2007 LU fares vs Prepay

eyesy

Hi

I've been trying to decide whether to get an annual Travelcard for the next year or to go Monthly/ prepay - was hoping someone could give me some advice. Incidentally, I don't know what the prices are going to be for 2007 on LU - they haven't published them yet so I don't know if the sums below will still hold for next year. Does anyone have them?

I live in Zone 5 and travel into Zone 1 for work. Last year I got an annual Travelcard; this year the price has gone up to £1552. I'm thinking about pre-pay as an alternative for several reasons, but from my sums it seems to be too good to be true: -

1. I make, on average, about one delayed journey claim per week, which is usually £4. Because I get an annual Travelcard, I don't use these, and I give them away to friends to use instead. So I "lose out" on about £200 a year already.

2. I more often than not start work after 10 o'clock. Reading the Tube web page on fares, it seems that as long as I start my journeys after 9.30am, my fares would be capped at £5.80, rather than costing me £7 (£3.50 each way between 7am and 7pm). This saves me around another £250 a year.

3. I work at home maybe one day every couple of weeks, sometimes more. On pre-pay, I would be effectively saving the cost of the days' journey whereas with an annual card I don't. This saves £150.

4. I don't use my Travelcard much (if at all) for several weeks a year (around four weeks) when on holiday, which is around £75 saved.

If I put all those factors together, it works out at about £1050 for the year on pre-pay, so a saving of around £500, or 30% cheaper than an annual card.

Even for the odd trip I make to visit friends and family, I reckon I'd still make a saving of a few hundred quid.

Does all that make sense, or have I missed out something really obvious that will cost me way more in the long run?

Thanks!

isasmurf

eyesy wrote:

Does all that make sense, or have I missed out something really obvious that will cost me way more in the long run?

I think you possibly are.

Let me address your points individually.

1. I make, on average, about one delayed journey claim per week, which is usually £4. Because I get an annual Travelcard, I don't use these, and I give them away to friends to use instead. So I "lose out" on about £200 a year already.

You give them away?! You can use them against the cost of your travelcard when you renew. That's some money saved off your travelcard.

2. I more often than not start work after 10 o'clock. Reading the Tube web page on fares, it seems that as long as I start my journeys after 9.30am, my fares would be capped at £5.80, rather than costing me £7 (£3.50 each way between 7am and 7pm). This saves me around another £250 a year.

Nothing wrong with that. Travelcards will go up from January though.

3. I work at home maybe one day every couple of weeks, sometimes more. On pre-pay, I would be effectively saving the cost of the days' journey whereas with an annual card I don't. This saves £150.

4. I don't use my Travelcard much (if at all) for several weeks a year (around four weeks) when on holiday, which is around £75 saved.

Ah yes, but an annual travelcard costs the same as 40 weekly travelcards. So you are effectively getting 12 weeks worth of free travel, plus there are all the other benefits of being in the Gold Card scheme.

Incidentally, I don't know what the prices are going to be for 2007 on LU - they haven't published them yet so I don't know if the sums below will still hold for next year. Does anyone have them?

Oyster single fares are staying the same. Cash tube fares through Zone 1 rise to £4. Travelcards rise by about RPI+2 on average, which depending on which month's RPI they use will be around 4.5%-5.5%.
http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=9169

I don't know if that changes your calculations.

coral

Travelcards are generally aimed at saving money for peak time 5-day-a-week users, as soon as you fall out of this catagory their savings can start to become questionable.

I am looking at moving into zone 2 and would be commuting to zone 6 & 1, I am definatly going to be using pre-pay with the auto-top up, it won't cost me more, be no less convienient and by using buses & my bike & accounting for days off etc I can probably save a fair bit of money, plus you don't have to pay upfront!

lamnicholas

eyesy, the Customer Charter refund vouchers can also be added to your 'Pay As You Go' credit on your Oyster card, so no need to give them away. Yes, PAYG fares are staying more or less the same in 2007, only cash fares are rising to persuade more people to swich to Oyster. And yes, we are getting to the point that people will be better off using PAYG then buying a season ticket, especially those who travel in single zones as this option was scrapped for season tickets.

eyesy

lamnicholas wrote:

eyesy, the Customer Charter refund vouchers can also be added to your 'Pay As You Go' credit on your Oyster card, so no need to give them away. Yes, PAYG fares are staying more or less the same in 2007, only cash fares are rising to persuade more people to swich to Oyster. And yes, we are getting to the point that people will be better off using PAYG then buying a season ticket, especially those who travel in single zones as this option was scrapped for season tickets.

Hiya

Thanks for your reply... that's precisely why I'm thinking of moving over to PrePay from an annual card - with an annual card I can't reclaim the cost of the card from tube claims until a year later - so I give them to family and friends who use the tube as well... whereas with pre-pay I can use them on the day I get the forms back.

By the way, contrary to what seems to be the general consensus here, PAYG fares are in fact going up next year, albeit capped fares only:

http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Transport/London/Underground.htm#TicketPrices2007

For someone making two trips a day from Zones 1 - 5, the increase in price cap will costs me around £100.

I've not been able to find any site which tells me what the season ticket fares will be for next year.