Oval - Contactless - capping

[sammyg901]

I'm trying to understand how this works and I cannot seem to find a complete picture of Oval fares calculations online

I take an NR journey from an Oval contactless-only station before 0630 and continue to a Zone 1 LU station in a single journey
Then travel around zone 1 LU off peak afterwards
Do NOT return to the NR origin station

what cap (s) would apply?

 

[Haywain]

I'm no expert but essentially it is whatever cap (and fare, if relevant) is most advantageous to you.

 

[sammyg901]

But how deeply does it dig into it and do split journey etc

My expectation on the above based on what I read is that the off-peak cap doesn't start until journeys after 0930 (or a bit earlier depending on origin). So essentially the first journey would be excluded from capping and I'd only hit capping if I do more than £8.90 in Zone 1. But that isn't what happens in practice....

 

[jon81uk]

But how deeply does it dig into it and do split journey etc

My expectation on the above based on what I read is that the off-peak cap doesn't start until journeys after 0930 (or a bit earlier depending on origin). So essentially the first journey would be excluded from capping and I'd only hit capping if I do more than £8.90 in Zone 1. But that isn't what happens in practice....

What does happen in practice then?

I think if you travel enough in zone 1 to hit the cap, then you'll pay the zone 1 cap, plus the fare from the National Rail station to zone 1.

 

[sammyg901]

It is reducing the charge of the first subsequent zone 1-1 LU journey I make . Which I thought was a little odd. But yesterday I made 3 x Zone 1-1 journey and the final 2 journeys were free

 

[Haywain]

It is reducing the charge of the first subsequent zone 1-1 LU journey I make . Which I thought was a little odd. But yesterday I made 3 x Zone 1-1 journey and the final 2 journeys were free

Is this algebra, in that we're supposed to tell you how much you should be charged without being given the values of a or b?

 

[sammyg901]

hah! I was more asking if there is a source online where I can see what the caps and fares are in detail for Oval

The journey yesterday was Aylesbury-Aldgate for £17.50 (pre-0630) - as expected

Then I took 3 x LU Zone 1 journeys, the first capped at £2.95 and the others were FOC - total cost of £20.45

I'd have expected to pay £17.50 + £8.90 (Zone 1 cap) - total £26.40

 

[Tetchytyke]

hah! I was more asking if there is a source online where I can see what the caps and fares are in detail for Oval

Yes, it is on the National Rail website.

However, what caps apply will depend on your specific journey pattern for the day. The caps are dynamic throughout the day and, on top of that, the back office will, at the end of the day, again calculate the most appropriate cap for your overall travel before actually charging your card.

In this case, it looks as though you were charged a single Aylesbury-Z2 pre-0630 and then a Z1-2 cap at £8.90.

An example of how it works in practice:

 

[sammyg901]

Where do you look up the fares from Aylesbury to the zone that they're using? As £20.45 - £8.90 = £11.55 , which I find no reference to when looking up on BRfares or TFL single fare finder (to a zone 2 station e.g. Finchley Road)

 

[JonathanH]

Where do you look up the fares from Aylesbury to the zone that they're using? As £20.45 - £8.90 = £11.55 , which I find no reference to when looking up on BRfares or TFL single fare finder (to a zone 2 station e.g. Finchley Road)

There is information on extension fares from stations outside London in this post - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ess-payment-cards.231684/page-71#post-7601643 - for stations outside London they are set in such a way that someone making a return journey to London with a few underground journeys will hit the outboundary cap.

One of the things they have to allow for is the prevention of revenue loss to the TOCs where the zone 6 cap is the same all day, but there is a peak and off-peak cap from outside zone 6.

A user could potentially make a saving by touching out and in at a boundary station, but in practice no one will do this.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Where do you look up the fares from Aylesbury to the zone that they're using?

There's no simple look-up, and simply choosing a station in a specific zone isn't always entirely accurate: single fares between two stations are not zonal. For example, compare the fare from Aylesbury to Pinner with the fare from Aylesbury to Harrow-on-the-Hill.

So to be precise, it was my best guess: an off-peak single from Aylesbury to Willesden Green is £12.40, so £11.55 is in that ballpark.

 

[sammyg901]

Interesting. Thanks all! Seems like the capping calculations are more generous than I had understood

I have been buying a separate network railcard discounted single home from Marylebone, but I will have to test out tapping in/out next week