On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:29:50 -0800, Mizter T wrote:

On 10 Nov, 19:06, Paul Corfield wrote:

PAYG *not* valid on London Midland from Watford Junction - Harrow and
Wealdstone. I am waiting for a response to a question as to whether the
above non availability also means no availability of PAYG between
Watford and Euston on London Midland services.

Though that would logically follow. So basically no agreement with
London Midland (at least not yet) for PAYG on their services from
Watford Junction to points south, whilst the availability of PAYG from
H&W to Euston is inherited from Silverlink.

The alleged availability of PAYG on Southern from Watford Jn down to
Clapham Jn comes at some surprise - I can see PAYG being valid from
H&W down to Clapham Jn, but not from Watford Jn. I think it best to
await confirmation (or otherwise) of that!

The person who provided the info is very close to the Oyster and fares
issues. I trust his information to be completely accurate.

Stations from Hatch End - Watford Junction will be priced *for PAYG
only* on the Zones 6A-D principle as for the out county stretches of the
Met. The out county zones do not apply to Travelcards which are still
priced and issued as a Z1-6 plus rail to Watford Junction. I don't know
which stations on the DC line fall into which out county zones. Hatch
End remains in Zone 6.

Interesting stuff. One wonders if the term zones A-D will even appear
on customer facing literature - one hopes not as that would lead to
confusion (with people thinking a zones A-D Travelcard would be valid
when it won't be).

Having a look at the advance info I have on LU fares (one day tickets)
for 2008 there are references to Zones 1-9 as well as 1-8W. There is no
explanation provided but 1-8W rates are highest so perhaps these
reference One Day tickets valid to Watford Junction. Interestingly there
is no LU fare to Z1-8W but there is for Z1-9. If "W" does mean Watford
then the single fare treatment makes sense as LU services won't reach
Watford Junction.

Quite how all of this is going to be explained to the public is going to
be an interesting exercise.

More interesting still is that I have yet to see anything about the
rates for Rail Zonal tickets. Tube-Train tickets or Travelcard season
rates. Something tells me they are still being negotiated as well as
whether there are any different PAYG rates for those lines which go PAYG
in Jan 2008 (One, FCC, C2C).

All interesting developments. Presumably the TfL website's London
Overground section will go live tomorrow and answer some of these
questions.

I had expected something to go live well before now. I had expected
something better than the current mess we are in with Silverlink
redirecting to London Midland but nothing for the Metro networks. Worse
still the Gunnersbury - Richmond section of the NLL / District Line is
out of service due to a "signalling" problem. It must be a very serious
problem to cause day long disruption without an apparent fix being
possible. That junction has been a mess since it was renewed by Network
Rail earlier this year - goodness knows what they've done to it to make
it worse now than it was before they did the work. If NR don't sort
this out then it's a very inauspicious start for Overground tomorrow on
one of their main routes.

--
Paul C