Ware Online Community Forum

craig wrote:For now - I've got a 16-25 railcard which gives 1/3...

Damn - The 1/3 off only applies to on on the day ticket purchases and doesn't apply if you are buying a weekly or monthly Travelcard.
Oystercard 11-15 has to be the way to go.

Indeed - Oh for a simplified, and better value, rail system...

Just to make it more complicated (sorry)... you can only put a season ticket - weekly, monthly or annual - on your Oyster if you are using the tube. For us that means Travelcard. If you are just using the train to Liverpool Street you cannot put a season ticket on Oyster.

This means that when I am in London for up to four days in a week I use Oyster each day as it is 50p per day cheaper than a return ticket. If I am up there all week, I buy a weekly ticket as you cannot put it on your Oyster, and it is cheaper than five dailies using Oyster.

Who thought that one through then?

This means that when I am in London for up to four days in a week I use Oyster each day as it is 50p per day cheaper than a return ticket. If I am up there all week, I buy a weekly ticket as you cannot put it on your Oyster, and it is cheaper than five dailies using Oyster.

Is that really the case?

I'm not a commuter, so I've not got any experience in practice, but my understanding of the Oyster system (which may well be wrong, as I have never used it) was that the weekly cost was capped at the cost of a weekly ticket, to ensure it was always the most cost effective way to travel. You need to pay on the same card every time though.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/o ... ce-capping

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/2016-adult-fares.pdf (PDF)

Are you saying this doesn't work?

FB

I think part of the problem is that National Rail and TFL do ticketing so differently.

National Rail do returns at a significant discount to 2 singles, and don't charge a punitive premium for paper tickets.

TFL do just singles or travelcards (no returns), and paper tickets are stupidly priced (£4.90 minimum charge for a paper ticket)

So you have to compare two completely different systems, as well as trying to predict in advance what extra tube hops you'll add onto a London journey. Although the reduction in Oyster subsidies a few years back did have the "advantage" that it became rarely beneficial to use anything but a Travelcard when heading into town if you were using the tube at all.

The only time in my lifetime ticketing across and around London has worked well was when Ken Livingstone was running Fare's Fair back in the 80s. Whatever his other politics and whatever you think of them, he had a vision for integrating buses, tube and rail and integrating their ticketing at reasonable prices. When you add the TFL gouging to the madness that is the fractured, privatised rail system it's no wonder no-one can say what the best fare is and how to buy it.

FurtiveBertie wrote:

Are you saying this doesn't work?

FB

The cost of a daily or weekly travel is capped at the cost of a Travelcard, which is more expensive than a return to Liverpool Street.

So the capping is no good to me because I don't use the tube.