Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

JB

On 11 Jan, 17:28, JB wrote:
Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

JB

Quite strange, I've been meaning to ask *exactly* this question (even
down to the mention of Cambridge), for the last few days! It's even
stranger as my online gaming nickname is JB

On 11 Jan, 17:28, JB wrote:
Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

JB

Simple answer - no.

In the future, if and when Oyster Pay-as-you-go gets extended outside
of the London zonal system, then Travelcard seasons (and indeed
perhaps even rail-only seasons) from stations outside London might
also become available on Oyster, but that hasn't happened yet.

(A small addendum to the above just to make life complicated -
stopping services on the Watford Jn - Euston line are now part of
TfL's London Overground network, and stations from Watford High Street
southwards are now within the London zonal system - at least with
regards to tickets issued by London Overground or other TfL outlets,
though confusingly not with regards to tickets issued by National
Rail. This means that, at least with respect to passengers buying new
seasons from London Overground or other TfL outlets, passengers can
have their Travelcard seasons issued on Oyster, and if said Travelcard
seasons had the required zonal validity then they would also be valid
on fast London Midland trains from Bushey.)


Now I come to the possibility of combining a season Travelcard and a
season ticket. I must admit that despite many many discussions on
uk.railway about this issue I'm still somewhat hazy as to what is
allowed!

What is definitely allowed is to combine a season Travelcard and a
rail-only season ticket when your train stops at the point when you
swap between the two tickets - so lets say you travel from Woking to
London Waterloo, then as long as you got on a train that stopped at
Surbiton you could have a Woking to Surbiton rail-only season (as a
printed ticket), and then a zones 1-6 season Travelcard (issued on
Oyster if you so desire) which would kick in at Surbiton (Surbiton
being in zone 6).

What I'm less clear on is whether this would be allowed if the Woking
to London Waterloo train did not stop at Surbiton (as only some trains
from Woking to Waterloo do stop there). Perhaps someone can put me
right on this once and for all!

On Jan 12, 12:26*am, Mizter T wrote:
On 11 Jan, 17:28, JB wrote:

Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

JB

Simple answer - no.

In the future, if and when Oyster Pay-as-you-go gets extended outside
of the London zonal system, then Travelcard seasons (and indeed
perhaps even rail-only seasons) from stations outside London might
also become available on Oyster, but that hasn't happened yet.

(A small addendum to the above just to make life complicated -
stopping services on the Watford Jn - Euston line are now part of
TfL's London Overground network, and stations from Watford High Street
southwards are now within the London zonal system - at least with
regards to tickets issued by London Overground or other TfL outlets,
though confusingly not with regards to tickets issued by National
Rail. This means that, at least with respect to passengers buying new
seasons from London Overground or other TfL outlets, passengers can
have their Travelcard seasons issued on Oyster, and if said Travelcard
seasons had the required zonal validity then they would also be valid
on fast London Midland trains from Bushey.)

Now I come to the possibility of combining a season Travelcard and a
season ticket. I must admit that despite many many discussions on
uk.railway about this issue I'm still somewhat hazy as to what is
allowed!

What is definitely allowed is to combine a season Travelcard and a
rail-only season ticket when your train stops at the point when you
swap between the two tickets - so lets say you travel from Woking to
London Waterloo, then as long as you got on a train that stopped at
Surbiton you could have a Woking to Surbiton rail-only season (as a
printed ticket), and then a zones 1-6 season Travelcard (issued on
Oyster if you so desire) which would kick in at Surbiton (Surbiton
being in zone 6).

What I'm less clear on is whether this would be allowed if the Woking
to London Waterloo train did not stop at Surbiton (as only some trains
from Woking to Waterloo do stop there). Perhaps someone can put me
right on this once and for all!


A slight tangent, but whatever the situation is now, it will
presumably be different again once Oyster is accepted on NR in London.

Does this mean that paper travelcards will cease being available at NR
stations in London?

If so, that means that anyone who declines to have all his/her
movements tracked will no longer be able to get anything longer than a
weekly and will have to pay more, as on LU already. You can't have a
monthly unless your card is registered.

On 12 Jan, 00:37, MIG wrote:

(snip)

A slight tangent, but whatever the situation is now, it will
presumably be different again once Oyster is accepted on NR in London.

Does this mean that paper travelcards will cease being available at NR
stations in London?

Who knows - that seems like such a distant prospect! It's a good
question, but it is a hypothetical one to which I'm pretty certain
there isn't any official answer as of yet.


If so, that means that anyone who declines to have all his/her
movements tracked will no longer be able to get anything longer than a
weekly and will have to pay more, as on LU already. You can't have a
monthly unless your card is registered.


