Oyster from Liverpool Street

Ware?? you must be joking! the TOC's don't want you using oyster pre pay, even within zones 1-6!

As far as I know oyster pre pay is only valid on NR stations jointly served with LUL trains.

But you cannot use Oyster at a National Rail Station, even if you have a travelcard on it, that is excluding the handful or so stations that do allow Oyster card usage.

If you buy a travelcard (paper ticket) you can use this at NR stations, however even if you prepay capps at a day travelcard, this isnt valid on NR.

You therefore are betetr off using your oyster on LUL and then buying a ticket from NR station to NR station.

Not quite Seth!

Oyster Pre Pay and travelcards (at least as far as I can figure out Travelcards as well) will be valid on the following routes :

You can also use Oyster single fares for ticket extensions on these routes.
– Amersham to Marylebone
– Finsbury Park to King’s Cross/Moorgate
– Harrow & Wealdstone to Euston (not valid at Kilburn High Road/South Hampstead)
– Kentish Town to Moorgate/Elephant & Castle/London Bridge
– Liverpool Street to Walthamstow Central/Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters (not valid at intermediate stations)
– Richmond to Gunnersbury
– Stratford to Canning Town
– Stratford to Liverpool Street
– Upminster to Fenchurch Street/Liverpool Street via Barking (not valid at Forest Gate/Maryland)
– West Ruislip/South Ruislip to Marylebone (not valid at intermediate stations)

So as Enfield Lock is not in that list, though I am not sure exactly the closest station too there (too tired to look) but you will have to touch out there on pre pay by exiting the train then purchasing a ticket most likely on the next available. Not very convenient! You've got to touch out as Unresolved NR journeys on an Oyster card are not easy to remove... I've got one that I forgot to touch out on and can't be removed via charge, refund or simple removal, it's stuck there! Bit brown stuff I thought (used in context).

Best buying a ticket from Liv St to Ware with a Y-P card if you have it.

Also be careful on your definition of Railcard Discount as there is a wide range of cards, some do not offer the standard 33% off.

Yeah know what ya mean mate. That's as far as I know at the moment anyway. It doesn't make it very clear at all! Problem exsists with the Oyster card being London zone bound and many National Rail companies need seeing the financial benefit in equipping themselves with it, meanwhile it has made Underground and Bus travel simpler and quicker for most people. Without the readers it would mean you can flash any old oyster card and there ain't much the ticket examiner can do about it. Might be a valid travelcard but they don't know that! Can't see how they can be valid when there's no facility to check that at stations or on some trains

Pity as an electronic based ticketing system on smart cards seems to be a great idea to me, even on long distance I could see it working... pipedream tho!

Don't oysters loaded with travelcards also come with a paper insert stating that the card is loaded with a zone X to Y travelcard?

Only period tickets, however NR do not accept this as a valid proof of a ticket. In any case if you have pre pay and it caps to a Day travelcard, you do not have the record card to show whats on there



Apart from the fact that capped pre pay travelcard is not valid on NR??

Whilst that is true on some national rail lines (in London, of course), most like c2c (and all LUL stations / revenue inspectors) do actually have hand held checkers

Also, based on my knowledge from when I worked in the ticket office - MA is correct, if a paper travelcard is valid, Oyster with the same ticket loaded on it is also valid.
Pre pay (or pay as go - the new name apparently) is a pain in the rear - it cannot be used on NR unless the route is listed as per DT's earlier post - but if it caps to a travel card, you then have the paper equivalent.

Whilst in general Oyster has a lot of benefits for both staff and customers, it can also be more hassle than it's worth. IMHO it should never have been launched without the co-operation of the TOC's - but it has. So we'll just have to lump it for now

AFAIK there is nothing that says a capped oyster has the same validity as a paper one day travelcard. It is my understanding that it still counts as prepay and therefore isn't valid on NR services apart from those listed. As such, there is no such thing as a one day travelcard on oyster - price capping simply means that you aren't charged for additional journeys once you have spent the equivalent cost of a one day travelcard, on prepay.