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Michael TsangParticipant
Unfortunately, after my calculation, for my circumstance, an annual Travelcard is only worthwhile if I travel for at least 5 days per week, with a majority of the days involving morning peak travel. And my circumstance is that I only usually need Zones 1-2 where I usually travel for 6 to 7 days per week.
The recent fare freeze means that a season Travelcard is becoming less and less worthwhile. For example, a monthly was a good buy if I travelled for around 5 days per week, and now, I have to travel for 6 days per week, mostly during peak, to break even.
For outer zone residents, it is even less likely that a season Travelcard can bring value. More often a National Rail only season ticket (e.g. a Croydon Stations to London Terminals annual season offers validity on most of the Southern Metro routes), or paying by PAYG, will save money unless you are travelling across all your zones for 6 days per week, multiple trips per day or more.
Michael TsangParticipantFollowing. This is utterly ridiculous.
Michael TsangParticipantSorry I have just checked that Chafford Hundred is outside Zones 1-6, so the reasoning in #6618 no longer applies.
In this case, the fares are not on a standard scale and probably set by c2c under guidance from DfT, so loopholes and pitfalls are all around.
There is no longer a general rule involving fares on National Rail outside Zones 1-6, as they are not harmonised like within Zones 1-6.
Michael TsangParticipantI think this has be to reported to TfL as something like this has happened in the past in Vauxhall, which now have non-standard fares added for interchanging there to prevent anomaly.
c2c is a train company which adopts TfL fare scale so the whole journey should be charged at TfL rate, regardless if there is a transfer to the tube or not.
Michael TsangParticipantMy Oyster card has a discount. In the past I couldn’t resolve incomplete journeys on the web. I’ll wait 48 hours and see.
Michael TsangParticipantThere are some shops within the paid area of Stratford and I spent a lot of time there before travelling to Stratford International.
Michael TsangParticipantIs changing at Highbury & Islington faster then stopping for so many stops on the Central line? Also, are there any OSIs between an Elizabeth line station and Oxford Circus as well?
Michael TsangParticipantWithin Zones 1-9, the only scenario that evening peak doesn’t apply is when the origin is outside zone 1 and the destination is inside zone 1, or for the reverse-commute direction on the Watford DC line (which is the only line within the system not to have a morning peak in the reverse commute direction as well).
A zone 6-5-4-3-2 journey has an evening peak as normal.
24/06/2024 at 10:27 in reply to: Best value Travelcard if I want to travel for different zones every day per week #5987Michael TsangParticipantThanks for replying me. Unfortunately I have checked my race calendar and it seems that I have nowhere to go over the weekends in the whole month which requires me to travel by tube across Central London, and I will likely want to take my cycle across London on the Thameslink core or West London Line instead by using a West Hampstead Stations to somewhere in the south Super Off-Peak Day Return.
I think I will stick with PAYG then such that I will have the freedom to save money buy not travelling at all, and cycle to work if I want to use my cycle after work. If I know that I am going to travel on the tube for 7 days in a particular week I will then buy a weekly for that week instead.
04/06/2024 at 20:49 in reply to: Best value Travelcard if I want to travel for different zones every day per week #5844Michael TsangParticipantThanks for your explanation. It seems that 4 journeys in zone 3 + weekend extensions are enough to tip the balance to a bigger Travelcard if there is no discount.
However, will the balance be tipped to the other side if, instead, I have a suitable railcard for discounted off-peak travel, while still travel enough to max out on the PAYG all-day basis? My zone 3 journeys will most likely be off-peak, 2 on National Rail and 2 on TfL scale per week, but it can be more or less. I think that I tried to work out this situation in the past and got a conclusion that no Travelcard was a good value, because paying for 3 capped 1-2 plus 2 capped 1-3 worked out less than the 1-2 Travelcard plus the zone 3 extensions, but is it really possible?
Michael TsangParticipantOtherwise, you can just buy your ticket at the ticket machine at Bond Street.
Michael TsangParticipantDo you have Apple Pay or Google Wallet? If you can add your card into it, it can then functions as a contactless card.
26/05/2024 at 12:22 in reply to: Default Route Merstham (NR) – Liverpool Street Underground Station #5821Michael TsangParticipantA simple change at Farringdon will do.
Michael TsangParticipantDo you normally use GWR to Paddington, or Elizabeth line for a through journey to Canary Wharf? If you use the latter, does it help if you swap cards at Maidenhead?
Michael TsangParticipantMy return journey after landing at Heathrow T4 was off-peak but I decided against travelling all the way by rail back to Willesden Green (with my Zones 1-2 Travelcard and National Railcard discount), as I was pulling heavy luggage and wanted to take a bus from Acton Main Line to get home. I paid £4.60 for the “privilege” as the journey was in Zones 6-3, totally outside my Travelcard coverage.
Michael TsangParticipantI made a through journey from Central London to Heathrow Airport (National Rail). The fare charged was £3.00 during evening peak with my Travelcard.
- This reply was modified 11 months ago by Michael Tsang.
22/01/2024 at 11:39 in reply to: Capping for extra zonal fares when you already have a season ticket #5331Michael TsangParticipantDoes this cap also apply if your Oyster card has an Annual Gold Card discount loaded into it?
Michael TsangParticipantThe default route is assumed to be Southern to London Bridge, Thameslink to Farringdon and Tube to Moorgate (this stretch of tube line is dual-scaled).
Michael TsangParticipantI have tried Gatwick Airport to Willesden Green and the fare charged was expected – the same as Gatwick – Balham (Zone 3) which was £4.80 off-peak with National Railcard discount and Zones 1-2 Travelcard loaded.
I’ll fly from Heathrow next time and will report my finding if I use my Oyster card for a through journey.
Michael TsangParticipantDo you know if the Elizabeth line Heathrow premium applies with a Zones 1-2 Travelcard making a through journey?
Michael TsangParticipantThe GWR from Paddington only runs every half an hour with an additional change, which means it is unlikely the extra change will be worthwhile compared to a through journey running every 15 minutes on the through Elizabeth line train when the expected waiting time is taken into account.
Michael TsangParticipantThanks. I will take some photos and publish them to my blog if I can do that. A Google Image Search has produced picture procedures for c2c (from the official c2c website) and South Western Railway machines (from a hiking group website).
12/09/2023 at 11:19 in reply to: Using a gateline with both red cross and green arrow displayed #5106Michael TsangParticipantJust to update you that the touch has registered in the app. It seems that the communication was delayed.
Michael TsangParticipantSorry but this is insane. The instruction for such pads should say, like the notice shown at Highbury & Islington Northern City Line / Victoria Line interchange (not the exact wording):
National Rail ticket holders only
If you are travelling with Oyster / Contactless pay as you go and using another ticket for the remainder of the journey, touch here to start or end your pay as you go journey in order for the correct fare to be charged.
Furthermore, all the promotional materials for PAYG users specify that only touch the yellow reader at the start and the end, and all pink readers en-route, so it should be clear enough that yellow readers should not be touched during the journey.
The existence of continuation exits, which puts the card in a state of both inside and outside the system, solves nothing that can’t be solved by prominent signage, but creates so many problems that even RPIs are confused.
Michael TsangParticipantThis is a serious issue. Why does a continuation exit allows continuation of the journey? Isn’t the point of a continuation exit solely to help customers who don’t know if the station is gated or not?
Can you give me some legitimate examples where a continuation exit reader is used other than to exit the station where the reader is located?
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