This link

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/Emotion/InsideStory/Issue31_InsideStory.htm

which includes these two paragraphs

” The gates are also prepared for the future as they are equipped with Oyster readers and will be able to accept Oyster pay as you go when introduced later in 2009. They are also ready for smartcard ticketing when it comes on stream later in the current franchise. Watch this space! ”

” Can I use Oyster pay as you go?
No. The gates will accept Oyster travelcards and paper rail tickets but cannot yet recognise Oyster pay as you go. Implementation of pay as you go is planned as part of a pan-London project under the direction of Transport for London, due before the end of 2009. ”

is on the South West Trains website! It is in their ” e-motion ” magazine for November and December 2008.

It contains more useful info than I get by writing to most Train Operating Companies, apart from any real estimate of the start date for Pay as you go Oyster, of course.

What happened at the famous TfL & TOC summit on 21 October? It seems to be the best-kept secret since the affair between John Major and Edwina Currie! TOCs responding to my letters and e-mails since then are still giving start dates long into the future.

This even applies to NXEA, where the stations Maryland to Harold Wood on future Crossrail had readers installed in the first week in September 2008, now 10 weeks ago.

Thanks very much for that – I couldn’t get it to download (is it the 300 page document sswtnation.pdf?).

South West Trains are obliged to accept Oyster PAYG on their network from January 2009 if, and *only* if:

- TfL upgrade all card readers and valiators on the South West Trains Z1-6 network to be both Oyster and ITSO compatibile by 01/01/09, and TfL do not change the price agreed for works.
- TfL upgrade all card readers and validators on TfL tube stations, rail stations, trams, and buses to be both Oyster and ITSO compatible by 01/01/09, and TfL do not change the price agreed for works.
- Oyster fares on SWT services are equal to those of equivalent paper tickets.
- Oyster fares for a combination of SWT services and TfL services are equal to those of equivalent paper tickets. (SWT currently add a premium of about £4 to +Zone 1 tickets for onward tube travel)
- Daily price caps are equal to travelcard prices.
- Where journeys incorporate both tube and rail journeys, Oyster PAYG revenue is allocated between operators on the same principles of as paper (non-travelcard) through tickets.
- TfL reach agreement with SWT on issues which are “material to the performance of the obligations on terms that are fair and reasonable on the basis of an arm’s length commercial transaction between informed and willing parties”

Now let’s have a look at these points in a bit more detail:
- TfL reader upgrades – has this been happening? I don’t know, but my inclination is that it isn’t.
- TfL reach agreement with SWT with regards to the roll-out of Oyster. It’s difficult to prove that SWT are not being reasonable, but it’s not impossible. Precedent has been set by other operators (such as FGW), and theoretically you could use this to prove that SWT is not being reasonable in this regard.
- Fares – this is really the killer. The fares structure proposed here goes against several aspects of PAYG – firstly, daily price caps are currently cheaper than travelcards. Secondly, allocating OPAYG revenue as per non-travelcard agreements will see a disproportionate amount going to SWT if users reach their fare cap. Finally, charging train + tube journeys at the cost of paper equivalent would completely disincentivise usage of the cards – currently SWT charge about £4 premium for any passenger foolish enough to ask for a through ticket to a tube station.

I’d be amazed if TfL would cave in to these requirements, and therefore the agreement is pretty much worthless. A cynic might suggest that OPAYG was included by the DfT to get good headlines, but in practice, it’d be difficult to hold SWT to pretty much anything.

Even if the DfT did want to hold SWT to their commitments, the only financial penalties I could hunt down in the document are tangential; there’s a £2000 fine for every 28 days they fail to appoint a Smart Card Project Manager (which is still far cheaper than appointing a decent project manager), and a
£200 fine for every 28 days they fail to provide an update on Smart Card Implementation. (p89)

With such weak franchise obligations, TfL (and, to be fair to him, Boris), have a pretty uphill struggle here to get Oyster PAYG out to SWT. But, if you were worried that the DfT have been entirely toothless and caved in to South West Trains when drafting the agreement, then have no fear. The DfT did manage to win the following vital franchise obligation: “The
Franchisee shall re-locate the vending machines from the bottom of the footbridge on Platform 5 at Wimbledon by 30 September 2008.” At least they got the important stuff right, eh?