I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement, so you can buy your
discounted season tickets from the machine or online, rather than having
to go to the ticket office to do it.

Unfortunately you can't get your existing Oyster's prepay balance
transferred onto it; looks like I'll have a main Oyster and an
emergency/guest Oyster from now on.

I mention this all because a while ago we had a thread mentioning YP
Railcard discounts on Travelcards versus prepay capping. It would seem
that since Oysters are now issued to students in this fashion, it would
be easy to set different prepay cap levels for a student Oyster,
corresponding to the YP discounts.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised
Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement, so you can buy your
discounted season tickets from the machine or online, rather than
having
to go to the ticket office to do it.

Unfortunately you can't get your existing Oyster's prepay balance
transferred onto it; looks like I'll have a main Oyster and an
emergency/guest Oyster from now on.

I mention this all because a while ago we had a thread mentioning YP
Railcard discounts on Travelcards versus prepay capping. It would
seem
that since Oysters are now issued to students in this fashion, it
would
be easy to set different prepay cap levels for a student Oyster,
corresponding to the YP discounts.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London


What did you need to get one? I currently have an oyster card for this
acadmic year + IC paperwork, etc. Can you apply for a next year card
if you currently have a this year one?

On Tue, 10 May 2005, Dave Arquati wrote:

I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement,

Do you get a new one every year?

so you can buy your discounted season tickets from the machine or
online, rather than having to go to the ticket office to do it.

Hmm. I can buy student-rate period travelcards at the machine; i have to
do it via a renewal rather than a new ticket purchase, though.

Unfortunately you can't get your existing Oyster's prepay balance
transferred onto it; looks like I'll have a main Oyster and an
emergency/guest Oyster from now on.

Huh? Can't you give in your old one and get the money back? I've never
tried that, but i'd assumed it was possible - after all, you pay a deposit
for an Oyster, and 'deposit' implies the possibility of a refund.

I mention this all because a while ago we had a thread mentioning YP
Railcard discounts on Travelcards versus prepay capping. It would seem
that since Oysters are now issued to students in this fashion, it would
be easy to set different prepay cap levels for a student Oyster,
corresponding to the YP discounts.

That would be nice.

I'm still looking forward to capping to 7DTC etc prices, though ...

tom

--
Any Christmas message which ends with "... everything's pointless ..." probably doesn't need sharing -- cleanskies

Chris! wrote:
Dave Arquati wrote:

I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement, so you can buy your
discounted season tickets from the machine or online, rather than having
to go to the ticket office to do it.

Unfortunately you can't get your existing Oyster's prepay balance
transferred onto it; looks like I'll have a main Oyster and an
emergency/guest Oyster from now on.

I mention this all because a while ago we had a thread mentioning YP
Railcard discounts on Travelcards versus prepay capping. It would seem
that since Oysters are now issued to students in this fashion, it would
be easy to set different prepay cap levels for a student Oyster,
corresponding to the YP discounts.

What did you need to get one? I currently have an oyster card for this
acadmic year + IC paperwork, etc. Can you apply for a next year card
if you currently have a this year one?

I just applied in the standard fashion - got a form from the college
registry, filled in out, got them to stamp it, and I sent it off with
the £5 payment. I presume they're issuing all new student cards in this
way now. I don't know whether you can apply for next year's one - if
you're carrying on an existing course, then I don't think it matters
what year you are on any more; the Oyster is encoded with a "finish
date" for the student entitlement, which I presume is just the end date
of your course as filled in on the application form.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Tue, 10 May 2005, Dave Arquati wrote:


I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement,


Do you get a new one every year?

No. The entitlement has a finish date encoded, so once that runs out,
you can either carry on using it for adult-rate tickets, prepay, or get
the entitlement renewed if appropriate.

I'm not sure if the finish date is the end of the current academic year
or the end date of your course as entered on the application form. Both
are the same for me at the moment, as I'm starting a new course in October.

so you can buy your discounted season tickets from the machine or
online, rather than having to go to the ticket office to do it.


Hmm. I can buy student-rate period travelcards at the machine; i have to
do it via a renewal rather than a new ticket purchase, though.


Unfortunately you can't get your existing Oyster's prepay balance
transferred onto it; looks like I'll have a main Oyster and an
emergency/guest Oyster from now on.


Huh? Can't you give in your old one and get the money back? I've never
tried that, but i'd assumed it was possible - after all, you pay a deposit
for an Oyster, and 'deposit' implies the possibility of a refund.

You can, but I don't think I can be bothered with the hassle. I really
just wanted to transfer the prepay from my old card straight onto the
new one.

I mention this all because a while ago we had a thread mentioning YP
Railcard discounts on Travelcards versus prepay capping. It would seem
that since Oysters are now issued to students in this fashion, it would
be easy to set different prepay cap levels for a student Oyster,
corresponding to the YP discounts.

That would be nice.

I'm still looking forward to capping to 7DTC etc prices, though ...

