Marvellous. Thanks so much for being a font of knowledge!

Michael has very astutely homed in on the key question of ticket charging in May.

He writes: "The big question will be in May: What will be the cost of travel from FH to Westminster via Canada Water? Will it be a single tube journey or the cost of National Rail (to zone 2 or 1) and then an additional underground fare from zone 2 or 1 to Westminster."

This may seem like a very obscure or "academic" issue but it lies absolutely at the heart of future travel charges via the ELL.

TfL has yet to make up its mind on this issue. I hope that the FH and Sydenham Societies will be able to meet with TfL (and GLA representatives) and influence this matter before it goes "against" us.

What I don't understand is why Gold & Network Card discounts can't be loaded on to your PAYG Oyster Card. According to Southern - http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-a...ter-card/:

If they can load some discounts then why not all of them? Obviously just a poilcy decision rather than a technical limitation.

It wouldn't be worth the hassle on the Network Card as it has a ?10 minimum price limit on tickets during weekdays.

I have received a couple of complaints that people have been charged the wrong fare on Oyster PAYG (?9.60 return to Willesden Green, ?6.30 return to Charing Cross). Are these one off errors, or have other people been similarly affected?

A friend of mine was charged ? 4.60 from charing cross allthough a couple of days before he was charged only ?2 from London Bridge! So it seems to be an ongoing issue

I've only started to use an Oyster card recently for local bus trips. I put more money on my card last week and both times I've tried to use it subsequently it hasn't worked.
The shop i topped up in said they couldn't tx funds to a new card and I should try Forest Hill station to sort it out. FH station said i needed to go to an underground station, as they were unable to fix it.

So now I have to pay to travel to a tube station, which I have no cause to do, in order to get it fixed. I really don't understand it.
Do other peeps have this type of issue?

I had some of the same issues with Oyster - apparently the problem is when you don't 'touch in' and 'touch out' with every journey.

When you touch in at Forest Hill, the Oyster doesn't yet know how much to charge you and therefore charges you the maximum. If you, say, touch out at London Bridge, then the Oyster is meant to automatically refund you the difference in fare. However, if you forget to touch out, you never get this refund and therefore the maximum fare will have been deducted from your card.

I phoned up TFL re this as I travelled on the Northern line from Angel to L Bridge, then from L Bridge back down to F Hill. I successfully 'touched in' and 'touched out' on the Northern line but the gates were open at London Bridge rail station so I walked through to platform 5 and didn't 'touch in' for the next leg of my journey. I was therefore charged the full max fare when I got off at Forest Hill, despite the fact that I'd already exceeded the Oyster 'capped fare' for the day. When I phoned TFL, they refunded me the difference, as they could clearly see that I was at London Bridge tube station 20 minutes before before I arrived at Forest Hill. But it's worth checking your PAYG balance from time to time, as the only reason I even noticed was that I needed to 'top up' my balance sooner than I had expected.

I also had problems getting a one-month travel pass added to my PAYG Oyster. As other people have said, FH station was unable to help and said that I needed to travel to a tube station to get it loaded onto my card. Since I otherwise didn't need to go to a tube station that week, I phoned up TFL again and found out that you can put 1-month travel passes onto your card via the Internet or phone. Hopefully this will save some of you an unnecessary journey!

Although you can top up, or put a travel card on your card, via the phone or internet, you still need to validate it via an underground station. You can't validate it at Forest Hill Station, and you can't validate it at the platform 8 to 16 exits at London Bridge.

You can now pick up online top-ups at Forest Hill.

The maximum fare you will be charged when you touch in should be ?4 from Forest Hill and ?5 from London Bridge; you will be refunded the relevant amount when you touch out.

If your journey exceeds the maximum journey time, you will be charged twice the maximum fare (upto 2x ?6.50) - once for failing to touch out and the second for failing to touch in.

You can check your usage online IF you have

1. Signed up for an online account
2. Registered your card
3. Purchased an online or auto topup AND
4. picked up your online purchase

I guess I will be more knowledgeable in future but I am a sporadic user of Oyster though that will increase a bit because I can now use it on the train.

