Travelling using Pay as you go with Contactless and Oyster arrived at Hertford North, Bayford and Cuffley stations on the Great Northern line this week.
Great Northern’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway has worked with TfL and the Department for Transport to extend the system to the three Hertfordshire stations. Besides the installation of card readers, at least half of the ticket machines at each station have also been converted to allow customers to top up their Oyster card. Customers can also use the free TfL app to top up their Oyster card and to check their balance and journey history on the go.
Although this extension of pay as you go does not include Travelcards, TfL’s daily price cap will apply.
There are minor changes to off-peak Day Travelcard prices, to support the introduction of pay as you go and to ensure that the pay as you go fare is no more expensive than the equivalent paper ticket in most cases.
The off-peak Day Travelcard paper ticket fare goes up by 10p from Hertford North, and down by 20p from Bayford. The Cuffley fare has not changed.
Monday to Sunday weekly capping will also be available to contactless customers, meaning regular users will never be charged more than an equivalent seven-day paper Travelcard. Season tickets from these stations will not be available on Oyster and there are no changes to season ticket fares.
The route map on their website hasn’t been updated with the zone expansion yet — or for some time as there’s an Elizabethan sized mistake on it.
The Oyster card is also due to be extended to Welwyn Garden City, Luton Airport Parkway and Epsom in the next few months. The DfT is also consulting on plans to expand prepay type fares across the South-East of England.
What’s the “Elizabethan-sized mistake”? I’m thinking it has something to do with Hatfield due to that town’s association with Elizabeth I.
You’ll be Cross when you realise what Rail news you’ve missed here.
Would be great if the extension of contactless and oyster cards included stations from Euston to Tring in Hertfordshire currently you can only go as far as Watford but even that is a special fare & as Mr Khan has torpedoed the extension of the metropolitan line it would be nice to have an alternative.
I see ‘Elizabethian’ Mistake. Great Northern Messed up there.
I think Oyster card should be extended to Harlow Town Station.
Epsom gained Oyster in March.
Epsom gained Oyster on 25 February, not March 🙂 Please do tell what the Elizabethan-sized mistake is
I am wondering whether why harlow has not oyster extensions.
For those that can’t see it the map says “Elizabeth Line opens December 2018”
It’s been overshadowed by the Brexit saga, but ‘Metroisation’ (ne Rail Devolution) of the Outer Suburban services is now firmly back on the political agenda. A few years ago it had been agreed that TfL would take over the Metro service to Orpington and Sevenoaks, but this was scuppered by Chris Grayling ‘to prevent it falling into the clutches of a future Labour mayor’.
However, the Mayor of London has now called for the Government to make TfL the rail infrastructure manager for its devolved suburban services, and TfL has published a very detailed ‘Strategic Case for Metroisation in south and south east London‘.
It’s come at a highly opportune time because the DfT have still not awarded the long-delayed new contract for the Southeastern franchise, which has already been extended several times, and the process may even be scrapped.
It seems that May and Grayling are on a three-legged walk towards the ministerial exit door, so many more areas of the Rail and Tube map may well turn orange and get Oyster before long.
Great – now, when will Oyster 60+ and Freedom Passes be valid on Great Northern North of Finsbury Park before 09:30? I can travel from Enfield Town (now part of the Overground) and Oakwood (Picadilly) FoC but not Enfield Chase. Bizarre!
BTW, 717s now coming in have very hard seats, and like all these Siemens trains, their traction shrieks like mad…