AIUI the TOCs' new franchise agreements merely specify that they
should be working towards smartcard (i.e. ITSO) ticketing, and don't
actually compel them to issue Oyster standard smartcards. TfL is going
to modify its Oyster readers so they can read and validate ITSO, so
there will be some compatibility between the systems - whether TfL
starts issuing Oyster cards as ITSO standard smartcards, as opposed to
proprietary Philips Mifare smartcards, is another question (perhaps
they are tied to Mifare until 2015 when the Transys Prestige PFI
agreement finishes).

The point of the paragraph above is to illustrate that in the future
it seems that Oyster won't be the only smartcard in town - so perhaps
the TOCs (with the DfT's blessing) would wish to only issue season
tickets on smartcards (whether Oyster or ITSO).

If there ever was such a plan then I'd expect people to kick up a
fuss, citing similar concerns about the ability of such systems to
track movements. I dare suggest that such a debate might have a wider
impact than merely London, given that TOCs elsewhere could potentially
be looking to issue all season tickets on smartcards.

Regarding the situation now and for the foreseeable future - anyone
who wants a monthly or indeed annual Travelcard on paper as opposed to
on Oyster can purchase it from a National Rail station, or indeed from
several TOCs either by phone or online (photocard required).

JB wrote

Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

Apparently you can't buy it on Oyster or transfer it.

Paul Corfield kindly checked and posted in June '07

There has been no change to the range of Travelcards and out
county sections sold from LU offices. Therefore a ticket to Hertford
East can be sold from Euston. However, and this was news to me, it
would be sold not on Oyster but on magnetic stock with a photocard
which LU offices have retained solely for this purpose.

Attempts have been made to reach an agreement to retail Oyster for Z16
plus a magnetic extension ticket from the boundary to the NR station
requested but no agreement has so far been reached. Whether this will
eventually become reality I can't say but it would give you what you
would like. ==


--
Mike D

On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:26:58 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:

On 11 Jan, 17:28, JB wrote:
Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?

JB

Simple answer - no.

Thanks, that's what I thought.

It was just that I spoke to the Oyster helpline yesterday and the
first person I spoke to clearly didn't have the faintest idea about
what I was talking about. Then their supervisor told me I could by
taking my National Rail season ticket to a LU station, but they said
it in such a such a way that I didn't entirely believe them.

I have emailed them as well, so I will be interested to see their
answer.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:37:20 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

If so, that means that anyone who declines to have all his/her
movements tracked will no longer be able to get anything longer than a
weekly and will have to pay more, as on LU already. You can't have a
monthly unless your card is registered.

AIUI you can't have a monthly season ticket of any kind without giving
your details in. The purpose of this is to allow the issue of
replacements[1], mind, not to track particular tickets.

[1] Got my first ever replacement season yesterday after my old one
got drenched in the downpour and refused to open any barriers after
that...

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Jan 11, 5:28 pm, JB wrote:
Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?


An annual (standard class) season ticket from Cambridge to London
Terminals is £3640 and to London Zones R1256 is £4600, a difference of
£960.

If you simply commute on working days only to a Zone 1 underground
station and use a pre-pay OysterCard, the annual cost of your tube
travel would be about £1.50 x 2 x 5 x 48 which is £720. So even if you
make occasional additional journeys at weekends, beyond Zone 1 or on
the bus it might be cheaper to get a London Terminals ticket and use a
pre-pay OysterCard.

Note, incidentally, that if you're commuting from Cambridge to the
City of London (and don't fancy the Liverpool Street line) then you
can use a Cambridge - London Terminals ticket on the underground
between King's Cross and Moorgate.

PaulO

In article
s.com, Paul Oter scribeth thus
On Jan 11, 5:28 pm, JB wrote:
Can you transfer the travelcard element of an annual National Rail
season tickets that has an origin of somewhere outside London, for
example Cambridge to Zones R1256, onto an Oyster card, and if so how?


An annual (standard class) season ticket from Cambridge to London
Terminals is £3640 and to London Zones R1256 is £4600, a difference of
£960.

If you simply commute on working days only to a Zone 1 underground
station and use a pre-pay OysterCard, the annual cost of your tube
travel would be about £1.50 x 2 x 5 x 48 which is £720. So even if you
make occasional additional journeys at weekends, beyond Zone 1 or on
the bus it might be cheaper to get a London Terminals ticket and use a
pre-pay OysterCard.

Note, incidentally, that if you're commuting from Cambridge to the
City of London (and don't fancy the Liverpool Street line) then you
can use a Cambridge - London Terminals ticket on the underground
between King's Cross and Moorgate.

PaulO




BTW.. Are the barriers at Cambridge operational as yet?..



--
Tony Sayer