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New job in London - Season ticket to Euston + Oyster or season ticket to zones 1-6?

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Bumblebee

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I will be starting a new job on Monday 29th July. My commute will be from Leighton Buzzard to Highbury & Islington via London Euston.

My query is should I get a season ticket from LBZ to EUS which would cost me £4,600 a year and then get an Oyster travelcard from Zone 1 (Euston) to Zone 2 (Highbury & Islington) which would cost another £1,404 to give a total cost of £6,004. It would be cheaer to get a Leighton Buzzard to London Travelcard Zones 1-6 season ticket which costs £5,616 a year. This would save me £388 a year but I would have to get my season ticket out every day and put it through the machines? Or can I show my season ticket to Underground staff and get through the gates that way? Would this be an issue at Euston during the rush hours?
 
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higthomas

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Note you can just get a Leighton Buzzard to Willesden junction season ticket for £4320. The Willesden Junction to Euston section is covered by the travelcard.

You should be able to show your season ticket to the staff. It may well be.
 
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mmh

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Between those two choices, get the travelcard from Leighton Buzzard. More validity for less money. Using a paper ticket in the barriers is no problem and you'll be surrounded by thousands of people doing exactly the same at Euston!
 
maniacmartin

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I really don't understand why so many people are so opposed to putting a paper ticket through a barrier that they consider spending significantly extra to use a smartcard. My paper ticket goes through multiple gatelines a day and it isn't much hassle at all*. Gold card stock is more durable than normal orange stock, so if you take care of a ticket and don't put it near magnets such as phone cases it can last 6 months or more before needing to be replaced.
 
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Bumblebee

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higthomas said:
Note you can just get a Leighton Buzzard to Willesden junction season ticket for £4,320. The Willesden Junction to Euston section is covered by the travelcard.

You should be able to show your season ticket to the staff. It may well be.
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There are three prices I'm getting for Leighton Buzzard to Willesden, £4,320 from LBZ to WIJ. £4,424 from LBZ to London Travelcard zones 3-6 and the previously mentioned £5,616 from LBZ to zones 1-6. I can't see a ticket from LBZ to WIJ that gives me zones 1-2 travel that is less than the £5,616 cost.

mmh said:
Between those two choices, get the travelcard from Leighton Buzzard. More validity for less money. Using a paper ticket in the barriers is no problem and you'll be surrounded by thousands of people doing exactly the same at Euston!
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Cool. Thanks. Just thought most people used Oyster now despite the higher price of splitting the travel to London and through London.

maniacmartin said:
I really don't understand why so many people are so opposed to putting a paper ticket through a barrier that they consider spending significantly extra to use a smartcard. My paper ticket goes through multiple gatelines a day and it isn't much hassle at all*. Gold card stock is more durable than normal orange stock, so if you take care of a ticket and don't put it near magnets such as phone cases it can last 6 months or more before needing to be replaced.
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Ah, thanks. I assumed, as above, that most people used Oyster cards for within London travel but if the Gold cards are sturdier and last longer, then that's fine. I will wait until I've passed my sixth month probation period before I shell out for a yearly ticket.
 
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Hadders

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Many, many people from outside the zones use paper season tickets. They’re nowhere near extinct.

Until you buy an annual ticket you might want to purchase odd period season tickets starting on a Monday and finishing on a Friday. For example 1 month 3 days. This way you can benefit from the monthly price and if you time the exact length around weekends, holidays etc it works out almost as cheap as an annual season (albeit a bit more faff to purchase). The minimum period is 1 month of doing this.
 
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mmh

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Bumblebee said:
I will wait until I've passed my sixth month probation period before I shell out for a yearly ticket.
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You can get refunds for giving up season tickets early. I'm not sure of the rules around it, but leaving a job or thinking you might isn't necessarily a reason to avoid an annual ticket.

Although I think waiting to make your choice is a good idea. Start the job, find out which route and what ticket suits you. A lot of the time it's impossible to know for sure until you start doing it.
 
MikeWh

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Bumblebee said:
There are three prices I'm getting for Leighton Buzzard to Willesden, £4,320 from LBZ to WIJ. £4,424 from LBZ to London Travelcard zones 3-6 and the previously mentioned £5,616 from LBZ to zones 1-6. I can't see a ticket from LBZ to WIJ that gives me zones 1-2 travel that is less than the £5,616 cost.
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The suggestion was that rather than buying LBZ-EUS and zones 1-2 for £6004 you could buy LBZ-WIJ and zones 1-2 for £5724. That's obviously more than the LBZ to zones 1-6, but works because WIJ is in both zones 2 and 3.
 
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Bumblebee

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MikeWh said:
The suggestion was that rather than buying LBZ-EUS and zones 1-2 for £6004 you could buy LBZ-WIJ and zones 1-2 for £5724. That's obviously more than the LBZ to zones 1-6, but works because WIJ is in both zones 2 and 3.
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Ah, OK. Thanks.

hkstudent said:
Hopefully, the London NW Railway's Smartcard may be valid in London sooner so that OP doesn't have to be worried about using paper tickets
https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/smartcard
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Ah, nice. Thanks, I've signed up for more information.
 
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ac-03

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Personally I would go with a paper ticket and wait for it to be upgrading to an LNWR ITSO Card.

Splitting the fare between paper /oyster may trigger the fact that you touch in/touch out at Euston but don’t complete your journey?
 
MikeWh

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ac-03 said:
Splitting the fare between paper /oyster may trigger the fact that you touch in/touch out at Euston but don’t complete your journey?
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Which is absolutely no problem if you have a ticket to cover the rest of your journey.
 
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