Monthly Travelcard confusion 18 March 2019 at 11:42AM in Public transport & cycling 5 replies 864 views

tiptoes27

Hello
My son is about to start first job in London and we are confused about all the options for travel tickets. After loads of research He has decided to get an travelcard as he does go to different parts of london at the weekends and will start off with a monthly one until he passes his probation and then he can get an annual season ticket loan from work.
We are looking at Oyster Card or Southeastern The Key to load the ticket onto and can’t find anywhere to compare the difference between the two. Any experience of using these for season ticket?

tiptoes27

My son was also thinking of getting an 18-25 railcard but I notice that if you buy an annual season ticket you get a gold card which gives discounted travel so is there any point having a railcard as well?

Andy_L

Which stations is he going to be going from & to?

Depending on how far out he is then the oyster card might not take the season ticket for the mainline journey

tiptoes27

He will be travelling from Orpington to London Charing Cross

surreysaver

tiptoes27 wrote: »

He will be travelling from Orpington to London Charing Cross

An Oystercard or The Key are just the medium the ticket us held on. Orpington to London is wholly within London, so you're best off getting an Oystercard as that would be recognised on buses etc. Don't forget you can get odd period Travelcards for any period between a month and a year.
A Railcard probably wouldn't be worth getting, as a minimum fare applies before 10.00

NBLondon

According to SouthEastern, you can load a TfL travelcard onto the Key so it can also be used on buses (I have not tested this...) You also get Selected offers from SouthEastern. So in theory the Key is better as long as you are likely to stick within their area.