First Great Western Oyster PAYG confirmed for September

The Mayor has announced that First Great Western will be the fifth train company to roll out Oyster on all its London services:

Thousands more passengers using these routes will be able to enjoy the greater convenience and speed of Oyster at stations from West Drayton and Greenford into Paddington. Zonal fares the equivalent of those on the Tube will apply for journeys from these stations.

Since April 20th they've accepted it on trains between Paddington, Ealing Broadway and Greenford, but at no other stations. Oddly there's no mention of Heathrow Connect, which is a surprise given much of the local service on this route is supplied by trains with that name on the side*. I shall enquire.

Boris also promises a summit with the five remaining companies to get their agreements sorted out. Apart from South West Trains, none have legally committed to accepting PAYG any time soon. Southeastern do publicly "hope" to accept it by January 2009.

Update: Just had confirmation that, as expected, this applies to Heathrow Connect as far as Hayes & Harlington, but not to Heathrow.

* Heathrow Connect isn't a company, it's the manifestation of an agreement between BAA/Heathrow Express, First Great Western and various government bodies, and has a suitably byzantine operating structure

Oyster PAYG on First Great Western could be due in May

An anonymous tipster points me to this set of London Travelwatch minutes, which say:

Meeting with First Great Western (FGW) and Passenger Focus to discuss implementation of Oyster pay as you go on FGW. This was on schedule for May 2008 – nine months ahead of most other train operating companies (TOCs).

An early rollout was mentioned at another London Travelwatch meeting.

First Great Western recently started accepting Oyster PAYG between Greenford and Ealing Broadway, with an extension to Paddington due soon. This announcement appears to allude to all their London services. It may also include Heathrow Connect as far as Hayes & Harlington, since that portion is technically a First Great Western service.

I also note 9 months from May is February 2009, which is either a miscalculation or they're expecting other companies to miss the advertised January date.

Paddington getting ticket gates

Ticket gates are now being installed at Paddington station to wall off most of the suburban platforms and resolve the lack of full gating on the mainline platforms. They should come into use in the next month or two, hopefully coinciding with the extension of Oyster PAYG.

The current setup is fairly interesting. Platforms 2-5 are gated at the concourse end, but the footbridge halfway along allows free access from the ungated platforms. Similarly, the gates on the footbridge for the Hammersmith & City Line (15-16) also include platforms 13-14, which are ungated at the concourse end, again making it easy to slip behind them.

The plan is to put a new gateline across the north side of the concourse (pictured) to enclose platforms 10-16, and move the H&C gateline along the footbridge to match. New gates on the footbridge will properly close off 2-5 (this diagram from the planning application should make everything clear).

Of the remaining platforms 1 is used for access and essentially ungateable; 6 and 7 are dedicated to Heathrow Express; leaving only 8-9 conspicuously ungated.

[diagram via uk.railway]

Imminent changes to Oyster PAYG

London Travelwatch have posted minutes from a meeting where TfL discussed how Oyster PAYG is working out on London Overground, and related matters. Highlights:

• The elimination of Cheap Day Returns is causing problems with fare anomalies at Richmond, Watford Junction, West Hampstead and others. They plan to reintroduce them from Richmond in February and do some unspecified fiddling in May (This should please diamondgeezer).
• First Class fares are to make a comeback for journeys where London Midland or Southern have it available.
• Richmond to Stratford on Oyster PAYG is still charged as via Z1, regardless of route. They plan to review anomalies like this in May, and "there are also likely to be two different fares depending on the route", though I've no idea how that will work.
• Oyster PAYG take-up and revenue in general has been much higher than expected.
• There's no Oyster ticket machine at Clapham Junction due to objections from South West Trains, so a local newsagent is doing a brisk trade (this was thought to be resolved in October, but apparently not).
• First Great Western's rollout of Oyster PAYG to all its London stations may happen "sooner than previously anticipated." Ealing Broadway to Paddington is due "shortly" ("Spring" according to this map)

[via uk.transport.london]

Oyster PAYG extensions this January

The new fares leaflet is on tube station leaflet racks everywhere, though not yet online. It confirms the new National Rail route sections where Oyster PAYG will be valid from January, though they're not quite as expected:

• Grays to Upminster and Barking on c2c. This covers all their London stations, with the exception of their few trains to Liverpool Street where Forest Gate and Maryland still aren't covered.
• West Ruislip to Marylebone on Chiltern, covering all their London stations.
• Greenford to Ealing Broadway on First Great Western, but not at intermediate stations. This is a surprise, but since both already have PAYG for their tube services, no expenditure was necessary.
• All intermediate stations between Walthamstow Central/Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters (i.e. the Victoria Line) and Stratford/Liverpool Street on 'one'. 6 of the 9 added stations are in almost-tubeless LB Hackney. The promised expansion to Chingford hasn't happened.
• Kentish Town to West Hampstead Thameslink on First Capital Connect. This actually happened last month for the launch of London Overground.

The brochure also confirms that both Southern and London Midland will be accepting Oyster PAYG between Watford Junction and Euston/Clapham Junction.