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This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Penalty Fares issued by TfL'.
The Oyster Extension Permit (OEP) 
 
In order to combat a perceived fraud opportunity the Train Operating 
Companies, under the guidance of ATOC, have decided to introduce an 
Oyster Extension Permit (OEP), to be used when a travelcard holder 
decides to travel outside the boundaries of that card, mainly on the 
National Rail network  
 
This permit has no value, it merely allows the system to recognise 
the fact that you intend to travel outside the limits of your travel 
card and adjust accordingly by deducting an entry fare from your 
card as you ‘touch in’ to the system (currently £4 or £5).  
 
When you ‘touch out’ at the end of your journey the system will 
calculate the fare owed and restore the balance of the entry charge 
back to your card  
 
Whilst the OEP is free, a minimum PAYG balance will be required on 
the Oyster card in order to allow the loading of the permit to take 
place. This balance is £1.10 
 
 An OEP can be loaded on the Oyster card at Ticket stops, Ticket 
Vending Machines (TVM), Passenger Operated Machines (POM), Fast 
Ticket Issuing System (FasTIS) Machines and Ticket Offices.  
 
Once loaded, the permit stays on the card until the single journey 
has been completed. It is not a multi use device, and for each 
journey outside the travelcard zones an OEP will be required. If no 
journey is undertaken the OEP remains on the card until it is either 
used, or removed.  
 
For those people, with travelcards, using an OEP a behavioural 
change is required as they must now ‘touch in’ at the beginning of 
their journey. 
 
There is fairly straightforward rule to follow regarding the Oyster 
ExtensionPermit. 
 If a customer intends travelling out of the zones of their 
travelcard and onto the National Rail network then they need an OEP 
 
You will notice that ticket office, and concourse, fare machines 
have been upgraded to reflect this addition to the Oyster estate and 
the new MOVie 440 hand held Oyster card reader can also detect the 
presence of the OEP 
 
Some screen examples are included overleaf 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AFM Oyster Presentation Screen 
 
 
 
Setting an OEP on an MFM 
 
 
 
Cancelling an OEP on a QBM 
 
 
 
SR4 Enabled card - Setting OEP. 
 
 
 
When an OEP is added to the card it should be possible, if requested 
by the customer, to be able to print a receipt for the OEP. This 
receipt will be based on the Add PrePay receipt but will report the 
adding of an OEP. There will be no cash transaction associated with 
this process and hence no total will be presented on the receipt. A 
receipt will only be available for printing once the card contents 
have been committed to the card. 
 
If the card presented already has the OEP enabled then the ‘Set OEP’ 
function key will be deactivated and the ‘Clear OEP’ function key 
will be activated even if there is insufficient PAYG balance. 
 
In the event that the card presented does not support OEPs then a 
warning will be displayed when entering the PAYG (PrePay) Screen and 
both OEP function keys will be deactivated (‘grayed-out’). 
If the card presented is not SR4 enabled then the PAYG (PrePay) 
screen will be displayed with a warning 
 
Set/Clear OEP will toggle the TNP enablement flag on the card 
between TE_LIMITED_ZONES  and  TE_ALL_ZONES. 
 
When the state of the OEP has been changed then the GUI should 
change to the finalisation screen as the OEP status can only be 
updated in isolation to other card updates. It should then be 
possible to abort the finalisation of the card if required. The OEP 
update should be removed from the shopping basket if the 
finalisation is aborted. 
If a product has already been added to the shopping basket then upon 
entering the PAYG (PrePay) screen then both the ‘Set OEP’ and ‘Clear 
OEP’ keys will be greyed out and a warning shall be displayed 
indicating that the shopping basket is not empty and therefore the 
OEP status may not be changed. 
 
 
 
 
 
In the event that there is insufficient PAYG (PrePay) on the card 
for OEP enablement then it will be necessary to increase the PAYG 
balance and finalise this to the card before representing the card 
to enable the OEP functionality. In this case upon entering the PAYG 
(PrePay) screen then both the ‘Set OEP’ and ‘Clear OEP’ keys will be 
greyed out, unless the OEP is already set, and a warning message 
will be displayed indicating insufficient PrePay.