Pay as you go with Contactless and Oyster convenience extends to Hertford North

Lower fares for weekday journeys from three Great Northern stations to London

Pay as you go with Contactless and Oyster arrived at Hertford North, Bayford and Cuffley today (Tuesday, 2 April) giving Great Northern passengers greater convenience, with cheaper fares for all single and most return journeys to London Terminals on weekdays.

Passengers now have the option of using pay as you go with Oyster or contactless cards or devices.

Great Northern’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway has worked with Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport to extend the system to the three Hertfordshire stations. Besides the installation of card readers, at least half of the ticket machines at each station have also been converted to allow customers to top up their Oyster card. Customers can also use the free TfL app to top up their Oyster card and to check their balance and journey history on the go.

To mark the arrival of the new benefits, representatives of Hertford Town Council visited Hertford North Station today to be welcomed by station staff as the first official contactless users through the gates.

A Council spokesman said: “This extension of Pay as you go for these three stations is a great success that will help passengers in our local communities save time and money; it’s good news for the travelling public.”

Alex Foulds, Business Improvement Director for Great Northern’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “On behalf of our passengers we are delighted to introduce the extra choice and convenience of TfL’s pay as you go, with many lower fares for our passengers at Hertford North, Bayford and Cuffley.”

Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at Transport for London said: “We are delighted that, working with the DfT and Great Northern, we have now been able to expand Oyster and contactless to cover services to Hertford North. Pay as you go with contactless and Oyster has helped revolutionise travel on Tube, rail and bus services across London, making them more convenient for all. We are now working with the DfT and train operating companies on expanding pay as you go to more stations across the GTR network later this year.”

Although this extension of pay as you go does not include Travelcards, TfL’s daily price cap will apply, so passengers going on to make one or more journeys within the pay as you go area will pay little or no more than the cost of a paper Day Travelcard, and in the case of Cuffley, considerably less. Monday to Sunday weekly capping will also be available to contactless customers, meaning regular users will never be charged more than an equivalent seven-day paper Travelcard.

The full range of paper tickets remains available so that customers can still benefit from discounts and offers that are not available with pay as you go, such as Great Northern’s GroupSave and ‘Kids for £2’ deals. At weekends, super off-peak paper tickets will remain cheaper than the pay as you go fare.

Season tickets from these stations will not be available on Oyster and there are no changes to season ticket fares.

Ends

Notes to editors

Paper ticket prices

Paper ticket prices for single and day return journeys, and for Anytime Day Travelcards from the three stations to London terminals, have not changed.

There are minor changes to off-peak Day Travelcard prices, to support the introduction of pay as you go and to ensure that the pay as you go fare is no more expensive than the equivalent paper ticket in most cases.

The off-peak Day Travelcard paper ticket fare goes up by 10p from Hertford North, and down by 20p from Bayford. The Cuffley fare has not changed.

Passengers from Hertford North will, in reality, pay much less on the capped Oyster/Contactless fare than on the current paper Day Travelcard ticket unless they travel to the very furthest reaches of zone 6 in addition to their initial journey from Hertford North.

Delay Repay when using pay as you go

Pay as you go users are able to claim Delay Repay compensation if their Great Northern journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more. They will need to accompany their claim with a printed record of their journey, available from a TfL online account, or from one of the nine GTR ticket offices which offer Oyster. For more information please visit https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/tickets/smartcards-oyster-and-plusbus/oyster