Priv Oyster

[Watershed]

It is as simple as National Rail service means you get a discount - the exact fare can be worked out using the fares calculators, this will give you the overall public rate for journey. The Priv NR Only discount will then be 75% of that public fare, it doesn't matter which fare scale your journey uses, as long as your journey is entirely on National Rail and doesn't use the the tube or DLR you will get 75% off whatever the public fare is for that route.

The limited cases where NR Priv Oyster is applied to LU/DLR journeys can then be found on the last page of this document: https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/files/Publications/services/rst/RST_NR_Only_Priv_Oyster.pdf (an out of date document, but that list is correct). All of these are journeys where the tube/DLR route parallels a National Rail route, but it clarifies a few situations where LU services use a neighbouring station/different gateline.

I agree it would be good to have a proper calculator (even an unofficial one or just in the TfL Open Data for third parties to provide), but in terms of knowing when the discount will be applied this is as simple as NR = 75% discount, journey involves LU/DLR = no discount - there's a few edge cases on LU as detailed above, but they are limited enough that you could just take them as an unexpected bonus (or if in doubt just use the parallel NR service where you'll definitely get the discount...)

I will have to test that out, as I'm confident there are some journeys where that isn't the case (Farringdon to Wimbledon comes to mind, and I'll be interested to see what you're charged from, say, Paddington to Liverpool St once Crossrail opens...). But thanks for the link.

 

[trek]

I will have to test that out, as I'm confident there are some journeys where that isn't the case (Farringdon to Wimbledon comes to mind, and I'll be interested to see what you're charged from, say, Paddington to Liverpool St once Crossrail opens...). But thanks for the link.

That is an interesting one... at the moment the Farringdon - Wimbledon journey for the public charges the LU scale (as its cheaper) - pre-fares freeze it used to be that a Zones 1-3 NR scale journey was cheaper off peak, eg in 2017 you'd be charged the NR 1-3 fare of £2.60 off peak (vs LU fare of £2.80), but during peak it would be the LU fare of £3.30 peak (vs NR £3.50) regardless of which route you went as the system wouldn't know.

In theory because the PRIV discount is technically for use via Thameslink you could (should? no idea on the actual fare rules here...) be charged 75% of the NR fare instead of the LU one, but I expect that the system doesn't make the distinction, although it's a maximum of 15p difference.

There is a somewhat similar case - the LU fare scale is already charged between Farringdon and Abbey Wood despite Crossrail not being open yet - it should be the NR rate until then. There are other cases that will appear with Crossrail, e.g. Ealing Broadway or Stratford into a number of central line stations - I haven't heard any reports that its gone into the fares system yet but perhaps one to try...

It'll be interesting to see the sitation with PRIV on Crossrail - I wonder if they'll try restricting it like HS1 initially was, I noticed during some creative Googling that in the "Guide for Visitors to Britain using FIP" there is advice that FIP "cannot be used to start or finish a journey at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road or Farringdon" - interesting that info is already in there - plus Farringdon is a weird one given using the Thameslink gates with a coupon no one would be any the wiser...

 

[calopez]

Got my and my wife's cards updated at Greenford today. The chap who did it was very willing to have a go even though he hadn't done one before, so full marks there. However... when updating mine - which currently has a 'Priv All Rail' discount set, the only option for next year that the drop-down list seemed to offer was 'Priv All Rail - N[ominee]'. And my wife's, which currently has a 'Priv All Rail - N' discount, was only offered a 'Priv All Rail' discount. In other words, there didn't appear to be any way of re-applying the existing discount. Presumably there must be a way of adding the correct discount, but it certainly wasn't obvious! So our Oyster cards have their discounts the wrong way round now.

In practical terms I don't think it makes any difference as neither of us is entitled to a priv season ticket and, in fact, I mostly use a 60+ Oyster Photocard, and my wife will be eligible for one later this year. Is it worth the effort of fixing the discounts - and, if so, how can it be done?

 

[trek]

Got my and my wife's cards updated at Greenford today. The chap who did it was very willing to have a go even though he hadn't done one before, so full marks there. However... when updating mine - which currently has a 'Priv All Rail' discount set, the only option for next year that the drop-down list seemed to offer was 'Priv All Rail - N[ominee]'. And my wife's, which currently has a 'Priv All Rail - N' discount, was only offered a 'Priv All Rail' discount. In other words, there didn't appear to be any way of re-applying the existing discount. Presumably there must be a way of adding the correct discount, but it certainly wasn't obvious! So our Oyster cards have their discounts the wrong way round now.

In practical terms I don't think it makes any difference as neither of us is entitled to a priv season ticket and, in fact, I mostly use a 60+ Oyster Photocard, and my wife will be eligible for one later this year. Is it worth the effort of fixing the discounts - and, if so, how can it be done?

The mistake they've made is they shouldn't have gone into the next slot to add a discount (there are three discounts slots on Oyster). They should have selected the existing discount on the previous screen and changed the date to the new expiry. If you're not buying a season ticket there won't be any practical difference as you've said but if you want to get it changed they can change the discount type by going into the staff menu and selecting the discount slot, then updating the date/deleting the incorrect discount.

 

[calopez]

The mistake they've made is they shouldn't have gone into the next slot to add a discount (there are three discounts slots on Oyster). They should have selected the existing discount on the previous screen and changed the date to the new expiry. If you're not buying a season ticket there won't be any practical difference as you've said but if you want to get it changed they can change the discount type by going into the staff menu and selecting the discount slot, then updating the date/deleting the incorrect discount.

Ah, thanks, that explains it. So, really, all they have to do is change the date against the existing discount. Have to try and remember that next time

 

[Mag_seven]

Managed to get mine updated at Paddington LUL station on Monday.