PAYG Contactless on Thameslink singles and returns

[Lee_Again]

Hopefully simple…
Welwyn Garden City to Kings Cross… if I use Contactless will it charge two singles or one return (I’ll be doing a return trip and using same card)?
Advice (not speculation please) welcome.

 

[CyrusWuff]

If using CPAY, you'd be charged two Single fares (£11.10 for a Peak Single, £8.00 Off-Peak.) If using GTR KeyGo, you'd be charged whatever the cheapest fare was, which is likely to be a Return.

 

[Lee_Again]

If using CPAY, you'd be charged two Single fares (£11.10 for a Peak Single, £8.00 Off-Peak.) If using GTR KeyGo, you'd be charged whatever the cheapest fare was, which is likely to be a Return.

Thank you

 

[Joe Paxton]

Just for the sake of clarity, when CyrusWuff says 'CPAY' this is an industry term for using a contactless payment method (i.e. a contactless payment card or a contactless payment device, such as a mobile).

 

[Hadders]

If travelling at the weekend or on a bank holiday don't use contactless - it is more expensive.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

If travelling at the weekend or on a bank holiday don't use contactless - it is more expensive.

I suspect that many occasional rail travellers going to Winter Wonderland (for example) don’t know this.
Contactless is promoted as convenient, but it can have it’s downsides

 

[Sonic1234]

If travelling at the weekend or on a bank holiday don't use contactless - it is more expensive.

Indeed. If you are somewhere in the contactless area beyond the Zones (e.g. Welwyn) at the weekend, almost everyone is using contactless. Unless these people are making genuinely one way journeys, they're paying more.

I've always thought contactless is about hiding the fares. Buying a ticket you're very conscious of what a journey costs you (even more so if you do the traditional cash at a ticket office method), contactless is a case of tap the magic card and off you go. You get an aggregated charge on a bank statement, which for the majority is never checked. Yes, for those who like detail, you can look up the fares and register with TfL, but how many do?

 

[Hadders]

I suspect that many occasional rail travellers going to Winter Wonderland (for example) don’t know this.
Contactless is promoted as convenient, but it can have it’s downsides

Of course they don’t. We had a large thread about it when contactless was initially extended to Brookmans Park.

My suspicion is the weekend super off peak fares will end up being abolished, meaning a massive fares increase, all in the name of simplification.

 

[plugwash]

Hopefully simple…
Welwyn Garden City to Kings Cross… if I use Contactless will it charge two singles or one return (I’ll be doing a return trip and using same card)?
Advice (not speculation please) welcome.

TFL's contactless system has no concept of return journeys, however it's singles are usually priced at roughly half the price of the "corresponding" paper return ticket.

The peak/off-peak rules can also differ between paper tickets and contactless. In this case, contactless has an evening peak restriction which the paper off peak return doesn't. On the other hand since the contactless tickets are singles you can combine a peak journey into London with an off-peak journey home.

So whether contactless or traditional tickets are cheaper depends on when you are travelling. If you are making a one-way journey or are travelling in to London during the morning peak period then contactless is probablly your best bet. Otherwise you are probably better off with a traditional ticket.

 

[Haywain]

Hopefully simple…
Welwyn Garden City to Kings Cross… if I use Contactless will it charge two singles or one return (I’ll be doing a return trip and using same card)?
Advice (not speculation please) welcome.

If, having read everthing since you posted, you want the best of both worlds get yourself a Key smartcard and set up KeyGo. You will then be charged whatever works out cheapest. But it can't be used on the underground.

 

[Joe Paxton]

If, having read everthing since you posted, you want the best of both worlds get yourself a Key smartcard and set up KeyGo. You will then be charged whatever works out cheapest. But it can't be used on the underground.

'Best of both worlds' up to a point... like you say, no good for the Tube, ditto buses, DLR and any other non-GTR train services*, and even some of the extremities of GTR's network are a no-go for KeyGo.

One of the great benefits and joys of Oyster (especially from 2010 onwards when acceptance on NR in London arrived), and later contactless, within London was not having to work out at the beginning of your travels whether or not a Day Travelcard would be worthwhile, as daily capping would sort that out for you - plus no need to pop round to the corner store to buy said Day Travelcard before getting the first bus of the day, if the first means of transport was going to be a bus.**

From the home counties stations where contactless is currently accepted (and those where will be rolled out to as part of the delayed next phases of Project Oval), it's not quite so straightforward.

Perhaps in a distant GBR-led future, some version of KeyGo might be rolled out on a wider basis.

* with a couple of very limited exceptions
** though one thing that Oyster & contactless capping can't offer is the possibility to extend beyond the zonal coverage of your Travelcard with Boundary Zones - though that's a bit more of a niche usage case in combination with Day Travelcards as opposed to season Travelcards.

 

[Haywain]

'Best of both worlds' up to a point... like you say, no good for the Tube, ditto buses, DLR and any other non-GTR train services*, and even some of the extremities of GTR's network are a no-go for KeyGo.

I was commenting in respect of the OP's original post, so didn't feel it necessary to spell out all the downsides that others choose to see.

Welwyn Garden City to Kings Cross… if I use Contactless will it charge two singles or one return (I’ll be doing a return trip and using same card)?

 

[Joe Paxton]

I was commenting in respect of the OP's original post, so didn't feel it necessary to spell out all the downsides that others choose to see.

Fair point guv!

It's a slightly odd situation whereby the rollout of contactless might actually encourage a few people (at least those who really do their research indepth) to actually take up KeyGo instead. The fact that you can (if I've understood other postings here correctly) also get a Railcard discount using Keygo, including on Oyster+contactless and even contactless-only fares, is another attraction of KeyGo (though as far as I can see it's an undocumented one, so it could change in the future).

 

[talldave]

What's irritating is that whilst you're trying to buy a cheaper paper return ticket from a TVM, it's in full-on brainwashing mode telling you that contactless is cheaper. Which it isn't for the journey out to Redhill I was making!

No doubt misleading statements on TVMs are exempt from any Trading Standards requirements to tell the truth?!

 

[Haywain]

The fact that you can (if I've understood other postings here correctly) also get a Railcard discount using Keygo, including on Oyster+contactless and even contactless-only fares, is another attraction of KeyGo

This is correct, and something I have experience of. A railcard discount on an off peak contactless fare is a lovely thing, especially at 06:30 in the morning, but there is no discount on a peak contactless fare (in the same way as there are no railcard discounts of peak Oyster fares).