Contactless on Thames Valley Branches

[whole diary]

[Electric train]

I am hoping to be able to travel from Heathrow Airport to Henley on Thames.

Is anyone able to confirm that Heathrow to HoT is achievable using contactless payment? Would the fare be cheaper changing at Hayes & Harlington? I gather that contactless is available on Heathrow Express (at higher  fares) so how does the system know whether I've used HEX or the slow train?

Heathrow Express does not stop at Hayes & Harlington, TfL^» (Transport for London - about) (soon to be Elizebeth Line) does.   I would check the terms of the TfL / GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) contactless between Hayes & Harlington and Henley.  The TfL Zone 6 ends at West Drayton

[Ralph Ayres]

TfL^» (Transport for London - about)'s Single Fare Finder https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/single-fare-finder shows a lower fare from Heathrow to Henley than from Paddington to Henley so assumes changing at Hayes & H. If you did travel via Paddington then contactless is clever enough not to charge more than the fare shown for the end to end trip. The Fare Finder also mentions that fares don't include travel on HEx unless stated (which it isn't); you would be charged separately for the journey to Paddington if you did use it (it uses separate platforms at Paddington with their own gates) so it would cost a lot more.

[Trowres]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice offered. Plan is to change at Hayes & Harlington. As I'm going one-way only the contactless fare of £11.30 seems much better value that the National Rail fare of £19.90.

[GBM]

Yet again, general member of the public Joe wouldn't know about asking on a forum, or spend a while digging to look for cheaper fares than that automatically presented by a straight search on a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) or NetworkRail website.

Rather sad really.

[w056863]

The Marlow branch contactless capability was being tested yesterday and apparently is targeted to be switched on over the weekend 14th/15th May.

[NickB]

I happened to be buying tickets from Maidenhead to Marlow today and they were still firmly ‘paper only’.

As a related point I was quite surprised to find that with a decent sized festival taking place at Marlow today (Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park) and with the organisers advising attendees not to drive and to take GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), that a 2-car turbo once per hour was expected to convey everyone back to the mainline. Is there no capacity to enhance that service for events, be that length or frequency?

[Ralph Ayres]

Events similar to the Pub in the Park in towns just beyond London have sometimes in the past led to trendy Londoners travelling out to the provincial station clutching Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) cards only to find they are not valid there. Hatfield has been a particular problem, simplified/complicated more recently by it now taking contactless but not Oyster. In a sense it shows the opposite approach to the uncertainty about using any form of pay as you go expressed in some previous posts; it has become so established (and broadly trusted, I would say) in London that many Londoners just assume it's the way to pay for travel everywhere.

[stuving]

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and TfL^» (Transport for London - about) have just agreed a new expansion of contactless (formally a contract placed by DfT). It won't go further than now on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) lines, but will involve all stations. It will eventually lead to using railcards with contactless, or at least some of them. There is no proposal to extend Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) coverage, for technical reasons.

This article from IanVisits provides the details, such as they are known now. It's based on the 2019 consultation, and the final choice of what exactly to do and where to draw lines on the map has not been announced.

[w056863]

Contactless on Marlow branch allegedly will be switched on over the coming weekend (in time for Liz Line opening).

[w056863]

Looks as though Marlow branch was switched on over the weekend. Therefore all of the Thames Valley branches now have access to Contactless Fares, and the "paper islands" have finally been removed.