I just wanted to check........(Oyster / Contactless question)

[EssexGonzo]

I've recently moved work location which means for the forseeable future I'll be commuting in the peak, Monday to Friday for the full 5 days, from Shenfield to Farringdon Tube Station.

Previously, PAYG on Oyster worked for me as I did just 3 days a week to Liverpool Street.

However, my PAYG SNF to zone 1 fare is £11 each way, so £22 per day or £110 per week.

A Travelcard loaded onto Oyster is £100.30 per week, so cheaper. And I can use it as much as I want.

But.....I don't need to do that do I? As long as I don't want to go beyond weekly ticketing, I can just use a contactless card and I'll never pay more than the Travelcard cost for 7 days?

Obviously, if I want to go for monthly and beyond, I'll need to use Oyster.

Have I got this right?

 

[Romilly]

That seems right to me.

NB that weekly contactless capping is always for a period starting with a Monday and ending with a Sunday.

 

[MikeWh]

Yes, that's all correct. If you don't want more than weekly capping then definitely use contactless. I'm pretty sure your daily charge will be £19.70 with contactless because it will decide that the best value is a £6.50 zone 1-2 daily cap plus 2x £6.60 Shenfield to zone 3 peak singles.

 

[EssexGonzo]

Thanks, good to know about the Monday to Sunday aspect too.

 

[EssexGonzo]

Well....I'm pleasantly surprised. I waited for my first full week in the office (this week) and thus far using contactless I've been charged £17.80 per day. £11 outwards and £6.80 return for each weekday.

That's a whopping £4.20 cheaper than PAYG and £1.90 cheaper than Mike's prediction. As I rarely travel by train at the weekend my weekly cost will end up as £89 vs £100 capped travelcard vs £110 PAYG. £21 per week, not too shabby.

Very useful, thanks for the advice. I'm not going to be hit with some sort of end-of-week adjustment, am I.....?

 

[AlterEgo]

Well....I'm pleasantly surprised. I waited for my first full week in the office (this week) and thus far using contactless I've been charged £17.80 per day. £11 outwards and £6.80 return for each weekday.

That's a whopping £4.20 cheaper than PAYG and £1.90 cheaper than Mike's prediction. As I rarely travel by train at the weekend my weekly cost will end up as £89 vs £100 capped travelcard vs £110 PAYG. £21 per week, not too shabby.

Very useful, thanks for the advice. I'm not going to be hit with some sort of end-of-week adjustment, am I.....?

Be mindful that contactless transactions usually take one or two working days to post and won't usually show as a pending transaction. Are you sure all th transactions for your weekly period are on your bank statement? Just to double check.

 

[EssexGonzo]

As at this morning, Friday morning, the transactions for Monday to Thursday were showing in my TFL Contactless account with the figures I quoted above. Only M-W on my CC statement which is to be expected. But the TFL account info should be accurate?

Haven't completed the week yet, today will be my last day of travel.

BTW, all journeys have been in the peak.

 

[MikeWh]

Well....I'm pleasantly surprised. I waited for my first full week in the office (this week) and thus far using contactless I've been charged £17.80 per day. £11 outwards and £6.80 return for each weekday.

That's a whopping £4.20 cheaper than PAYG and £1.90 cheaper than Mike's prediction. As I rarely travel by train at the weekend my weekly cost will end up as £89 vs £100 capped travelcard vs £110 PAYG. £21 per week, not too shabby.

Very useful, thanks for the advice. I'm not going to be hit with some sort of end-of-week adjustment, am I.....?

Well that will teach me not to look at all the permutations!

You're being charged £11 for zones 1-5 and £3.40 each way for Shenfield to zone 6. There are very few places where that combination works. And no, the only end of week adjustment might be a reduction if you've now hit a weekly cap rather than daily caps. This rarely happens these days since the price of daily caps was made 1/5 of a weekly one.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

As at this morning, Friday morning, the transactions for Monday to Thursday were showing in my TFL Contactless account with the figures I quoted above. Only M-W on my CC statement which is to be expected. But the TFL account info should be accurate?

Yes, TfL account will be accurate unless there's a missing touch. If that happens they will delay asking for the transaction from your bank for a further day. Alternatively, if it's a regular journey, they may auto-complete it.

You can also see today's transactions on the TfL account dashboard. It's usually updated within 15 minutes of each touch.

 

[EssexGonzo]

Well that will teach me not to look at all the permutations!

You're being charged £11 for zones 1-5 and £3.40 each way for Shenfield to zone 6. There are very few places where that combination works. And no, the only end of week adjustment might be a reduction if you've now hit a weekly cap rather than daily caps. This rarely happens these days since the price of daily caps was made 1/5 of a weekly one.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Yes, TfL account will be accurate unless there's a missing touch. If that happens they will delay asking for the transaction from your bank for a further day. Alternatively, if it's a regular journey, they may auto-complete it.

You can also see today's transactions on the TfL account dashboard. It's usually updated within 15 minutes of each touch.

Thanks!