They are getting an Oyster and a 16-25 railcard anyway.

But should they go for the Student Oyster, rather than loading the
railcard onto a regular Oyster?

As far as I can see the only difference as far as fares are concerned is
that the Student Oyster discounts individual bus trips, but the combo
only discounts the daily cap.

And using the combo means you have to carry both cards when travelling,
rather than just one [inside London].

A short term problem is that the Student Oyster can't be bought in
advance, and apparently takes up to three weeks to approve and issue,
leaving freshers out on a limb at just the time they might be wanting to
explore the City.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 17:13:14 on
Wed, 19 Sep 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:

The 18+ Oyster is effectively a discounted season ticket. If they need
to commute regularly between residence and college then they should
buy this ticket IMO.

This student is living within walking distance of the college. They only
need an Oyster for R&R trips. The 16-25 card is mainly for getting a
cheaper ticket home when necessary.

Adding the 16-25 discount alongside the season

But not two lots of 30% discount, I presume?

will at least give discounted extension fares on tube and rail as well
as capping those extensions if the holder opts to travel beyond the
normal validity of their discounted Travelcard or Bus & Tram Pass.

Very little travel outside Z1 is expected on the Oyster.

ps What seems to me to be required is adding the 16-25 Railcard as an
endorsement (visual only) on the Student Oyster. Then they'd have only
one [photo]card to carry for all trips.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 22:47:43 on
Wed, 19 Sep 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:
Adding the 16-25 discount alongside the season

But not two lots of 30% discount, I presume?

Not quite sure what you mean. The railcard does not further reduce the
price of the weekly or longer Travelcard if that is what you mean.

I was expecting the student Oyster to be used PAYG, with 30% off fares.
But looking closer I see that it only gives a discount on Travelcards.

Loading a railcard on an adult Oyster will also give a discount on
Travelcards? But loading a railcard on a student Oyster won't give
another third off the third off.

Very little travel outside Z1 is expected on the Oyster.

Probably better to just get the 16-25 discount added on to an Oyster
card using PAYG only.

Agreed, the Student Oyster looks like it's irrelevant to the situation
in hand.

It's hardly going to be any sort of issue having two credit card sized
documents inside a ticket wallet designed to take them. I have a
photo ID that links to a discount on my Oyster and it is no issue
having them in one wallet.

Card-bloat is getting significant. These days a student will have two ID
cards (one for the department and one for the Students Union) and
possibly a third if their hall of residence has rfid door locks. Then
there's a driving licence (for proof of age) and at least one debit
card. Add an Oyster and a Railcard, and it's already reached seven!
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

Card-bloat is getting significant. These days a student will have two
ID cards (one for the department and one for the Students Union) and
possibly a third if their hall of residence has rfid door locks. Then
there's a driving licence (for proof of age) and at least one debit
card. Add an Oyster and a Railcard, and it's already reached seven!

Despite being collegiate, Cambridge University seems to manage with one ID
card which also opens doors etc. Some students need passports for proof of
age.

And card bloat is not limited to the young. I have sometimes wondered if
some idiot age challenged me whether they would accept my bus pass as good
enough photo ID proof of age.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Thu, 20 Sep 2012 08:26:06 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 22:47:43
on Wed, 19 Sep 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:
Adding the 16-25 discount alongside the season

But not two lots of 30% discount, I presume?

Loading a railcard on an adult Oyster will also give a discount on
Travelcards? But loading a railcard on a student Oyster won't give
another third off the third off.

The railcard discounts off peak PAYG fares, gives a discounted daily
cap or allows the holder to buy a discounted One Day Travelcard. There
is *no* discount on weekly or period Travelcards. It is a
straightforward process to have the discount entitlement added to the
card at a LU ticket office. No advance application process but the
card does need to be registered.

Sadly not so simple. My daughter has had to go back again more than once
when it turned out the railcard hadn't been properly registered on her
Oyster at the first attempt.

It is incredibly stupid that railcard registration is not visible to the
card holder, for example with the journey history.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 05:21:00
on Thu, 20 Sep 2012, remarked:
Card-bloat is getting significant. These days a student will have two
ID cards (one for the department and one for the Students Union) and
possibly a third if their hall of residence has rfid door locks. Then
there's a driving licence (for proof of age) and at least one debit
card. Add an Oyster and a Railcard, and it's already reached seven!

Despite being collegiate, Cambridge University seems to manage with one ID
card which also opens doors etc. Some students need passports for proof of
age.

One of the nice things about Cambridge is that the Collegiate system is
better at co-ordinating such things than other Unis where the
accommodation service is somewhat disjoint. Also the colleges fulfil the
role of the social aspects of the Students Union (do Cambridge students
get an NUS card these days, and what use is it in the City?)

Finally, the colleges are generally run as secure campuses, whereas
other Unis tend to have open accommodation sites and separate key-entry
to each "staircase" limited to the residents therein. [How does
Churchill handle this issue?]

