Oyster card (pay as you go) on National Rail

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Oyster card readers at Maze Hill railway station

The use of Oyster pay as you go (PAYG) payment has now been implemented across National Rail services in the London Travelcard area (Zones 1–9), some additional stations served by c2c, Govia Thameslink Railway, Greater Anglia, TfL Rail and London Overground, Southeastern highspeed services within London, as well as Gatwick Express and Heathrow Express.[1]

Background[]

The Oyster card was launched in 2003 with the facility to hold season-ticket Travelcards, accepted on both London Underground and National Rail services. In January 2004, a PAYG product was launched for use on London Underground and DLR, but only a limited number of National Rail operators accepted the product on parts of their routes, usually because their tickets were interchangeable with London Underground ticketing under long-standing agreements.[2][3]

In May 2006 TfL and the Department for Transport agreed a £20 million funding package for train operators to install the equipment necessary to accept PAYG at all London stations.[4] The package was not taken up by any train operating companies and in September 2006, the South West Trains franchise was renewed by the Department for Transport with the condition that smartcard ticketing must be in place by 2009.[5] In November 2007 the metro routes operated by Silverlink were brought under the control of TfL and operated under the brand name London Overground, accepting Oyster PAYG.[6]

A necessary precursor of the acceptance of Oyster PAYG was the introduction of zonal single fares on the National Rail network in London; this was implemented in January 2007.[7] Also in January, the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone announced that he required operators to sign up by 31 January 2007 in order to receive the funding package offer.[8] c2c and Chiltern Railways accepted the deal and on 31 January 2007, a commitment was made by ATOC, in principle, that all other operators would eventually accept the PAYG product.[9] According to ATOC, roll-out plans were subject to the installation of suitable ticket gates and back office equipment at all 330 stations.[10] It was expected that by February 2009 TfL would announce plans for all suburban trains to accept the card.[11] In May 2009 London TravelWatch indicated it had discovered that the works were unlikely to be completed until 2010.[12] On 23 November 2009 the GLA announced that from 2 January 2010 the vast majority of rail services in Greater London would accept Oyster PAYG.[1]

Current acceptance and expansions planned[]

The current acceptance and expansions planned are as follows:

Operator Original 2004 implementation[13] Current extended implementation[2] Planned expansions
c2c Fenchurch Street to Upminster
Liverpool Street to Barking via Stratford (not at Forest Gate or Maryland)		 Jan 2008: Barking to Rainham[14]
2 January 2010: Upminster/Rainham to Grays		 None.[15]
Chiltern Railways Marylebone to Amersham
Marylebone to West Ruislip (South Ruislip only intermediately)		 Jan 2008: intermediate stations[16][17]
April 2008: London Paddington to South Ruislip[18]
Gatwick Express (brand of Govia Thameslink Railway) N/A 11 January 2016: London Victoria to Gatwick Airport[19]
Great Northern (brand of Govia Thameslink Railway) Finsbury Park to Moorgate or King's Cross 2 January 2010: all remaining stations

April 2019: Cuffley, Bayford and Hertford North

August 2019: Potters Bar

TBC: Welham Green to Welwyn Garden City[20]
Great Western Railway N/A Jan 2008: Ealing Broadway to Greenford (not at intermediate stations)
April 2008: London Paddington to Ealing Broadway (not at Acton Main Line)
Sept 2008: Acton Main Line, Drayton Green to South Greenford, Ealing Broadway to West Drayton.[21] [a]
Greater Anglia Liverpool Street to Walthamstow Central, Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale (not at intermediate stations)
Liverpool Street to Stratford		 2006: Stratford to Tottenham Hale and Seven Sisters
Jan 2008: intermediate stations[22]
2 January 2010: all remaining stations
2 January 2013: Turkey Street and Enfield Lock to Broxbourne; Harold Wood to Shenfield
19 October 2015: Rye House, St. Margarets, Ware and Hertford East[23]
Heathrow Express N/A 19 February 2019: all stations[24]
London Northwestern Railway (brand of West Midlands Trains) Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone 2007: Watford Junction to Harrow & Wealdstone[25]
London Overground Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone
(not at Kilburn High Road or South Hampstead)
Gunnersbury to Richmond
Stratford to Canning Town (closed 2006)[2]		 2007: all remaining stations
 Any future lines that become part of London Overground.
South Western Railway N/A 2 January 2010: all stations.
25 February 2019: Epsom		 TBC: Hampton to Shepperton[26]
Southeastern Elephant & Castle to City Thameslink[27] 2 January 2010: all remaining stations
31 July 2015: St Pancras International to Stratford International on HS1.[28]
6 September 2015: Dartford.[29]
9 March 2016: Swanley
Southern (brand of Govia Thameslink Railway) N/A 2007: Clapham Junction to Watford Junction
November 2009: London Victoria to Balham[30]
2 January 2010: all remaining stations
11 January 2016: Gatwick Airport, Horley, Salfords, Earlswood, Redhill and Merstham.[31]
25 February 2019: Epsom		 TBC: Reigate
Thameslink (brand of Govia Thameslink Railway) Kentish Town to London Bridge, Elephant & Castle or Moorgate 2007: Kentish Town to West Hampstead Thameslink[32]
2 January 2010: all remaining stations
11 January 2016: Gatwick, Horley, Salfords, Earlswood, Redhill and Merstham[31]
August 2019: Radlett		 TBC: St. Albans to Luton Airport[20]
TfL Rail N/A 31 May 2015: Liverpool Street to Shenfield
20 May 2018: Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow Terminal 4 and Heathrow Terminal 5.
15 December 2019: Paddington to West Drayton.[b]		 2020-2021: Liverpool Street to Abbey Wood

