Oyster PAYG & 16-25 Railcard...

[miss_stoat]

Hi All

I wonder if you can help me again with a fare query for one of my colleagues.

My colleague recently moved near to Broxbourne and she commutes every weekday from Broxbourne to Liverpool St. For this she pays the £15.70 Anytime return fare daily through her Oyster PAYG.

She sometimes spend a day or two in the week staying with her BF.

She has looked at getting a season but, bizarrely, it's not cost effective for her (a 7 day season is £87-odd but her 5 day commute costs £78-odd at the most, same applies to the monthly - she is never likely to use the train to do this route at a weekend or anything) and she likes the flexibility that PAYG affords her.

Now, to my question. She is only 22, so, am I right in saying that she can purchase a 16-25 Railcard, get it loaded onto her Oyster and as the min spend between 04:30 and 10:00 is £12.00 it will bring her daily fare down from £15.70 to £12.00 and that she can save cash this way? or am I way off as I think I read somewhere that the 16-25 railcard on Oyster will only apply a discount to LU and DLR services?

Thanks in advance

 

[cool110]

Oyster treats all railcards (except disabled) the same so the £12 minimum before 10:00 is ignored, however peak fares and anytime caps remain at the adult rate. In this case paper tickets are cheaper than oyster.

 

[miss_stoat]

So, sorry, if this sounds a bit dim, she could get a 16-25 Railcard and get her fares for £12.00 return daily but she'd have to go to the ticket window each day to do so?

 

[dzug2]

From TfL website:

If you buy a 16-25 Railcard, you can set the discount concession on a standard adult Oyster card or an 18+ Student Oyster photocard to get a 1/3 discount on:
•Off-peak pay as you go fares
•Daily caps for off-peak travel


From that I would think that savings are on off peak travel only, so would only apply to the return leg from Liverpool Street. She should already be getting that reduction but with the 16-25 card it would be bigger.

The TfL farefinder is giving Oyster fares of:

£7.60 peak £5.50 off peak no railcard

£7.60 peak £3.65 off peak with the railcard

 

[cool110]

So, sorry, if this sounds a bit dim, she could get a 16-25 Railcard and get her fares for £12.00 return daily but she'd have to go to the ticket window each day to do so?

Yes, the anytime return with a railcard is £10.35 which then goes up to the £12 minimum. She could buy them in blocks by asking for them to be post-dated.

...From that I would think that savings are on off peak travel only, so would only apply to the return journey from Liverpool Street. She should already be getting that reduction but with the 16-25 card it would be bigger

It's more complicated than that as peak fares are charged in the evening peak (16.00-19.00) but they count towards the off-peak cap.

 

[miss_stoat]

From TfL website:

If you buy a 16-25 Railcard, you can set the discount concession on a standard adult Oyster card or an 18+ Student Oyster photocard to get a 1/3 discount on:
•Off-peak pay as you go fares
•Daily caps for off-peak travel

I am a little confused by this as I read this on the 16-25 Railcard website:

Get 1/3 off Standard Anytime, Off-Peak, Standard Advanced and First Class Advanced fares

And:

A £12 minimum fare applies for journeys starting between 4.30am-10am Monday to Friday excluding Advance Fares. This minimum fare does not apply on Public Holidays or throughout July and August.

Or am I interpreting this incorrectly?

 

[cool110]

The discount on anytime fares and £12 minimum only applies to paper tickets not oyster.

 

[miss_stoat]

The discount on anytime fares and £12 minimum only applies to paper tickets not oyster.

Understood, thank you

Wish fares weren't so complicated I myself own 3 different railcards in an attempt to lower my own leisure travelling costs (unlike my colleague, I go everywhere by train)

 

[dzug2]

It's more complicated than that as peak fares are charged in the evening peak (16.00-19.00) but they count towards the off-peak cap.

That may be the case - but TfL say otherwise. Very specifically peak 0630 to 0930 Mon - Fri off peak all other times.

Are they peddling misinformation?

 

[Ralph Ayres]

A 7 day season to Liverpool Street is only £64.90, somewhat less than payg. The higher price (£87.40) is for a Travelcard, which would give her more travel than she needs.

 

[cool110]

That may be the case - but TfL say otherwise. Very specifically peak 0630 to 0930 Mon - Fri off peak all other times.

Are they peddling misinformation?

No, another complication is that the evening peak does not apply to journeys into zone 1. Put the stations in the other way around and it shows the evening peak.

 

[miss_stoat]

A 7 day season to Liverpool Street is only £64.90, somewhat less than payg. The higher price (£87.40) is for a Travelcard, which would give her more travel than she needs.

Well, I'll be! I just went back to the season ticket calculator on the AGA website http://www.abelliogreateranglia.co.uk/tickets-fares/season-tickets/season-ticket-calculatorbecause that's where I got my figures from and when you enter BXB to LST> show all options it lands on the BXB to Z1-6 (£87-odd for a 7 day) season fares and you have to scroll back up the page to get the straight BXB to LST season fares.

Clearly, I need to be a little more aware of where I am on the page

 

[kieron]

To put some figures into it:

A day return between Broxbourne and London with a 16-25 railcard is £12 most of the year, and £10.35 in July and August.

A week season ticket is £64.90, so is dearer than day tickets.

A 33 day season ticket (1 month 3 days here) starting on Monday would cost £274.60.
Day tickets for the 25 working days over that period would cost £294.45. 2 days during the month where your colleague doesn't go to Broxbourne would negate the saving.

If she uses Greater Anglia trains to get to her partner's place, a season ticket may be useful then, but not otherwise. To make things simpler, I've assumed that she doesn't below.

A 33 day ticket (1 month 2 days) starting on 6th July would cost £266.10. This is a bit more than the £258.75 25 day returns to London would cost with a railcard.

An annual ticket would cost £2596. Assuming a return ticket costs £11.725 on average (10 months at £12, 2 at £10.35), your colleague would need to travel between Broxbourne and London 221 out of the 254 working days a year (excluding weekends and bank holidays) for it to be cheaper than day returns.

In summary, a season ticket probably isn't useful in your colleague's situation.

 

[miss_stoat]

If she uses Greater Anglia trains to get to her partner's place, a season ticket may be useful then, but not otherwise. To make things simpler, I've assumed that she doesn't below.

No, she uses LU to get to her partners - another reason she likes PAYG

In summary, a season ticket probably isn't useful in your colleague's situation.

That was my deduction too...but I felt that a 16-25 Railcard would be beneficial for her, despite not using trains for leisure travel.

I have given her all the information, now it's up to her

Thanks all