And card bloat is not limited to the young. I have sometimes wondered if
some idiot age challenged me whether they would accept my bus pass as good
enough photo ID proof of age.

The tickets I have here for the "freshers ball" (run by the Students
Union) specifically state that Student ID is not accepted by the venues
as proof of being over 18.

I've often wondered if my Amex card embossed "Member since a date in
the 70's" proves I'm over 18?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 11:48:25 on
Thu, 20 Sep 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:

student Oyster

On weekly or period Travelcards or the Bus & Tram Pass.
....

The railcard discounts off peak PAYG fares, gives a discounted daily
cap or allows the holder to buy a discounted One Day Travelcard. There
is *no* discount on weekly or period Travelcards.

There's a certain symmetry/lack of overlap there. Two fees for the
issuing authorities rubs hands with glee.

But at least the situation is now clear, many thanks for your help.

Card-bloat is getting significant.

I don't get exercised by this.

I do. A quick count reveals I've got almost 50 current cards. Not
including PAYG phone top-up cards, but it does include one library card
from a town I left a couple of months ago.

And they still snarl at me in shops whenever I say I haven't got a
Nectar card, because I've already got "too many". Indeed, one could add
numerous retail cards to the pack without trying very hard - I've only
got Tesco and CoOp cards, my wife has a Boots card (and probably a Costa
card) and we used to have several discount cards from stores like
Staples and B&Q, and shop regularly at Iceland which has a card.

obRail: Not sure I can count my Bite card, as they've apparently been
obsoleted in the original form.
--
Roland Perry

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
05:21:00 on Thu, 20 Sep 2012, remarked:
Card-bloat is getting significant. These days a student will have two
ID cards (one for the department and one for the Students Union) and
possibly a third if their hall of residence has rfid door locks. Then
there's a driving licence (for proof of age) and at least one debit
card. Add an Oyster and a Railcard, and it's already reached seven!

Despite being collegiate, Cambridge University seems to manage with one
ID card which also opens doors etc. Some students need passports for
proof of age.

One of the nice things about Cambridge is that the Collegiate system
is better at co-ordinating such things than other Unis where the
accommodation service is somewhat disjoint. Also the colleges fulfil
the role of the social aspects of the Students Union (do Cambridge
students get an NUS card these days, and what use is it in the City?)

Dunno. I could ask my Cambridge student daughter I suppose.

Finally, the colleges are generally run as secure campuses, whereas
other Unis tend to have open accommodation sites and separate
key-entry to each "staircase" limited to the residents therein. [How
does Churchill handle this issue?]

You're in the wrong newsgroup to ask that. Otherwise Tim might tell you.

And card bloat is not limited to the young. I have sometimes wondered if
some idiot age challenged me whether they would accept my bus pass as
good enough photo ID proof of age.

The tickets I have here for the "freshers ball" (run by the Students
Union) specifically state that Student ID is not accepted by the
venues as proof of being over 18.

Probably imposed by venues. They live in fear of the Licensing Act.

I've often wondered if my Amex card embossed "Member since a date in
the 70's" proves I'm over 18?

Does it have your photo on, though?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 12:04:07
on Thu, 20 Sep 2012, remarked:

I've often wondered if my Amex card embossed "Member since a date in
the 70's" proves I'm over 18?

Does it have your photo on, though?

No, but since when must all ID also be photo-ID?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 17:36:53 on
Thu, 20 Sep 2012, Paul Corfield remarked:

student Oyster

On weekly or period Travelcards or the Bus & Tram Pass.
...

The railcard discounts off peak PAYG fares, gives a discounted daily
cap or allows the holder to buy a discounted One Day Travelcard. There
is *no* discount on weekly or period Travelcards.

There's a certain symmetry/lack of overlap there. Two fees for the
issuing authorities rubs hands with glee.

Eh? two fees?

A tenner for the Student Oyster and £30-something for the railcard.

Never had the nectar card snarl. I refuse to have any retail card to
collect "points"as I think it is a waste of time and I don't bother
with discount cards as I rarely shop sufficiently often to make it
worthwhile.

I get a useful dribble of vouchers and cash-back from my Tesco Clubcard,
and when my nearest supermarket was a CoOp, the same for them.

If you value the discounts, as you would seem to do, then trading-off a
little wallet bulk is perhaps worth it. Alternatively you could just
cut some of them in half!

Things like Frequent Flyer (and Frequent Hotel-Stayer) can give very
useful bonuses if you travel a lot (and I used to). As well as upgrades
and things like faster check-in (in both cases hotels and planes). One
of my hotel cards claims they'll never turn you away if you arrive on
spec, because the hotel's "full", but I'm not sure how they implement
that.

I've got about ten ITSO and other transport cards now, but have to admit
the only ones I've managed to use in anger are Oyster and NCT (bus),
plus a Brussels 10-trip carnet if that counts.
--
Roland Perry