I haven't seen this mentioned yet on this group but I'm sure some will
have picked up on thus news from posters and leaflets now floating
around the Tube network.

From the 25 September adult 7 Day Travelcards (7DTC) will only be
available on Oyster, and not on a paper - and as a logical extension
of this (since 15 August) the £3 Oyster card deposit has been waived
*if* a passenger is buying a 7 Day Travelcard.

I think (though it's not made clear in the publicity) that this will
also apply to TfL Ticket Stops (newsagents to you and me) as well as
Underground ticket offices.

This will mean that you won't be able to buy paper adult season tickets
from any TfL outlet. If you're buying from a National Rail station then
you'll get a paper ticket (though a few NR stations do have Oyster
issuing capabilities so I guess you'll have a choice if you buy from
them [1]).

7 Day Bus Passes will still be available as a paper ticket, and if you
want to get one on Oyster then you'll still have to pay the £3
deposit. The deposit will also remain payable if you just want to get
an Oyster card for use with Pre Pay.

This move represents TfL's next big push for the Oyster card system,
and is backed up by a witty and well executed poster campaign across
the Tube and elsewhere (I've seen at least one advertising billboard
poster at an overground station), with the strapline "Faster Smarter
Easier Oyster", and with taglines such as "Blue is the new Pink", "The
correct change", and - to push Oyster's online purchasing facility -
"Why stand in line when you can buy online"

So keep hold of any old TfL season tickets you may have as they're
about to become history, the first casualty of the electronic ticketing
revolution.

For the TfL press release on this changeover go to:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=479


[1] Non-exhaustive list of National Rail stations that issue Oyster
http://snipurl.com/oyster_at_NRstations

In message .com, at
16:20:15 on Tue, 23 Aug 2005, Mizter T remarked:
From the 25 September adult 7 Day Travelcards (7DTC) will only be
available on Oyster, and not on a paper - and as a logical extension
of this (since 15 August) the £3 Oyster card deposit has been waived
*if* a passenger is buying a 7 Day Travelcard.

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card
(disposable at the end of the week), or can I now put a 7DTC on my
existing prepay Oyster? I don't really want to have two - one for those
times I buy a 7DTC and another for when I don't.
--
Roland Perry

Mizter T wrote:

This move represents TfL's next big push for the Oyster card system,
and is backed up by a witty and well executed poster campaign across
the Tube and elsewhere (I've seen at least one advertising billboard
poster at an overground station), with the strapline "Faster Smarter
Easier Oyster", and with taglines such as "Blue is the new Pink", "The
correct change", and - to push Oyster's online purchasing facility -
"Why stand in line when you can buy online"


These posters have appeared at such far flung locations such as Three
Bridges and Portsmouth Harbour. Is there much point in advertising
Oyster this far away from the capital?

On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:50:21 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card

Yes, if you don't have one already or want an extra one (although they
seem to be reserving the right to start charging the £3 deposit again
in the future).

(disposable at the end of the week)

Only if you have no further use for an Oyster card...

or can I now put a 7DTC on my existing prepay Oyster?

Yes, you have been able to do this for some time. You can do it with
any Travelcard season provided your card is registered (I'm not sure
if they require you to register if it's only a 7DTC).

asdf wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:50:21 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card

Yes, if you don't have one already or want an extra one (although they
seem to be reserving the right to start charging the £3 deposit again
in the future).

(disposable at the end of the week)

Only if you have no further use for an Oyster card...

or can I now put a 7DTC on my existing prepay Oyster?

Yes, you have been able to do this for some time. You can do it with
any Travelcard season provided your card is registered (I'm not sure
if they require you to register if it's only a 7DTC).

Just to add to asdf's answers - you no longer need to register any
Oyster card if it is for use with a 7DTC or a 7 Day Bus Pass
(prevoiusly you had to register in order to use an Oyster with a 7 Day
ticket but this requirement was stopped a few months ago). And it has
always been possible to have Pre Pay and a season Travelcard together
on a registered Oyster card, since the launch of Pre Pay in 2004.

So Rolan, you've no need for another Oyster card, simply put a 7DTC
onto the one you have already. If you want a monthly or longer season
on your Oyster card then it does need to be registered.

And perhaps you're not clear on one of the benefits of Oyster - the
ability to combine a season Travelcard and Pre Pay. If you need to
travel out of your Travelcard's zonal validity when travelling by Tube
or DLR then your Oyster card will automatically be debited the
appropriate extra fare - there's no need to buy a paper ticket
extension. And as Pre Pay fares on Oyster are cheaper than their
printed equivalent, you'll save money.

An example - you have a Zone 1&2 weekly Travelcard on your Oyster card,
and you wish to travel out to Heathrow on the Picadilly line from Kings
Cross. On arrival your Oyster card will be debited £1.80 (or £1.30
after 7pm and at weekends), which is the fare for travelling from Zone
3 to Zone 6. Voila - a ticket extension without the need to queue up an
buy one.

It should be noted that this 'automatic ticket extension' function only
works on routes where Pre Pay is accepted - i.e. the whole of the Tube
and the DLR networks, but *not* on the vast majority of the National
Rail network in London. For a list of the few National Rail routes
where Pre Pay is accepted, follow this link - http://tinyurl.com/78fu8.

Richard Adamfi wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

This move represents TfL's next big push for the Oyster card system,
and is backed up by a witty and well executed poster campaign across
the Tube and elsewhere (I've seen at least one advertising billboard
poster at an overground station), with the strapline "Faster Smarter
Easier Oyster", and with taglines such as "Blue is the new Pink", "The
correct change", and - to push Oyster's online purchasing facility -
"Why stand in line when you can buy online"


These posters have appeared at such far flung locations such as Three
Bridges and Portsmouth Harbour. Is there much point in advertising
Oyster this far away from the capital?