Notes[]

  1. ^ Although Oyster pay as you go will not be valid past West Drayton, from 2 January 2020 contactless payment has been accepted on the Great Western main line as far as Reading.
  2. ^ Although Oyster pay as you go will not be valid past West Drayton, from 2 January 2020 contactless payment has been accepted on the entire route.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "One ticket for London as Oysterisation of rail and river confirmed". The Greater London Authority. 23 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "Oyster Pay As You Go (PAYG) on National Rail" (PDF). Association of Train Operating Companies. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Oyster on National Rail". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  4. ^ "Transport Secretary and Mayor of London Announce New Deal for Rail Passengers". Department for Transport. 10 May 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  5. ^ "Department for Transport Announces Winner of South Western Franchise". Department for Transport. 22 September 2006. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Introducing London Overground - a new era for London Rail". Transport for London. 5 September 2006. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  7. ^ "Smart Rail Ticketing in London a Step Closer with New Zonal Fare Structures". Publictechnology.net. 23 October 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  8. ^ "Rail Firms Urged to Accept Oyster". BBC News. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  9. ^ "Train operators' Oyster acceptance welcomed". Transport for London. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  10. ^ "ATOC'S position on Oyster pay-as-you-go and the offer by Transport for London". Association of Train Operating Companies. 31 January 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  11. ^ "Oyster cards to be rolled out to every London line". Evening Standard. 27 January 2009. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  12. ^ Jo deBank (May 2009). "Watchdog fury at Oyster delay". London TravelWatch. Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  13. ^ Transport for London, Your Guide to Oyster, (2004)
  14. ^ "c2c Storms Ahead with Introduction of Oyster". c2c. 17 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  15. ^ (PDF). DfT. 19 April 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20110504123642/http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/archive/2010/2010-09/consultation.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Kobie, Nicole (1 February 2007). "London Railways to use Oyster Prepay". ITPro. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  17. ^ "Mayor Welcomes Oyster Deal with Chiltern Railways". Transport for London. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  18. ^ "Oyster pay as You Go (PAYG) on National Rail" (PDF). Transport for London. 20 April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  19. ^ "Transport Secretary visits Gatwick Airport to launch Oyster and contactless payments". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  20. ^ a b "GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway)" (PDF). July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  21. ^ "Oyster pay as you go now accepted at all First Great Western stations in London". Transport for London. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  22. ^ "National Express to Extend Availability of Oyster Pay As You Go". National Express East Anglia. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  23. ^ "Hertford East Extension". Abellio Greater Anglia. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  24. ^ "New Contactless travel on Heathrow Express". www.heathrowexpress.com. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  25. ^ "Oyster Agreement". Watford Observer. 16 November 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  26. ^ "Item 8 - Oyster on National Rail - Progress Update" (PDF). Transport for London. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  27. ^ "Oyster Card and National Rail". National Rail. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  28. ^ "Oyster extended to Stratford on our high speed services". Southeastern Railway. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  29. ^ "Contactless payments and Oyster extended to Dartford". TfL. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  30. ^ "Using Oyster Pay as you go from Clapham Junction". Southern Railway. Archived from the original on 29 February 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  31. ^ a b "Pay as you go to get to Gatwick". Tfl. 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  32. ^ "Meet the Directors". First Capital Connect. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
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