Royal Mail redelivery

The Royal Mail isn't exactly flavour of the month these days, but I was quite impressed when I arranged for redelivery of a packet on line at www.royalmail.com/redelivery. Simple form to fill in and you you can choose where and when (to the nearest day) to have the delivery. Let's see if it works.

To my surprise the packet that they couldn't deliver was taken back to Loughton delivery office, when Barking's is very close to my home and although the card says "call the number above" no number for the Loughton office is given.

Oyster PAYG rail network

I have coined this phrase on Wikipedia (assuming the editors don't eradicate it) for brevity, to cover the rail lines on which Oyster Pay as you go PAYG is valid, namely:

London Underground
DLR
London Overground (opens 11/11/2007)
Certain parts of certain National Rail lines, as published.

Which is all a bit of a mouthful.

[The parts of National Rail lines that accept Oyster PAYG are those that have historically accepted LU fares, because they parallel Underground routes. See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/5823.aspx for full details.]

Railcard Discount for one day travelcard

Buying a zone 1-4 day travelcard at a National Rail station ticket machine on a Sunday recently, I realised that I could get it for £4.80 with my railcard, rather than £5.70 full price. TfL's fares leaflet doesn't mention this, and Oyster PAYG caps at 50p below the travelcard price (ie £5.20).

The simple return fare on the "Oyster PAYG network" (see next entry) would be £4 off peak, for comparison.

My railcard is a Goldcard partner Network Railcard. If you know someone who has an annual Goldcard (ie has an annual travelcard - the Goldcard comes with it), get them to get you a Network railcard for £1 (yes really) and get a discount on loads of fares, particularly National Rail fares.

The rules for railcards / Goldcards are elaborate - but it's always worth asking the ticket seller / telling the ticket machine that you have card (assuming you have!).

Rights of Way Improvement Plan - LBB&D

Paul Sidaway of B&D council writes: "We are currently preparing a Rights of Way Improvement Plan and to assist us with our assessment of the existing network and making improvements to the network we need the views of users."

I have sent stibasa e-group members a copy of the survey. I can't work out how to upload one here so I'll upload one to the website. The other possibility is to get one from Paul.sidaway@lbbd.gov.uk / (020) 8227 2615

Oyster PAYG on Freedom Pass

My experiment to find out if PAYG can be put on an older person's Freedom Pass (FP) has resulted in failure. The Oystercard website says it is possible - in fact it proffers the information, and it happily sent the Oyster£ to the barriers at Barking, but it failed to get onto the cards. This is a pity as it means FP holders who want to travel before 9am need to juggle two cards.

This would seem to be a card compatability issue.

Oyster Confusion

Even National Rail's website gives confusing information about Oyster PAYG on National Rail.
http://nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/oystercard.html says:

"If you have pay as you go (PAYG) on your Oyster card you can NOT use it on most National Rail services." They mean simply 'you cannot use Oyster PAYG on most National rail routes'. In fairness, the remainder of the page explains the situation correctly and clearly, but this poorly worded statement causes confusion.


On the Barking & Gospel Oak Line an announcement refers to "prepaid Oyster Cards" not being valid. They meant to say "Oyster Prepay", but that is now called Pay as you go (PAYG). Why are railway companies unable to comprehend that an Oyster Card cannot in itself be valid? It has to be loaded with a valid ticket or PYG. My wallet is not valid in the shops, nor is my bank account. The money contained in them is what is valid.

Pickering Road

Ba news about Pickering Road's cycle track: "There are still issues outstanding; street lighting, street furniture, drainage and a stage 3 safety audit. It is required for this to all be substantially completed before an application is made by the developer, or their appointed consultant / contractor, in order for a part 2 certificate to be issued by the highway authority (the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham) and for the maintenance period for the adoption to commence.

Once we have been notified of substantial completion of the entire scheme we will carry out an inspection of all of the works. This will become the start date for the 12 month maintenance period with a view to adopt the highway(s) (Pickering Road, Church Road, Loftus Road and Roberts Close).

At the end of this time, we will undertake a final inspection of the works and, provided all is found to be satisfactory, the highway will be formally adopted.

Until the road is formally adopted, we unfortunately have no enforcement powers and therefore have a newly constructed designated cycle lane being used as a car park."