On Jul 12, 9:50*pm, Mizter T wrote:

Damn and blast. I'm afraid I've just realised I got a something
slightly wrong with regards to Bushey scenario - specifically the cost
of the relevant cap, which is z1-9 off-peak and costs £8.50, not £7.

All these Oysters are obviously going to my head. I'll add the
correction in below...

~ ~ ~

Why haven't I considered breaking the journey at Bushey, where there
is a half-hourly fast LM service to Euston, you may ask? Well, because
AFAIAA, there are no gates at Bushey - and I suspect the Oyster
validators there are set up in 'interchange mode', which means that
they wouldn't definitively close a journey - therefore Ulrich would be
charged for a through Watford Jn to Euston journey (and capped
accordingly) even if he did stop off at Bushey station.

There is one Bushey based possibility though. Ulrich could catch the
142 bus from Watford to Bushey - this is a TfL bus and so accepts
Oyster PAYG, and starts from the bus station outside Watford Jn before
working its way through Watford to Bushey, the ultimate destination
being Brent Cross Shopping Centre. Any journey made on this or any
other London bus would simply contribute towards *any* PAYG cap - as
London buses don't do zones - in which case Ulrich would simply end up
paying the £7 PAYG off-peak cap for zones 1-9. Important note - Ulrich
would still need to start his bus journey *after* 09:30 in order to
ensure the bus journey formed part of the off-peak cap.

***CORRECTION***
The off-peak PAYG cap for zones 1-9 is in fact £8.50, *not* £7 as
incorrectly stated above. Sorry for the confusion.


The 142 bus runs "every 9-13 minutes" during the day, less frequently
in the evening, and takes 10 minutes to get from Watford Jn to Bushey.
To see the simplified timetable, go to the TfL Journey Planner, click
on "Timetables" in the right hand column, then under "Bus timetable -
route number" put in 142 and click on "Get timetable", then select the
direction of travel then the stop you need (Bushey station comes under
"Bushey Rail Station" in the list).

Voila - Watford Jn to Euston plus unlimited travel after 09:30 for £7
instead of £13.

Well, actually £8.50 - the same as the cost from Watford High Street.

Ulrich could even take the 142 bus from Watford Jn to Watford High
Street station and enter the rail system there (which again would
qualify him for the £8.50 - but there are no fast LM trains from
Watford High Street, only slow LO trains - he could of course change
at Bushey from LO onto LM).

It's all so simple really isn't it!