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SWR smartcard/underground etc

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Evening all

I am shortly to take a job in zone 2 in London. My commute will be from Cobham to Earls Court (so not zone one, usually) via Wimbledon.

The last time I had a season ticket was a long time ago, and I am trying to work out benefits and not of the smartcard system on SWR/interoperability with the underground etc. In fact I'm getting pretty confused with the best ticket for the above journey full stop (in my previous life, I just got a season to London Terminals, no tube etc, so much simpler).

Any help gratefully received...

Cheers
 
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MikeWh

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The ticket you want is a Cobham to Zones 2-6 travelcard season route "Any Permitted". There is a more expensive version which can also be used at Weybridge (route "AAA Weybridge") but only get that if you'll use it. You can also travel via Clapham Junction and West Brompton using that travelcard which may be helpful.
 
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Joe Paxton

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Lifelong said:
I am shortly to take a job in zone 2 in London. My commute will be from Cobham to Earls Court (so not zone one, usually) via Wimbledon.

The last time I had a season ticket was a long time ago, and I am trying to work out benefits and not of the smartcard system on SWR/interoperability with the underground etc. In fact I'm getting pretty confused with the best ticket for the above journey full stop (in my previous life, I just got a season to London Terminals, no tube etc, so much simpler).

Any help gratefully received...
Click to expand...

An annual Cobham to London Travelcard zones 2-6 is £2,972.00.

An annual Cobham to Wimbledon season is £2,092.

Peak single journeys between Wimbledon and Earl's Court are £1.70 each, so say 49 weeks of travel (assuming a commute each weekday) would cost £833.

The zones 2-6 Travelcard is probably worth it for the added flexibility.

[Edit - MikeWh pipped me to the post!]
 
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Belperpete

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Wallsendmag said:
They should be all interoperable now.
Click to expand...
So, given the advice seems to be to get a Cobham to Zones 2-6 travelcard season, would the OP be best getting it loaded onto an Oyster card or onto a SWR Smartcard? I suspect it would be best on an Oystercard, as that would make it easier for him to travel to other destinations, such as if he wanted occasionally to travel from Cobham to a zone 1 station?
 
bb21

bb21

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Cobham is not in the Oyster area.
 
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Thank you for your responses. I will get the Z2-6 travelcard season. Are there any advantages/disadvantages of Smartcard v paper ticket (aside from the practicalities of ticket barriers)? Cheers
 
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The problem with a Smartcard is you've got no evidence on your person that you've got a valid ticket should the Smartcard be defective. You don't need to do any swiping at Wimbledon, only at Earls Court (don't know about Cobham). So, if the price is the same, I would personally play it safe with a paper ticket.
 
K.o.R

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Surreytraveller said:
The problem with a Smartcard is you've got no evidence on your person that you've got a valid ticket should the Smartcard be defective. You don't need to do any swiping at Wimbledon, only at Earls Court (don't know about Cobham). So, if the price is the same, I would personally play it safe with a paper ticket.
Click to expand...

In this case you're in the Gold Card area, so an annual smartcard season ticket will come with a Gold Record Card that, while technically not valid as a ticket in and of itself, is suitable evidence that you do have one.
 
Haywain

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Surreytraveller said:
The problem with a Smartcard is you've got no evidence on your person that you've got a valid ticket should the Smartcard be defective.
Click to expand...
For anything other than a 7-day season, a separate record will exist to confirm what is held on the card. Not that I have seen anything to suggest that defective smartcards have been a problem of any significant volume.
 
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Goldfish62

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Haywain said:
For anything other than a 7-day season, a separate record will exist to confirm what is held on the card. Not that I have seen anything to suggest that defective smartcards have been a problem of any significant volume.
Click to expand...
I had an annual season on an SWR smart card for a couple of years and never had an issue at Oyster-enabled gates in London. The problems were generally with the standalone card readers outside London, which rejected the smartcard at intermediate stations.
 
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swt_passenger

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Goldfish62 said:
I had an annual season on an SWR smart card for a couple of years and never had an issue at Oyster-enabled gates in London. The problems were generally with the standalone card readers outside London, which rejected the smartcard at intermediate stations.
Click to expand...
Surely that’s a problem common to magstripe, ie not programming for break of journey? Was it a travelcard season?
 
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Goldfish62

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swt_passenger said:
Surely that’s a problem common to magstripe, ie not programming for break of journey? Was it a travelcard season?
Click to expand...
Smartcards don't have magstripes. No, point to point season. The whole thing is that the smartcard system seems very flaky as borne out by comments on twitter in the past.
 
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Joe Paxton

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swt_passenger said:
Surely that’s a problem common to magstripe, ie not programming for break of journey? Was it a travelcard season?
Click to expand...

Goldfish62 said:
Smartcards don't have magstripes. No, point to point season. The whole thing is that the smartcard system seems very flaky as borne out by comments on twitter in the past.
Click to expand...

I imagine what swt_passenger meant was "Surely that's a problem in common with magstripe [tickets]..."
 
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Goldfish62

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swt_passenger said:
Yes that’s what I meant. Sorry for any confusion...
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Ah yes. I understand what you meant now.

It seems to be only a problem with the standalone readers. My SWT/SWR smartcard worked fine on gates at intermediate stations where my paper season was previously rejected, just not on standalone readers.
 
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Joe Paxton

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Goldfish62 said:
...
It seems to be only a problem with the standalone readers. My SWT/SWR smartcard worked fine on gates at intermediate stations where my paper season was previously rejected, just not on standalone readers.
Click to expand...

Did this include gatelines at intermediate stations outside of the London (Oyster) area?
 
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