Oyster PAYG question

[noblergt]

This Friday (22nd) my friend is making the journey from St Pancras to Mill Hill Broadway and plans to use Oyster PAYG. Due to engineering work it will not be possible to make this journey without taking a fast train from St Pancras and then changing at either West Hampstead or Elstree & Borehamwood. Apparently it is 6 mins or so quicker to change at Elstree and then doubling back to Mill Hill Broadway than taking the stopping train all the way from West Hampstead.

Obviously there isn't a lot of time saved from this, I was just wondering whether it counts as travelling into zone 5 and hence being charged more or something! It's the route suggested by the tfl journey planner anyway. I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be valid if she was using a zone 1-4 travelcard but I wasn't sure about PAYG. Thanks!

 

[RJ]

This Friday (22nd) my friend is making the journey from St Pancras to Mill Hill Broadway and plans to use Oyster PAYG. Due to engineering work it will not be possible to make this journey without taking a fast train from St Pancras and then changing at either West Hampstead or Elstree & Borehamwood. Apparently it is 6 mins or so quicker to change at Elstree and then doubling back to Mill Hill Broadway than taking the stopping train all the way from West Hampstead.

Obviously there isn't a lot of time saved from this, I was just wondering whether it counts as travelling into zone 5 and hence being charged more or something! It's the route suggested by the tfl journey planner anyway. I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be valid if she was using a zone 1-4 travelcard but I wasn't sure about PAYG. Thanks!

It will be charged as a Zone 1-4 journey. You may go via Elstree, so long as you don't leave the station, you don't need to validate there.

 

[MikeWh]

One of the great advantages of Oyster is that you can't usually* be off-route within the Oyster area while using one. The system will calculate what it thinks is the correct fare for the journey from origin to destination, and as long as you haven't exceeded the maximum journey time it doesn't matter how you got there. Earlier this week I went from Crayford to Elmers End via London Bridge but the system only charged me a zone 6-3 single as the assumed interchange is at Lewisham.



* To avoid pedants chipping in, if you mix PAYG with a travelcard then you might need to set an OEP until May 22nd when they are withdrawn. There are some nonsensical journeys which are not programmed and may cause gates not to open at the destination. For example, Gospel Oak to Fenchurch Street via Barking. Any sensible person would go to Tower Hill instead.

 

[noblergt]

That's good to know. Thank you!

 

[RJ]

There are some nonsensical journeys which are not programmed and may cause gates not to open at the destination. For example, Gospel Oak to Fenchurch Street via Barking. Any sensible person would go to Tower Hill instead.

There are some ticketing issues with journeys between certain Overground stations and London Terminals. I've already raised these issues with the London Overground pricing manager, hopefully to be sorted with the fares change next month.

 

[bicbasher]

I've done Leicester Square to Pudding Mill Lane (DLR) via Stratford and only been charged a zone 1-2 single despite travelling via Zone 3.

 

[londonbridge]

I once did West Brompton,District line to Victoria and then Victoria line to Highbury and Islington and only got charged a zone 2 single.

 

[t0ffeeman]

When the SLL is extended to Clapham Junction and added to the ELL. A Clapham Junction to Highbury journey will be avaliable on both LOROL routes. WLL+NLL and SLL+ELL. One of these goes throught Zone 1, the other does not.

Similarly Euston to Kenton (Z4) can be done on Oyster via Harrow (Z5) and back one stop. No one will know that you have travelled via Harrow and there will be no PF as you touched in at Euston.