London Fares Railcard or Oyster

[Greenback]

I'm beaten by this one, despite having looked at the TfL website, which I found quite poor. Though maybe it's me being dim.

My aunt and uncle are heading off to London for the weekend shortly. They each have a Senior Railcard. They also have PAYG Oyster cards from a previous visit, and they are intending to go to Hampton Court on the Sunday that they are there.

They asked me if it would be cheaper to use their Oyster cards, or whether they should get a one day Travelcard if they can get a discount on the fare with their Senior Railcards.

I've looked but I find the London fares a bit mystifying, especially since the changes in January this year. Please could a London expert give me a bit of guidance, and point me in the right direction as regards where the information can be found on the website? My uncle is a bit fussy and likes to know where information comes from in case he runs into any problems.

Naturally, I won't take all the credit myself for giving him the answers!

Thanks in advance.

 

[cool110]

The cheapest option will be to get the railcard discount set on the oyster card which will discount the off-peak singles and daily off-peak cap.
The details for this are here and the fare tables are: normal Tfl only, other TfL, NR only and mixed mode
For comparison the normal fare tables are: normal TfL only, other TfL, NR only and mixed mode

 

[RJ]

Probably easiest just to buy the Zone 1-6 Off Peak Day Travelcard for £7.90 each.

If they load the railcards onto their Oysters upon arrival in London then they will cap at £7.75 for the day for Zones 1-6, or a remarkable £4.25 if rail travel is all within Zones 1 and 2. If they reach the Z1-6 cap on both days, they will get a part refund so it comes down to £5.90 per day.

 

[Deerfold]

Probably easiest just to buy the Zone 1-6 Off Peak Day Travelcard for £7.90 each.

If they load the railcards onto their Oysters upon arrival in London then they will cap at £7.75 for the day for Zones 1-6, or a remarkable £4.25 if rail travel is all within Zones 1 and 2. If they reach the Z1-6 cap on both days, they will get a part refund so it comes down to £5.90 per day.

So if they reach the Z1-6 cap on day 1, it actually works out slightly cheaper to make sure you hit it again?

 

[RJ]

I believe if spend on Zone 1-6 travel exceeds £5.90 on both the Saturday and Sunday then the refund will be invoked. It wouldn't be necessary to reach the £7.75 All Day cap.

If travel was only in Zones 1-2 (£4.25 cap) on the Saturday, then the £7.75 cap was reached on Sunday, I don't think the refund would be invoked. Though that is something I don't know for sure.


More information available here.

 

[MikeWh]

I think if spend on Zone 1-6 travel exceeds £5.90, rather than the £7.75 cap on at least two days then the refund will be invoked, but I'll defer to those with more knowledge of the Oyster system to confirm that.

Yes. As long as the £5.90 is exceeded on any two days in a Mon-Sun week then a refund down to £5.90/day will be issued. It also works with four days in any two consecutive Mon-Sun weeks and eight days in four Mon-Sun weeks. It's known at the part-time workers refund.

 

[Dent]

I believe if spend on Zone 1-6 travel exceeds £5.90 on both the Saturday and Sunday then the refund will be invoked. It wouldn't be necessary to reach the £7.75 All Day cap.

If travel was only in Zones 1-2 (£4.25 cap) on the Saturday, then the £7.75 cap was reached on Sunday, I don't think the refund would be invoked. Though that is something I don't know for sure.


More information available here.

It doesn't look like this would benefit anyone making a one-off weekend visit to London.

We will check at the end of each week if you are eligible for a payment. If you are, this will be available from the Friday of the following week.

We will send the payment to the gateline at the station you use most often. The payment will be made automatically when you touch your Oyster card on a yellow reader as part of a normal journey.

Doesn't mention any arrangement to pay a refund to anyone who will not be using the card after the refund is made available.

 

[MikeWh]

It doesn't look like this would benefit anyone making a one-off weekend visit to London.

Doesn't mention any arrangement to pay a refund to anyone who will not be using the card after the refund is made available.

If it's a contactless card then the payment goes straight to the bank. If it's Oyster then a call to the helpdesk after a couple of weeks* should enable the refund to be sent to a bank account.

*The refund will be sent to a station for 8 days starting on the Friday after the end of the week. It can't be changed until it returns to the central system. A further week may be required if they don't run the automatic process every week as happened with my recent refund.

 

[A1]

http://m.daysoutguide.co.uk/mobile?nodepath=hampton-court-palace could be a decider....

 

[Greenback]

Thanks for the help everyone. I spoke to my uncle last night, and if the weather is nice they might go out to Greenwich by boat on the Saturday afternoon. If it's not so good, they will probably stay in the centre and go to the Natural History Museum instead.

They are set on Hampton Court on the Sunday. I'll tell him that a (paper?) Travelcard at £7.90 will be the easiest way to do it. I think they are staying near Paddington so they can buy their Travelcards there.