Oyster Card Peak/Off Peak Grace Periods

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Dear Transport for London,

In the Oyster system, it has been observed that there is an unadvertised grace period for touching in when determining whether the journey is 'peak' or 'off-peak', and that this grace period favours the passenger.

Please can you clarify (for both Oyster and Contactless, if different), the grace periods, measured in minutes and seconds, for the following situations:

1) Touching in after the start of the AM peak

2) Touching in before the end of the AM peak

3) Touching in after the start of the PM peak

4) Touching in before the end of hte PM peak

Yours faithfully,

Chris Denman

Mike Whitaker left an annotation ()

Hi Chris,

I do not work for TfL, but I do run an independent help website for Oyster at www.oyster-rail.org.uk. The same arrangements apply for all types of card/device. The grace period is definitely at least 3 minutes and definitely no more than 5 minutes. It shortens the peak period at each end of both peaks. If you are charged off-peak then TfL treat this as a bonus for you. It is designed to minimise instances of people complaining that the clock was fast/slow. They certainly will not entertain any complaints if you usually touch in at 1603 and get off-peak but one day you're a bit late and get charged peak. By the time peak charging actually starts you should definitely be paying peak fares. Likewise, at the time off-peak charging starts at the end you should still be paying peak fares, so again it's a bonus if you get off-peak.

Where I'm leading with this is that TfL may state what the situation is today, but there will be no comeback if they decide to change it in the future.

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Denman

 

Our Ref:         FOI-1798-1718

 

Thank you for your request received on 6 October 2017 asking for
information about the grace period for Oyster card peak and off-peak
journeys.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. 

 

Your request will be processed by TfL, the Greater London Authority and
its subsidiaries to provide you with a response in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

 

A response will be sent to you by 3 November 2017. We publish a
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In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[3][TfL request email]

 

 

FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Denman

 

Our Ref:         FOI-1798-1718

 

Thank you for your request received on 6 October 2017 asking for
information about the grace period for Oyster card peak and off-peak
journeys.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can
confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:

 

Please can you clarify (for both Oyster and Contactless, if different),
the grace periods, measured in minutes and seconds, for the following
situations:

 

1)    Touching in after the start of the AM peak

 

Peak starts at 06.35.

 

2)    Touching in before the end of the AM peak

 

Off-peak starts at 09.27.

 

3)    Touching in after the start of the PM peak

 

Peak starts at 16.05.

 

4)    Touching in before the end of the PM peak

 

Off-peak starts at 18.57.

 

Please note that the grace times quoted above apply for both Oyster and
Contactless. The quoted times are as set at the particular validation
devices and these may sometimes vary from true time; the grace times are
therefore not guaranteed to apply from the perception of the user.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free to
contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gemma Jacob

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

[1][TfL request email]

 

 

Dear Gemma,

Thank you very much, that is very helpful to know.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Denman