One of the things that’s struck me so far about Oyster on NR is how little people seem to be using it – I’ve not yet seen anyone else touch in at our SWT station and on an early trip I met a couple who’d driven up from M3-land somewhere and parked at our local SWT station to get into town on the train. They were doing the usual SWT shuffle at the ticket machine and we got chatting. Turned out they had Oyster cards but weren’t using them because they didn’t realise it had rolled out. There was a poster up, but rather tucked away and obviously things like fare leaflets wouldn’t be available since there aren’t any yet, although a recent answer to Mike Tuffrey on the question does make one wonder if things are quite joined up enough:
A comprehensive paper fares guide was not introduced this year, following an extensive study of customer usage of previous annual TfL Fares and Ticketing leaflets. The results found that, in general, customers prefer to ask station staff about fares, alongside other questions about journey planning and so on. They do not proactively seek the leaflet in the station. When shown a copy of the leaflet, customers found it too complex for their purpose, which is usually to seek an individual fare or product.
The research showed customers seek simple and tailored information, appropriate to their needs, for example, on concessionary fares.
So people want simple information from a human rather than wads of paper covering complex fare structures. We’ll remember that when Boris starts cutting station jobs to save a few quid while leaving the complex PAYG structure untouched for fear of a row with the TOCs and DfT.
Anyway, Peter Hendy suggests 0.5m extra journeys per week on PAYG post-NR rollout, which sounds superficially good, but let’s compare that with the stats for the Tube, for a sizing comparison:
- 2006/7 – 19.8m/week, 24.8% PAYG = 4.91m PAYG journeys per week
- 2007/8 – 20.9m/week, 28.7% PAYG = 6.0m PAYG journeys per week
- 2008/9 – 21.0m/week, 34.6% PAYG = 7.25m PAYG journeys per week
So that’s a reasonable start, although considering that’s the best part of half of London’s geographical area rolled out to there’s some way to go – as a rough rule we’d be looking at 3m more PAYG journeys per week before we start calling it a revolution. After all, LU has 270 stations while the rollout on 2nd January was to around 200. Again, needs better publicity.
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8 responses so far ↓
Or even better, they could have just tried not making the fare system so complex that you need a phd in fareology to understand it and obviated the need for complex leaflets and explanations.
That would involve taking on vested interests, though. Not in Boris’s plan, that, unless they’re left-wing ones in which case the likes of Harry Phibbs will be along in a minute to tell us why crushing them now is essential.
Lots of people touching in at Hither Green. I’ve been very pleased with my experiences of PAYG compared with buying paper tickets. No more missing the train queuing! Fares could be simpler though.
“No more missing the train queuing!”
Can attest to this as a major advantage (providing you’re not travelling with children who don’t have their own Oyster card). Last week on the way into town for Pro London I arrived at the station at the same time as the train and touched in just as the doors opened. The bugger was a minute *early*. Not had that before.
Like I say, it’s 75% of the way there, they just need to simply the fares and concessions and throw the OEP out.
I have an email form my train operator hinting that some of the reasons for the problems, such as not being able to buy top ups at NR stations, is that the operators at the tail ends of franchises do not want to invest in the systems.
The Tickect inspectors do not even understand the operating model / fares.
You certainly cannot just tap in at the start and out at the end of a NR->DLR journey or an NR->tube->DLR and expect a predicable fare – unless getting a max charge penalty counts as predictable. Nore does tapping at every intermediate point necessarily help!
It may be confusing – but I bet you all £20 worth of travel vouchers the kids will have already worked out how to scam it.
There is another serious problem with the way that PAYG works on the NR. It’s not related to child fares but need to vent so I’ll do it here if that’s ok:
If you have a travelcard on your Oyster and you take an NR journey using that travelcard, and you fail to touch out, you will be charged the maximum fare against your PAYG balance.
At first this sounds reasonable, but I think it’s a rip-off for three reasons:
1. For years, Oyster travelcard users have been able to exit their NR journey’s without touching out, and without any impact on their PAYG balance.
2. On the tube, Oyster travelcard users are not required to touch out.
3. All the documentation for PAYG on NR states “When you are using Oyster pay as you go you must touch in… and touch out…” No mention of Travelcard users needing to touch out.
Now I may be doing something wrong or have a problem with my card, but I have lost at least £30 by not touching out at my NR station since this came into effect (old habits die hard, and this was never a problem before). I also have a colleague who has learnt the same hard lesson.
I suppose I should call them to complain and request a refund, but having been through that before, I’m not enthused by the idea.
Well, I can’t really say I’ve seen the same locally. I’m a frequent visitor at a Southeastern station, similar to Clare’s #3 comment, Bromley South, to be more precise. It’s one of the network’s busiest. The machines are out-fitted to load Oyster cards, the inspectors have hand-helds, the ticket office has hand-helds, the gates all have working readers, and a stand-alone reader beside the luggage gate.
I have to say that locally, awareness of PAYG is quite highly acknowledged, and SER (Southeastern Railway) have made sure to post plenty of visible publicity about the new system, and recently started an ad campaign to advertise PAYG on all “Southeastern metro” services. I must admit that there was some initial confusion amongst the ticket staff as to what the rules are, but they seem to have improved lately.
What entices me to use Oyster, then?
1. It’s potentially cheaper.
2. “Touching-in” is way cooler than fumbling with a paper ticket!
3. I have my railcard loaded onto my Oyster; even bigger discounts.
Hope this helps.