Best Fare Travelling Just Outside London

zagubov

I'm trying to help someone on an apprenticeship with a complex commute.

He needs to use an Oystercard within London for part of the journey using tfl bus and mainline train but has to take the mainline train a few stops beyond the Oystercard area via SouthWestern trains.

Is there a travelcard or discount that could be used easily and would he have to get off the train to tap the Oystercard when he crosses the boundary?

The journey costs are using up the salary so much we're looking for maybe a season ticket or travelcard but it needs to be easy to use.

agrinnall

I expect that the experts (not me!) will be able to offer more help if you give the start and end points of the journey, the time of day travelled, and the age of the traveller.

zagubov

The traveller is a twenty-something apprentice who travels between a town in Surrey (outside the Oyster card zones) and a change at a zone 3 station, all on the Southwestern network, with a tfl bus journey from zones 4-5.

I suspect there will be a combination of a Southwestern season ticket from the Surrey town to the zone 6 Oyster boundary, combined with a multi-zone travelcard.

What I can't seem to find is whether a zone 3-6 travelcard exists and if it does, whether it's cheaper to
a) buy via SouthWestern trains and how to do that or whether to
b) buy an Apprenticeship Oyster discount card and add a travelcard through that.

And, how the commuter taps in and out using either system.

agrinnall

OK, if you don't want to provide accurate information I expect you'll only get vague answers.

tehone

Exact journey details are required to answer this, along with age of apprentice if 30 or under. Also you don't need an Oyster card to travel within London, it may be that paper or possibly contactless would be cheaper.
How many days are they travelling?

tehone

A weekly zones 3-6 travelcard is £34.90

Please note not all travelcards are available on oyster

zagubov

That's useful info. The traveller's 21-22 and works five days a week. The journey's between a Surrey town a few Southwestern stops outside Surbiton (which is zone 6) and involves a mix of train (Southwestern) and bus journeys between zones 3 and 5.
Can't be more specific, sorry.
It involves peak time travel.

Friday1989

zagubov wrote: »

That's useful info. The traveller's 21-22 and works five days a week. The journey's between a Surrey town a few Southwestern stops outside Surbiton (which is zone 6) and involves a mix of train (Southwestern) and bus journeys between zones 3 and 5.
Can't be more specific, sorry.
It involves peak time travel.

Is he an apprentice spy?! I'd love to try help but without station names (the bus route doesn't really matter) it's a lot of hassle and probably won't be accurate.

tehone

You really aren't making it easy to help! (Feel free to PM the start / end of journey if you want for more informed answer)

Starting point would seem to be
a) what is the cost of a weekly travelcard (is the bus interchange at surbiton) if so then you only need for example a zone 5-6 travelcard (buses don't use zones, so any travelcard is valid.
b) it is cheaper to buy a point to point anytime day return with a 16-25 railcard, based on your information it won't be more than £12 (which is a minimum fare, except for July/August, when it will be less), plus £1.50x2 (for the bus).

So basically its £15max per day, buying on a daily basis (apart from July/Agust, when it could be much lower around £10 per day)

So a weekly travelcard needs to be less than that, which based on the limited information you have given would always seem to be the case for most of the year

zagubov

Thanks guys - from what you've told me I can see the best option will be a weekly travelcard plus a season ticket between the Surrey town and the Oyster zone boundary.

bubieyehyeh

Wish they did sell boundary zone season tickets, but I'm pretty sure they don't. They don't on my route to London.