Oyster card (pay as you go) on National Rail

The acceptance of Oyster card pay as you go (PAYG) on National Rail in London, England, was limited to a restricted number of National Rail services at the introduction of the stored-value product on London Underground in January 2004. In response to an offer from Transport for London of funding to the train operating companies that have services within Greater London, plans were made to expand its acceptance across the rail network in London, and it was expected that by February 2009 TFL would announce plans for all suburban trains to accept the card. In May 2009 London TravelWatch indicated it had discovered that the works were unlikely to be completed until 2010. On 23 November 2009 the GLA announced that from 2 January 2010 the vast majority of rail services in Greater London would accept Oyster PAYG.

The Oyster card was launched in 2003 with the facility to hold season-ticket Travelcards, accepted on both London Underground and National Rail services. In January 2004, a PAYG product was launched for use on London Underground and DLR, but only a limited number of National Rail operators accepted the product on parts of their routes, usually because their tickets were interchangeable with London Underground ticketing under long-standing agreements. Transport for London (TfL) and National Rail publish lists and maps of routes and stations where PAYG is valid.

In May 2006 TfL and the Department for Transport agreed a £20 million funding package for train operators to install the equipment necessary to accept PAYG at all London stations. The package was not taken up by any train operating companies and in September 2006, the South West Trains franchise was renewed by the Department for Transport with the condition that smartcard ticketing must be in place by 2009. In November 2007 the metro routes operated by Silverlink were brought under the control of TfL and operated under the brand name London Overground, accepting Oyster PAYG.

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