Following on from last year's thread - Is the Hatton (HTN) to Lapworth (LPW) annual season ticket (still £160 this year) still the cheapest way to get a Gold Card?
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Cheapest way to acquire a Gold Card in 2018?
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roversfan2001
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I believe so, either that or Lichfield TV - Lichfield City.
pitdiver
Established Member
I am a Priv Travel Authority Card Holder (Ex LUL). I was wondering would it in any way beneficial for me to purchase a Gold Card thus enabling my family to purchase cheaper tickets using some sort of Rail Card purchased with my Gold Card or do I have to travel with them. Hope hat makes sense.
Your gold card entitles those who travel with you a number of discounts. But they cannot be exercised without the holder.
Also, you can use your gold card to purchase a separate railcard for yourself or for another, for a fixed price of £10. In that case, you would not need to travel with the other person for that person to use the second railcard.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46573.aspx
But I don’t see why it would be cheaper to purchase a gold card (~£150) and then a £10 railcard. Why not just purchase the railcard?
Also, you can use your gold card to purchase a separate railcard for yourself or for another, for a fixed price of £10. In that case, you would not need to travel with the other person for that person to use the second railcard.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46573.aspx
But I don’t see why it would be cheaper to purchase a gold card (~£150) and then a £10 railcard. Why not just purchase the railcard?
Paul Kelly
Verified Rep - BR Fares
Because then you wouldn't have a Gold Card??
And what if you're not eligible for the railcard (if it's an age-dependent one), or don't live in the area of validity or the minimum fare poses a problem for your regular journeys (if it's a Network Railcard)?
Paul Kelly
Verified Rep - BR Fares
Ah yes; sorry, I took your reply out of context. A Gold Card can be used to discount 1st Class fares, which could be a marginal benefit I suppose. But yes if the family members are eligible for a railcard then better value to just buy it at the normal price. Also you can (theoretically) only buy one discounted railcard with each Gold Card, so all it gives in that respect is a one-off saving of £20.
Marginal benefit? Saves me about £80 a month
(That's actually why I'm on this thread—I have a Zone 1/2 Oyster card which counts as a gold card, but since I've started walking home from work the economics of renewing an annual season ticket no longer add up. I still want the gold card benefit though for my other travels.)
But I did not realize that staff priv cards did not allow 1st tickets. If they don't and the traveller is already buying 1st tickets, then yes, a £160 gold card could be a good investment. But purely for the benefit of buying another a railcard, I didn't see how that would come through as a profit.
bb21
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Depending on one's seniority the priv facility may allow First Class fares.
Just been to Liverpool Street to purchase one of these.
I began by asking for an “Annual Gold Card”, didn’t want to be issued a ticket on non-gold stock.
Took the guy a minute to find Lapworth: at one point he gave me a map of the Gold Card Area and asked me to point it out, which would have been embarrassing as I have no idea where it is! Luckily I knew the three letter code LPW.
He was very surprised by the price. He then looked at me slyly and said “do you plan ever to make this journey”?
I was honest and said I was only interested in the gold card benefits. He was happy to load the 33% discount onto my Oyster card.
Although helpful and jovial, I sensed he was a bit uncomfortable about making this transaction.
Don’t forget that unlike the TfL gold cards, you’ll need a passport photo.
I began by asking for an “Annual Gold Card”, didn’t want to be issued a ticket on non-gold stock.
Took the guy a minute to find Lapworth: at one point he gave me a map of the Gold Card Area and asked me to point it out, which would have been embarrassing as I have no idea where it is! Luckily I knew the three letter code LPW.
He was very surprised by the price. He then looked at me slyly and said “do you plan ever to make this journey”?
I was honest and said I was only interested in the gold card benefits. He was happy to load the 33% discount onto my Oyster card.
Although helpful and jovial, I sensed he was a bit uncomfortable about making this transaction.
Don’t forget that unlike the TfL gold cards, you’ll need a passport photo.
I never cease to be amazed by such an attitude. Any other industry would fall over itself to take money in return for providing absolutely no service!
bubieyehyeh
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I tried to buy one at two different southern stations a few years ago, the first one refused accused me of fraud, 2nd station just refused.