No, there isn't much point! You can't get a Travelcard season (inc.
rail travel to & from London) from a station outside the zones on
Oyster, it would come as a printed ticket. Unless some people are that
deperate to have an Oyster card and thus have two season tickets - a
printed rail season ticket plus a Travelcard on Oyster - and I'm not an
expert but I think if you did that it'd cost more, it certainly
wouldn't be any cheaper.

The only market I guess they might be advertising to are the occasional
passengers who might be travelling to London (on a rail only ticket)
then doing one or two journeys on the tube, though I'm sure in most
cases they'd be better off getting a Day Travelcard from their starting
station.

I suspect that it's a bit of slapdash planning on either TfL or the
billboard companies part with regards to which billboard sites were to
be used.

In message , at 13:43:30 on
Wed, 24 Aug 2005, asdf remarked:

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card

Yes, if you don't have one already or want an extra one (although they
seem to be reserving the right to start charging the £3 deposit again
in the future).

(disposable at the end of the week)

Only if you have no further use for an Oyster card...

Well, not until the next time I happen to need a 7DTC rather than paying
as I go.

It seems to me that people like TFL assume everyone is a commuter. What
if I was a foreign businessman coming to London perhaps three times a
year, and doing enough travelling each trip to justify a 7DTC? I might
not want to have to remember to bring my earlier Oyster, along with
everything else.

or can I now put a 7DTC on my existing prepay Oyster?

Yes, you have been able to do this for some time.

Ah, their publicity machine is clearly not focussed in my direction. Is
it the ODTC that I can't put on a prepay Oyster, or are all permutations
now allowed?
--
Roland Perry

In message .com, at
06:39:51 on Wed, 24 Aug 2005, Mizter T remarked:
I suspect that it's a bit of slapdash planning on either TfL or the
billboard companies part with regards to which billboard sites were to
be used.

I was on the tube yesterday, and saw several of the posters. I have to
say that it didn't make any sense to me, and I was oblivious to their
message until I saw this thread.

Not helped by being next to a drinks company that is running a different
"Pink" campaign at the moment - 'Anyone can be pink and cold', or
something like that.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:43:30 on
Wed, 24 Aug 2005, asdf remarked:

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card

Yes, if you don't have one already or want an extra one (although they
seem to be reserving the right to start charging the £3 deposit again
in the future).

(disposable at the end of the week)

Only if you have no further use for an Oyster card...

Well, not until the next time I happen to need a 7DTC rather than paying
as I go.

It seems to me that people like TFL assume everyone is a commuter. What
if I was a foreign businessman coming to London perhaps three times a
year, and doing enough travelling each trip to justify a 7DTC? I might
not want to have to remember to bring my earlier Oyster, along with
everything else.

I'm sure that TfL will find many people do throw their Oyster cards
away, though I'd urge people not to as it would be a waste. It is
possible that TfL will start charging for the deposit again though, as
they say the deposit has been waived "until further notice".

I think TfL are well aware that not everyone is a commuter, but (in
their eyes) the prize of changing to an electronic ticketing system is
worth giving Oyster cards away. (It's inelegant from a database point
of view - there will be a lot of records kept on the central database
for Oyster cards that have disappeared from use - but this must have
been allowed for in the design of the system.)

or can I now put a 7DTC on my existing prepay Oyster?

Yes, you have been able to do this for some time.

Ah, their publicity machine is clearly not focussed in my direction.

There have been posters around and about for a while on the Tube
network and bus shelters advising passengers they no longer need
registered Oyster card to get 7 Day tickets on Oyster. I noticve these
things, but then again I admit I am perhaps unusually interested in the
mechanics of this new smartcard system!


Is it the ODTC that I can't put on a prepay Oyster, or are all
permutations now allowed?

No, you can't have a Day Travelcard (whether peak or off-peak) loaded
on an Oystercard. Day Travelcards are only available as printed
tickets.

However, this is where 'daily price capping' comes into play, which
sounds much more complicated than it is. Depending on when you travel,
whether you travel only by bus or both bus and Tube, and if you travel
by Tube what zones you travel in or through, the amount you pay in any
one day will be capped at a certain amount.

The price you will be charged will be the same as a Day Travelcard (or
a One-Day Bus Pass), but because Oyster Pre Pay is not (yet) valid on
the majority of the National Rail network in London, your Oyster card
does not metamorphosize into a full Day Travelcard.

This price capping means that if you don't know where you're going to
be going on any one day (on the bus and Tube), you don't have to work
it out and buy a Day Travelcard at the beginning of your travels. You
can go where you wish, and you won't be charged for lots of single
journeys.

Take a look at the price capping section of the Oyster card website:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...r/pricecap.asp

Also this is a PDF of the price capping leaflet:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...2005-02-27.pdf


Whilst I suspect my explaination was clear as mud, once one gets their
head around how this capping works one can see the real benefits of the
Oyster system. (Benefits that will be much more beneficial when
National Rail is eventually fully incorporated into the Pre Pay system,
but that will only happen when the train companies stop dragging their
feet.)

Mizter T wrote:
asdf wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:50:21 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I'm a bit confused here. Will the 7DTC come on a free Oyster card

Yes, if you don't have one already or want an extra one (although they
seem to be reserving the right to start charging the £3 deposit again
in the future).


(snip)

So Rolan, you've no need for another Oyster card, simply put a 7DTC
onto the one you have already. If you want a monthly or longer season
on your Oyster card then it does need to be registered.

But will they give him his £3 back when he puts his first 7DTC on it?
I've not got one but presumably you got a receipt for your £3 which
you'd have to hand back with the Oyster card to get the £3.

Dave.