Where am I going wrong with my Oyster card?

rorylando45

Hello!

I have taken a few journeys recently using my Oyster card, and as far as I can see I am being charged more than the TFL website is quoting. Here is an example of a journey I made last week:



I made the journey at 8.40am odd, so according to the TFL website it should cost me £3.10. The route I took was Wimbledon to Waterloo on the overground train (South West Trains), and then went straight into the Jubilee Line for 3 stops to Bond Street.

However, here is what my Oyster journey history is saying:



So I got charged £4.40 instead of £3.10. Am I misunderstanding the situation or doing something wrong?? I know it's not a huge amount of money but over the course of a year it can equate to hundreds of pounds!!!

Thanks for any help

The_Groat_Counter

Ok, if you go back to the 'single fare finder' on the TfL website and do the search again, look under the initial result for a button labelled "Alternative fares" - click on it and you'll see this page:
www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/farefinder/current/default.aspx?mode=alternate&on=Wimbledon&dn=Bond+Street&ft=Adult

The fare you were charged (£4.40 peak, £3.40 off-peak) is listed as one of two alternative routes:
"Route 2: Travelling on National Rail and London Underground changing at Waterloo (or Blackfriars or Clapham Junction and Victoria)".

The cheaper fare you initially see (£3.10 peak, £2.60 off-peak) assumes that you travel from Wimbledon on the District line then change onto another tube line to reach Bond Street (e.g. via Notting Hill Gate and the Central line) - it's basically the 'Tube only' fare.

The higher fare for travelling via Waterloo is the 'through fare' that applies when travelling on National Rail (in your case South West Trains) then the Tube, or vice versa.

Not saying that's how it should be, but it does explain what you were charged - so you're not doing anything wrong, nor is the system malfunctioning, it's just that how it's communicated isn't really ideal.

TfL would certainly like to make the whole fares system simpler, but the train companies make it difficult (it took years before they even accepted Oyster pay-as-you-go).

Just to be complete, all the various fares are shown in a number of tables on the TfL site...

- this shows the 'Tube-only' fares (which also applies to the DLR and London Overground):
www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416.aspx
- this shows National Rail only fares at the top, and the National Rail & Tube/DLR/LO 'through fares' lower down the page:
www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14414.aspx

alanrowell

You used train & Tube, therefore they are treated as separate journeys.

You should have taken the Tube all the way where you'd be charged only the Tube fare

The_Groat_Counter

alanrowell wrote: »

You used train & Tube, therefore they are treated as separate journeys.

You should have taken the Tube all the way where you'd be charged only the Tube fare

The second sentence is correct.

Re the first sentence - they're not actually treated as two separate journeys, rather a higher 'through fare' applies to journeys that involve both train & Tube.

rorylando45

Thanks a lot for the explanation! Huge help :T