Last two or three years I've bought them from Marylebone station, without issue, although one year the staff member was surprized at price, saying slowly "that...will...be...£160", to which I replied "ah yes same as last year". I did consider this year seeing if the same southern stations would sell the slightly more expensive newhaven-newhaven gold card, but decide I'd prefer to give the money to Chiltern rather than GTR.
RJ
Established Member
I am genuinely baffled by this. There's no explanation for them not selling the ticket and keeping things moving, other than they like creating wholly unnecessary problems for people.
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According to Barry Doe, following his enquiries, an Exeter St David's to Exeter Central Part Time Annual Season qualifies for a Gold Card and a Devon & Cornwall Gold Card, which is just the same as a D&C Railcard. They're £140 for a year.
If you ever go there, a Devon & Cornwall Railcard also gets you a bigger discount than a National Railcard on some products too e.g. St Ives Bay Line Day Rangers are £2 with a local railcard, £2.65 with a national one and £4 without.
If you ever go there, a Devon & Cornwall Railcard also gets you a bigger discount than a National Railcard on some products too e.g. St Ives Bay Line Day Rangers are £2 with a local railcard, £2.65 with a national one and £4 without.
RJ
Established Member
I rang the pricing manager of those part time season tickets when they were first introduced to ask the same question. It was confirmed they didn't qualify for a Gold Card. I wonder when this policy changed.
bubieyehyeh
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Baffled me too. He muttered something about sound like the scam that his colleague had mentioned recently.
The 2nd ticket office, just made up a number of false reasons to not sell a ticket. First said they could sell me a season ticket from other stations, but if it wasn't on southern network if the ticket stopped working the barriers they wouldn't be able to replace it. Then when I said I take the risk, he said weekly? I said no annual, then he said no he could not sell those. When I started objecting he then got the guy in the next ticket window to agree it wasn't possible.
What's a part time annual season?
bb21
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http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=EXD&dest=EXC
Scroll down. £3.50 a week. Valid three days of the five plus the weekend.
Scroll down. £3.50 a week. Valid three days of the five plus the weekend.
I think it is perfectly reasonable for an employee to safeguard his employer’s interests. Of course rail employees are not paid based on the performance of the company as a whole and their individual contribution to the bottom line so if I were them I would say “computer says yes”. But I hold nothing against someone who double checks a price.
That said, cautious and apologetic deferral of a sale is a totally different scenario to accusing a customer of committing a scam or a fraud, in my opinion.
RJ
Established Member
Most certainly agree with protecting your employers interests. I'm aware that in some industries, it may be preferred for employees to err on the side of caution with fraud prevention and get it wrong. However, our job requires us to retail tickets starting from another station on request - this in itself is not a cause for concern and in the case described, seems utterly absurd to have that suspicion and stranger still to accuse the customer to their face.
When I suspect fraud, it gets discreetly reported to the relevant department who are trained and equipped to investigate and will advise on how they'd like us to proceed. If someone unwittingly confirms they're going to misuse a ticket they're trying to buy, I'll politely explain why I'm refusing the sale. Had some right dodgy ones but won't post details as I don't want to give people ideas!
RJ
Established Member
That's interesting. If a ticket office sells a season, they're supposed to replace it if it gets damaged. Such is shown on National Rail Enquiries. What is a bit of a sticking point is some ticket issuing systems don't readily allow a new season tickets to be issued to a customer who already has one between different stations which is still valid, presumably as an anti-fraud measure.
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RJ
Established Member
I'm sure it was considered and at the time, decided that they weren't eligible for Gold Card benefits - quite a few tickets issued as annual seasons aren't. I haven't read the article but would be interested to know when and why this policy changed.
Another question for GWR then. Which does an Axminster - Exeter Annual Season Ticket holder get, if they can't have both? Or do they get to chose?
I think I will have to amend my glowing review. While I asked the guy to set the Gold Card Discount, I was fairly sure I saw him pick National Railcard discount from the list. At the time I assumed they were synonymous for TfL purposes, but now I see they aren’t and I have been charged the non discount price for my off peak tube journey today.
Since we had just had a long conversation about gold card benefits, it now strikes me as a rather strange mistake.
Since we had just had a long conversation about gold card benefits, it now strikes me as a rather strange mistake.
bb21
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"National Railcard" (or similar wording) is correct. Did you touch your card on the reader again after it was set?
"Absolutely no service" being a substantial discount on travel which the OP and others presumably think worth paying 50p a day upfront for.
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