I wonder if anyone here knows the answer to my question about Oyster cards
and season tickets. I followed the Help link from the Oyster pages of TFL,
and sent the following:

"I looked on your website to see if I could buy a monthly season to cover
from Zone 2 to a national rail station just outside Zone 6. Though
therefore not on the tube network, an all inclusive single or return ticket
encompassing tube and overground train is available and even (though not
asked for recently) a weekly season ticket. Oyster seems to assume that
everyone only ever travels within the various Zones. Are other, more
individually tailored season tickets still available or have they all been
axed? Also, if I did get an Oyster card, and used it on a national rail
network train and was asked for a ticket, is the inspector going to believe
my ticket is valid when all he can see is a bit of blue plastic? Your
marketing and supposedly informational leaflets are full of razzmatazz but
in my view leave gapping holes in the understanding of anyone who does not
work and live and commute within the Zones. Anyone like me who travels into
or out of the Zoned area, which must surely be more than half of all TFL
vehicle users, is left having to ask questions like this"

Sadly, it seems TFL subcontract things out to people who are in fact "not
authorised" to answer enquiries from the help page! Leaving aside the
obvious criticism of whichever bird brain put such a system in place, does
anyone know the answer(s)?

The (almost) complete TFL response was "Thank you for your e-mail. We at
Keith Prowse Ticketing are a sub-agent on behalf of the Transport for London
and as such are not authorised to confirm the details of your query ... blah
blah"

On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 21:51:09 -0000, "ITMA"
wrote:

Oyster seems to assume that
everyone only ever travels within the various Zones. Are other, more
individually tailored season tickets still available or have they all been
axed?

No, they are still available as normal from the normal outlets, and
they will continue being issued on card for the foreseeable future -
likely until there is a National Rail smartcard project. If TfL won't
issue them any more, any National Rail station will.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain

In message , at 21:51:09
on Wed, 3 Nov 2004, ITMA remarked:
Also, if I did get an Oyster card, and used it on a national rail
network train and was asked for a ticket, is the inspector going to believe
my ticket is valid when all he can see is a bit of blue plastic?

My understanding is that Oyster Cards are valid on vanishingly few
National Rail routes, and therefore the question is largely moot.
Whether this is cause or effect, I don't know. This "restriction" on the
Oyster is one of the most confusing things for people used to buying a
paper Travelcard.

And how many times will NR do an on-board ticket inspection during the
limited travel time one of their trains is inside the Tfl zones, anyway?
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 06:49:29 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:
My understanding is that Oyster Cards are valid on vanishingly few
National Rail routes, and therefore the question is largely moot.
Whether this is cause or effect, I don't know. This "restriction" on the
Oyster is one of the most confusing things for people used to buying a
paper Travelcard.

It *will* be valid if it's got a period Travelcard on it, and there
must be a few hundred thousand of those out there on Oyster at least.
I'm not sure what restriction you mean...

And how many times will NR do an on-board ticket inspection during the
limited travel time one of their trains is inside the Tfl zones, anyway?

Ah... as you said, moot!

Richard.

In message , at 20:09:51 on
Thu, 4 Nov 2004, Richard remarked:
My understanding is that Oyster Cards are valid on vanishingly few
National Rail routes, and therefore the question is largely moot.
Whether this is cause or effect, I don't know. This "restriction" on the
Oyster is one of the most confusing things for people used to buying a
paper Travelcard.

It *will* be valid if it's got a period Travelcard on it, and there
must be a few hundred thousand of those out there on Oyster at least.
I'm not sure what restriction you mean...

Prepay. For example on the Paddington- Ealing Broadway route, where if
you are starting at Paddington the FGWL service is vastly faster then
the tube, but you aren't allowed to use it (despite it having Oyster
readers at both ends of the journey).
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote in message o.uk...
In message , at 21:51:09
on Wed, 3 Nov 2004, ITMA remarked:
Also, if I did get an Oyster card, and used it on a national rail
network train and was asked for a ticket, is the inspector going to believe
my ticket is valid when all he can see is a bit of blue plastic?

My understanding is that Oyster Cards are valid on vanishingly few
National Rail routes, and therefore the question is largely moot.
Whether this is cause or effect, I don't know. This "restriction" on the
Oyster is one of the most confusing things for people used to buying a
paper Travelcard.

*Prepay* Oyster is currently not generally valid on National Rail, and
I agree with you about the confusion this causes. However, since
period Travelcards issued by Underground stations are now on Oyster,
and these continue to be valid on National Rail routes within the
relevant zones, there are a LOT of people on NR trains in London using
Oyster cards.


And how many times will NR do an on-board ticket inspection during the
limited travel time one of their trains is inside the Tfl zones, anyway?

When Southern do a full station block (inside the zonal area), there
are people on the line with Oyster card readers. I can't remember the
last time I saw an *on-train* inspection, but then I only use Southern
in the peaks, at which time it would not be feasilble to carry out an
on-train inspection.

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

On 5 Nov 2004 01:51:59 -0800, (LarryLard) wrote:



When Southern do a full station block (inside the zonal area), there
are people on the line with Oyster card readers.

My line (SWT) has ticket inspectors/sellers and most of them don't
have the Oyster readers. SOme of them are OK if you just show them
the blue wallet (not the card - its buried inside somewhere on mine)
but some check the validity of it by the following method: "What
zones is on that sir?" I've never been asked what the expiry date is
though.


I can't remember the
last time I saw an *on-train* inspection, but then I only use Southern
in the peaks, at which time it would not be feasilble to carry out an
on-train inspection.

A get my ticket check on most journeys