Interesting. I'm not sure how the two systems can co-exist using the same readers.It will be interesting to see if any of the long distance TOCs implement the Contactless Transit Model 3, where touchs in and out are matched to prepurchased tickets.
Understanding the UK Cards Association Contactless Transit models - Passenger
The subtleties between different contactless payment models can be hard to grasp. We've created an infographic to help explain these transit models.passenger.tech
It seems like the idea would be if you have an advance (and the timing means you plausibly travelled on the right train), you get charged nothing; otherwise you get charged the walk-up fare. Seems reasonably doable, you just have to pass the list of advances into the existing nightly PAYG process.
No, nothing has been announced.
Only 74 days left
I wouldn't put it past the current government to announce in February that it was available in the previous December, and wonder why people weren't using it.
Surely it is a bigger win for them than that. Extension of contactless is something that many politicians have been calling for, which presumably reflects what they have heard from constituents. I would expect that many try to pretend it is the result of their campaigning.
So... 2026 anyone?
New fares will go live in the Oval area on the date mentioned in the TRU, whether or not TfL are ready.
What structure needs to be confirmed, and to who?
There are two different fares systems involved: The National Rail one and Transport for London's.
There is no reason for the Super Off Peak to be withdrawn (this hasn't happened on the Thameslink route), or for any change to validity of paper tickets. Contactless fares are, at this stage at least, additional to the existing fares.
Sorry, I have no inside knowledge of that although I would suspect that Avanti serving MKC may well be the reason.
Presumably that can happen / can have happened without the proposed fares being public knowledge? However, is it this transfer process which is being delayed?
I don't profess to know the full ins and outs of how it works, but TOCs presumably have to set up fares to every underground/dlr station rather than just U-zone fares. There may even be fares to other NR stations the other side of London that need different treatment. I agree that most of them should know what to do by now. For a normal
Yes, but seemingly rarely available on the single fare finder to align with any new implementation.
Some journey planners are already showing new fares for enquiries for journeys on or after 3rd December, suggesting the six week lead time has been met from the TOC side.
Except the TOCs involved (other than c2c, GTR and GWR) don't have existing CPAY extensions, so they've had had a steep learning curve. In c2c's case, their entire network is in Phase 1, so they've effectively had to rip up their entire fare structure and start again.
The fares are generally available from the fare change prior to the extension. This was certainly the case with the Thames Valley branches.
Is this using the RDG database (brfares)?
Informed Sources say that pricing to U zones is still possible in Oval land. The difference is the amount of the add-on as it uses TfL's CPAY fares instead of the paper add-ons.
BRFares isn't showing them, as I'm guessing they weren't supposed to be shown before 3rd December.
Interestingly, Shepperton to Fulwell appears to see changes in paper fare prices, consistent with the basis of single leg pricing for an enquiry (GWR booking engine) on 6 December, which would represent a fare hike for returns on Sundays and in the evening, although other times would see a reduction.
Not sure about that, if the off-peak single with the flow picks up an evening restriction out of Euston.
There were conference calls with pricing managers about this almost 18 months ago. How long do you think they need?
It wouldn't surpise me if the DfT are the ones holding this up.
Looking at BRFares, I'd say that's fairly likely, probably with a side order of TfL issues.