I just checked my account and noticed that in November when I travelled from Elephant and Castle to Marleybone and back by Tube I was charged ?4 initially each way. On the way to Marleybone ?2.40 was credited back when I went through the gate a Marleybone. On the return however, the gate at Elephant wouldn't recognise my card. The guy on the 'manual' gate waved me through. At the time I thought he was doing me a favour, but I now realise he cost me ?2.40 because the system of course didn't realise I'd left. As far as they are concerned I am still down there somewhere!!

Probably not worth trying to claim back, though I am shown as getting on a 363 bus at Elephant within 30 minutes of checking 'in' at Marleybone.

There are obviously a number of issues with the Oyster system and the overground grrr. On buses you don't touch 'out' so fare amendments etc can't be made. Right now touchin in is the issue. Perhaps I shall just have to get another oyster card and hope that works on the buses until i go to LB and platforms 1-5.

Really quite exasperated, but enjoying walking again after all the snow

I've used Oyster PAYG quite a few times in the last two weeks and have been charged either ?2.60 either way to Charing Cross as I've travelled in the peak or ?2.00 on the way back if I've left work early (before 4pm or after 7pm)

I nearly got caught out at FH the other day as the gates were open at the Platform 2 gates, but went back and tapped out before getting the bus.

Wow, can someone tell me what exactly the benefit of having PAYG Oyster card is?

To me, the overly complex rules are actually designed to catch people out and make extra money for TfL from people who forget to touch in and/or touch out. Not forgetting the inconvenience of Forest Hill Station unable to top up your card.

Booking a Ryanair flight and avoiding all their extra charges seems a piece a cake compared to understanding and negotiating the TfL rules.

How do you check to see how much money you have on your card? Are there Oyster readers conveniently located that offer printout/summaries just like the mini-statements you can get from cash machines?

Or what if there is an emergency and a station has to be evacuated? Will I have to wait while all PAYG customers check out so they don't get fined?

I will stick with my annual Zones 1-3 season ticket. I'm happy to buy a Forest Hill to Croydon return for ?2.10 after flashing my Goldcard at the ticket office. I know what I paid.

Call me a cynic, but the Oyster PAYG business model seems to be built on deliberately making the customer dodge their fare and being fined automatically.

I think your zone card is fine if your journeys are regular. However mine are not, and if you don't have Oyster the fares on bus and tube are ridiculous, presumably deliberately so to encourage use of the card.

I have mainly used my card on buses up to now where it is a simple matter of checking in on the way on. I guess checking out should theoretically be as simple, but quite often I seem to have machines that can't read the card.

As to checking the balance, you can see a trip report on line for the last 8 weeks if you register. I think it also shows the current balnce as you check in each time but my eyesight isn't that good!

I wish it had been available on the trains when I used to travel two or three times a week and couldn't justify a season ticket. To be honest I would trade the occasional error for not having to queue to buy a ticket.

How about paying ?1.20 instead of ?2 for a cash fare on the bus. Similar dicounts for tube and (now) rail.

Its quite straightforward as long as you remember to touch in and out on your journey.

If the system goes wrong best thing is to ring the help centre. They usually credit back any losses where the mistake is obvious.[/quote]

You can request a print out of recent PAYG journeys at tube and London Overground stations at the ticket office (except those between NXG and West Croydon) which is what I do to claim expenses.

Tube self-service machines can also show you how much you've spent and the most recent journeys on screen.

Sadly I found out today that I've been overcharged on Monday on my return journey to FH from Charing Cross which left me ?2.80 in debt while topping up at Lewisham DLR. I've called the Oyster Card helpline THREE times, been kept on hold for 10 minutes, then they cut you off.

If this continues, I'm going back to buying paper tickets.

Thanks to everyone relating their Oyster PAYG moments. I paid no attention to Oyster until I had to help out a Spanish friend staying in the UK for a few months.

As part of my investigation...I came across this FAQ about Oyster PAYGO pdf on the Southern Trains website.

So, an off-peak day return ForestHill-CharingX for ?4.10 no longer exists. You either pay ?4 (?2+?2) if you don't return between 1600 and 1900 or ?4.60 (?2+?2.60) if you do.

I don't remember TfL mentioning this in their press release when heralding their new dawn of travel.

And if you have a gold card, you are worse off. While the two PAYG singles might be cheaper than the standard cheap day return was, if you used to get a third off the cheap day return with a gold card, it's now more expensive.