Yes, that would be extremely handy, particularly for students in the
summer term who may be going to and from university unpredictably.

I'm still slightly bemused by the discount Zone 2 7DTC only costing 10p
more than a bus pass. Make a single tube journey to/from Zone 2 and
you're quids in.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Thu, 12 May 2005, Dave Arquati wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Tue, 10 May 2005, Dave Arquati wrote:

I got mine in the post today. They've moved from issuing plain old
photocards to printing your photo and name onto a personalised Oyster,
which is encoded with your discount entitlement,

Do you get a new one every year?

No. The entitlement has a finish date encoded, so once that runs out,
you can either carry on using it for adult-rate tickets, prepay, or get
the entitlement renewed if appropriate.

Clever.

I'm still looking forward to capping to 7DTC etc prices, though ...

Yes, that would be extremely handy, particularly for students in the
summer term who may be going to and from university unpredictably.

Or those who, in the spring term, cycle to work, except when the weather's
horrible!

tom

--
Gotta treat 'em mean to make 'em scream.

I've been a 'lurker' for a short while on this ng, being interested as
I am in transportational matters in the great metropolis that is
Londinium, so it's about time I got involved.

I'd never noticed the pricing difference of 20p (not 10p, but it's not
a deal breaker) between a 7-day Bus Pass and a Zone 2 7DTC (or indeed a
single zone 7DTC for any of the zones apart from Z1, i.e. Zone
2/3/4/5/6).

There is (obviously) a similar negligible difference between monthly
and annual Bus Passes and monthly Z2/3/4/5/6 Travelcards - £42.30 vs
£43.10 for monthlies, and £440 vs £448 for annuals.

My current travel needs mean I often purchase weekly bus passes, but I
do on occasion travel on the 'overground' entirely within Zone 2 (and
having a Travelcard would mean I'd so more frequently) so I'll
definitely be buying said Travelcard in the future.

In addition, on the (admittedly rare) occasions I need to take my young
cousins somewhere by public transport, it'd enable me to get them a Day
Travelcard for a quid. Though this might be more useful for other
people, however considering that the 'kid for a quid' kid has to travel
with you, and you can only travel by rail/tube in one zone then perhaps
it's not much more useful than the £1 child one-day buss pass.

If someone was to buy an annual Travelcard as opposed to a Bus Pass,
then of course they'd also benefit from the Gold Card 1/3 reduction on
rail travel in the south east.

The one thing that you'd lose out from if you were buying a Zone 2
Travelcard instead of Bus Pass would be the freedom of Croydon, more
specifically the ability to use Tramlink on your ticket. To travel on
the trams you need either a Bus Pass, or Travelcard valid for any zone
between 3 and 6. But as I don't go out with 'her' anymore I'm not down
that way so often!

(By the by, I do think that it's a slight anomaly that Travelcards are
now valid on any bus regardless of that Travelcard's zone (a great
recent innovation), and Bus Passes are now valid on the trams (again a
good thing), so in terms of ticketing a tram is almost the same thing
as a bus - apart from the lack of validity of Z1 and Z2 Travelcards. I
guess the logic is that you can't go by train/tube to a tram
interchange without going into Z3/4/5, but I still think it's an
aberration from the 'tram is a bus' ticketing logic.)

A far more verbose first post than intended - but thanks for the heads
up on the Bus Pass / Travelcard pricing difference Mr Arquati.

"Mizter T" typed

In addition, on the (admittedly rare) occasions I need to take my young
cousins somewhere by public transport, it'd enable me to get them a Day
Travelcard for a quid. Though this might be more useful for other
people, however considering that the 'kid for a quid' kid has to travel
with you, and you can only travel by rail/tube in one zone then perhaps
it's not much more useful than the £1 child one-day buss pass.

Don't forget under 11s go free on the buses anyway. How old are your cousins?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Mizter T wrote:
(snip)

A far more verbose first post than intended - but thanks for the heads
up on the Bus Pass / Travelcard pricing difference Mr Arquati.

You're very welcome. I'll probably get myself a Z2 7DTC as I'll most
likely be living in Zone 2 soon, and I'm almost certain to take the Tube
at least once a week - saving myself a few pence in the process.

I don't have much of an urge to go to Croydon except about once a year,
so I should be OK on the tram front. It's an interesting oddity though!


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
(snip)

A far more verbose first post than intended - but thanks for the
heads
up on the Bus Pass / Travelcard pricing difference Mr Arquati.

You're very welcome. I'll probably get myself a Z2 7DTC as I'll most
likely be living in Zone 2 soon, and I'm almost certain to take the
Tube
at least once a week - saving myself a few pence in the process.

I don't have much of an urge to go to Croydon except about once a
year,
so I should be OK on the tram front. It's an interesting oddity
though!

I noticed the Tramlink odity too. Although if your just popping to
Ikea (or whatever else there is in Croydon) for a little while it
doesn't seem to charge you for the return journey