Railcard discount for oyster prepay

dzug · 16 January 2008 at 10:26PM

purplestar133 wrote: »

Do you have to pay initially to get an Oyster card, before you put credit on it? I'm going to london on sunday til tues. From what I've read it looks like it will work out cheaper to get a day travel pass, prob only zones 1-2, every day. Is that right?

No - not generally.

You pay a £3 deposit, which you get back, along with any unused credit, if you return the card.

Oyster will be at least 50p a day cheaper than one day passes, as long as you stick to the routes/lines on which it is valid. If you need to use non-Oyster routes (unlikely but not impossible) the daily card is cheaper.

Inspiring_2 · 16 January 2008 at 10:47PM

If my YP card expires on Feb, will this discounted cap also expire on Feb?

xsteele · 17 January 2008 at 12:12AM

Don't forget this excludes Annual Gold card holders (annual season ticket holders) who on some occassions where travelling alot outside their paid for zones may find it cheaper to pay for a paper ticket as below.

Buy Zones 1 - 6 Off-Peak Day Travelcards for friends and family at an adult reduced price of
£4.80 (£1 for accompanying children)*. Off-Peak Day Travelcards with additional availability from
National Rail stations outside the zonal area are also available at reduced prices

You can save a little over the below capped off peak capped fares

Journeys in:

Zones 1-2 £4.80 no saving

Zones 1-3 £5.40 60p!!

Zones 1-4 £5.40

Zones 1-5 £6.50 £1.70!!

Zones 1-6 £6.50

Although the site also says

If your Travelcard is on Oyster, using pay as you go Oyster single fares for extension tickets
(where available) will be cheaper than buying cash tickets.*

but this doesn't seem to account for this Goldcard dodge.
Don't forget you can buy the reduced rate ticket for a friend traveling with you if you have bought one also.

chuckley · 17 January 2008 at 2:18AM

Inspiring wrote: »

If my YP card expires on Feb, will this discounted cap also expire on Feb?

yea unless u renew it.

Whitehall · 17 January 2008 at 9:48AM

Following the above, my son lives and works in London N6 he has a disability rail card and always uses the Bus as the tube is very intimidating for a person with not good balance !! I know he also uses an Oyster card will this be of help to him ?

michaelgabriel · 17 January 2008 at 4:21PM

There is a free publication "Your guide to fares & tickets" available at all tube stations. This gives the gen on 3-day Travelcards and a host of other fascinating info.

dzug wrote: »

There is a three day off peak travelcard available - but only for zones 1-6 (£20) - not zones 1-2 where there is only the one price (£17.40) for both peak/off-peak.

Maybe you asked the wrong question. Or they answered the wrong question...

tizzi_2 · 17 January 2008 at 6:06PM

Riq Can you avoid posting silly quotes like that on a web page - think responsibly! Tizz

Happychappy · 17 January 2008 at 7:51PM

Hi, Hope someone with knowledge of the Oyster system can put me right. I have just been to London for 3 days, prior to going I added £15 to an Oyster card.

I arrived 1.30pm Monday and used the card for 5 single journeys, next day I used the card 4 single journeys and 2 on the DLR, each and every time I clocked in and out both on the underground and DLR, on the final day just 2 single journeys, however, the card ran out so had to add a £1 to boost it up for the last journey.

I thought this would be two days of price capped and two single journeys on the last day? would these journeys total £15 ? All journeys started after 9.30am.

I thought the tube system was very good, always on time very efficient just the tube seemed to be always full of sour faced people, with every exit covered by a creature sitting in a sleeping bag muttering about money, complete with sad dog. Some excellent musicians in the tunnels, certainly a different world.

dzug · 17 January 2008 at 11:43PM

That shouldn't have totalled £15 - unless you went out as far as zone 5.

I <think> there has to be a minimum sum on an Oyster to work the tube barriers - not sure what it is. Maybe this was the problem - and in fact there is a small sum left on the card 'refunded' when you last swiped out.

YAM_3 · 18 January 2008 at 3:37AM

Happychappy wrote: »

I thought this would be two days of price capped and two single journeys on the last day? would these journeys total £15 ?

They may, if you've travelled to Zone 5 or more. Or maybe you had the 3£ card deposit included in your 15£? See the fares leaflet at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/guide-to-fares-and-tickets-08-01-02.pdf

But you also might be charged a 'maximum fare' (of 4 or 5£) for not touching in and out correctly. Even if you did, there are some circumstances where the system could think you didn't. :-(

The problem with these modern chip card systems is that it is difficult for the customer to check the correct deduction. You can view the last 8 journeys at ticket machines - and the ticket office can give you a printout of these. Also the helpline is able to see all journeys made with the card in the last 3 months or so and can tell you if there is an unresolved journey. You might even get a refund if you can convince them that it was not your fault.

In general I recommend to choose paper day travelcards over oyster payg - one 'maximum fare' pays for more than a week of the price difference, and you don't need to worry whether a national rail route is included in oyster payg or not.

Railcard discount for oyster prepay

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