Travelling across London March 11th

[142094]

I'm in London on the 11th March, and will be going from Kings Cross/St. Pancras to Waterloo for a train to Lymington. I have had a look at the options for tickets, and I can get advance tickets for SWT from Waterloo. That leaves me with the Tube between the terminals.

I could get an off-peak day Travelcard for £5.60 (can't get a railcard discount for this), or I could get a Visitor Oyster card.

I'll be doing only two journeys, so Oyster works out cheaper. However to get a Visitor Oyster I have to pay £12.

1) Do I get any money back that I do not use on the Oyster?
2) Do I get the £2 'fee' back?
3) If I do not get the money back that I have not used, how long is this allowed to stay on the card (so I can use it in the future)?
4) I have a YP railcard, where can I get this loaded onto the Oyster? Can I do it as I buy the visitor card on the TfL site or will I have to do this seperately?

Many thanks for your help!

 

[tony_mac]

It's £5 for an off-peak zones 1-6 travelcard with a railcard discount.
Just get an ordinary Pay as you go Oyster when you get to London - it's just £3 deposit which you can get back if you want to return it (plus your balance back).
Any remaining credit should stay on the card indefinitely if you decide to keep it.

You can get your railcard loaded onto your Oyster, but it seems to be a nuisance - you have to fill in a form at the ticket office to register your Oyster card (online registration is not good enough!), then get them to load the railcard onto that. I don't know what that involves, as after queing up to be told I had to fill in a form, I just bought a travelcard instead.

If you are just getting the tube then there is no railcard discount on single journeys anyway.

 

[yorksrob]

You could always get an ordinary oyster card which was about £13 when I got mine a couple of years ago. Ten pounds of this was actually the first £10 of credit which meant that it had paid for itself after a couple of journeys and I've had it for use ever since.

Enjoy the CIG's

 

[yorkie]

Simply get the AP ticket from Finsbury Park. It's about £1.40 more, that's only 70p each way. This trick works well with FGW too. It does not work well with East Coast (hence I am not advising to get the EC ticket to/from somewhere like CLJ), the franchise has traditionally been against connecting TOC tickets without charging a higher than proportionate premium for them, at least at the London end.

Also the quickest way from King's Cross to Waterloo is to change at Oxford Circus by using any of the inter-connecting tunnels between platforms, but I guess you probably already knew that!

 

[bb21]

Oyster with Y-P discount loaded caps at £3.70 for one day for Zone 1-2 this year. Single journeys are £1.80 so if you make two journeys you wouldn't have reached your cap anyway. I didn't have any hassle when i loaded my discount on at Victoria LU station although mine was registered online already. If there weren't a massive queue at KGX/STP LU tkt office then it may be worth a try cos it saves you time on your next trip and if you needed to make an extra unexpected trip on the 11th then you are capped. For travel on buses only it's capped at £3.35 which is the discounted Zone 2-6 travel card for one day.

 

[oliverj8]

Also the quickest way from King's Cross to Waterloo is to change at Oxford Circus by using any of the inter-connecting tunnels between platforms, but I guess you probably already knew that!

Would it not be quicker to get the Northern Line to Bank and then Waterloo & City?

 

[142094]

Also the quickest way from King's Cross to Waterloo is to change at Oxford Circus by using any of the inter-connecting tunnels between platforms, but I guess you probably already knew that!

Used the TfL journey planner to get where to change, as the map shows a few routes. Of course National Rail says it takes a lot longer than it actually does.

Thanks for the help. Probably will just get an Oyster when I get there as I might go somewhere if I have time, so will be handy if I need to. Will keep the Finsbury Park ticket in my memory for future use.

Enjoy the CIG's

Sure will do, as long as they are running. Will be a bit of a bugger if they aren't, still the tickets to Lymington are chep enough, can always make a day of it.

 

[John @ home]

Would it not be quicker to get the Northern Line to Bank and then Waterloo & City?

No. The walk at Bank is too long.

At Oxford Circus Bakerloo - Victoria lines have a cross-platform connection both northbound and southbound

 

[A60K]

Would it not be quicker to get the Northern Line to Bank and then Waterloo & City?

No - it's a longer journey, there's no cross-platform interchange, the W&C is infrequent, and it has limited opening hours.

 

[yorkie]

Would it not be quicker to get the Northern Line to Bank and then Waterloo & City?

Fancy a 10 minute wait at Bank, and a 10 minute walk? OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but.... in a race, I reckon you'd do well to be departing Bank at the time I was arriving at Waterloo! I also can't remember the last time I actually went on the W&C as the last 3 or 4 times I tried it's been closed.
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Used the TfL journey planner to get where to change, as the map shows a few routes. Of course National Rail says it takes a lot longer than it actually does.

The map is deceptive, and is only to be used in conjunction with local knowledge if you want fast journeys I've seen people try to go west out of Paddington in order to access the Docklands! I told them to change at Baker St. They probably cut their journey time by at least 60% (at a guess, without checking).

 

[142094]

I may be living in London in the summer, so hopefully will build up my 'local knowledge' then!

I can understand why National Rail gives longer journey times for travelling acorss London on the Tube (for missed connections, getting to the Tube station, buying a ticket etc), but for people who don't realie that it doesn't take even half as long as they say, it could be a bit of a raw deal if they miss an earlier or cheaper train.

BTW, if I am living in London in the summer, I will be getting a free Oyster card from work! Got to love TfL.

 

[Soton Jamie]

You can get your railcard loaded onto your Oyster, but it seems to be a nuisance - you have to fill in a form at the ticket office to register your Oyster card (online registration is not good enough!), then get them to load the railcard onto that. I don't know what that involves, as after queing up to be told I had to fill in a form, I just bought a travelcard instead.

Are you sure? My PAYG Oyster was registered online, I went to the LU ticket booth at Waterloo, gave the guy my OC, showed my YP railcard and 30 seconds later, maybe less, I had it loaded on.

 

[Deerfold]

I may be living in London in the summer, so hopefully will build up my 'local knowledge' then!

...

BTW, if I am living in London in the summer, I will be getting a free Oyster card from work! Got to love TfL.

Not so good for trains though...except for 6 or so lines (not a bad perk, though).

 

[tony_mac]

Are you sure? My PAYG Oyster was registered online, I went to the LU ticket booth at Waterloo, gave the guy my OC, showed my YP railcard and 30 seconds later, maybe less, I had it loaded on.

That's what happened to me a week ago. I handed the Oyster over, she touched it to the reader and said it wasn't registered. I told her that I had done it online and she told me 'that doesn't come through here', then gave me the form.

I assumed that it was the same for everybody, but obviously not!

 

[142094]

Not so good for trains though...except for 6 or so lines (not a bad perk, though).

Still, plenty of places to go on the Tube, especially when I probably been on less than 15 services in my life.

 

[yorkie]

BTW, if I am living in London in the summer, I will be getting a free Oyster card from work! Got to love TfL.

Oyster cards are only £3 to loan anyway

 

[Deerfold]

Oyster cards are only £3 to loan anyway

I think he meant with staff travel rights

 

[142094]

Lol, would be a good bonus. Just need to get the job first. The free MetroCard with WYPTE was excellent.

 

[yorkie]

I think he meant with staff travel rights

Yes, I guessed that, but it's the product that matters, not the medium.

 

[Bedpan]

Not so good for trains though...except for 6 or so lines (not a bad perk, though).

Its recently been extended to cover all National Rail routes within the travelcard zones.

 

[Deerfold]

Its recently been extended to cover all National Rail routes within the travelcard zones.

Staff travel rights haven't.