17.80, I assume it's because the shuttle is operated by HEX, so must be triggering some calculation of Contactless pricing which could never be detected based on the tap in and tap out data.

 

[JonathanH]

Is the contactless information shown on the National Rail website correct for Reading to Heathrow T5?

It is incorrect.

TfL Single Fare Finder has the off-peak as £16.60 and includes "Fares shown do not include travel on Gatwick Express, Heathrow Express or Southeastern high speed services unless stated."

That is the only fare that can be charged for off-peak PAYG travel, as it will be the only off-peak fare in the system.

A touch on the barriers at platform 6 / 7 at Paddington and out at Heathrow will incur the Heathrow Express fare as a new journey. This is £25 single at any time. The off-peak PAYG fare from Reading to Paddington is £14.00. Platforms 6 and 7 at Paddington can't be accessed while the barriers are staffed without touching on the gates at the access to these platforms, so an overall charge of £39.00 will apply.

The incorrect fares which the National Rail website is showing are the generic fares for Reading to Underground Zone 5-6 (£11.60) and Reading to Underground Zones 1-6 (£17.80), neither of which apply.

 

[Benjwri]

Whereas National Rail show a £17.80 fare via Paddington and then Heathrow Express, or £11.60 if using the Elizabeth Line only changing at Hayes & Harlington.

Another oddity is that changing at Hayes & Harlington but using the free T2/3 to T5 shuttle is shown as £17.80, I assume it's because the shuttle is operated by HEX, so must be triggering some calculation of Contactless pricing which could never be detected based on the tap in and tap out data.

Ignore National Rail for contactless fares. They rely on TOCs updating them which is often forgotten about, or they are entered incorrectly. As mentioned above the Single Fare finder shows the correct fare if you use Elizabeth Line from to Heathrow, changing at either Paddington or Hayes.

There is no OSI to the Heathrow Express gateline and so if you take that you are charged the Reading to Paddington plus Heathrow Express Paddington to Heathrow fare.

 

[DailyCommuter]

I had guessed the National Rail data was likely wrong, but poor that the official National Rail website is misleading customers, most of which wouldn't know any better than to trust it.

I've also just noticed that after 16:00 it stops offering Contactless fares, looking at BRfares it's because it has a 16:00 - 19:00 restriction, but the evening peak doesn't apply to the eastbound flows from Reading. It's the same for Reading to London results too.

Overall seems pretty poor the industry allows customers to be mislead like this...

 

[JonathanH]

I've also just noticed that after 16:00 it stops offering Contactless fares, looking at BRfares it's because it has a 16:00 - 19:00 restriction, but the evening peak doesn't apply to the eastbound flows from Reading. It's the same for Reading to London results too.

Again, that is the incorrect data in the National Rail feed for the off-peak fares which are set up as having a 1600-1900 restriction.

In BRFares, they are shown as 'not for travel'. Quite why National Rail is set up to show them really isn't a good situation.