London Travelcard - 7 day paper version

[Wolvercoter]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice regarding London Travelcards.

I'm coming to London next week and was considering purchasing a 7 day travelcard (zones 1-6). As I want to hop around a fair bit and watch trains, I don't want an Oyster/Contactless version as I'd likely breach time limits. Is the 7 day version available on paper format? I've had a look on-line as it's not clear.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[Watershed]

If you load a Zones 1-6 Travelcard season to an Oyster card, there are no time limits to journeys and there is no requirement to touch in or out for the Travelcard to be valid; you only need to use the Oyster card to get through barriers.

Paper Travelcard season tickets aren't available any more for 'inboundary' journeys (ones which are purely for travel within the numbered Zones). Such season tickets can now only be issued on a smartcard (TOC or Oyster).

However, you can still get paper Travelcard season tickets for 'outboundary' journeys (ones that include travel outside the Zones). I'd imagine the cheapest one will be something like Denham to Zones 1-6, which at £82.50 a week costs just £1 more than a pure Zones 1-6 Travelcard.

You can get such a Travelcard in paper format at a ticket machine, or by buying online and collecting it at a ticket machine or receiving it by post (if you buy it far enough in advance), or by going to a ticket office.

 

[Vexed]

I'm going to be honest, you might not want it on paper even if you can get it as there's a chance it will get demagnetised.

Some TfL stations aren't great at maintaining the CCST (credit card sized ticket) readers, so worst case you get stuck behind an unstaffed closed gateline. This should never happen but almost did to me once with three out of four barriers not accepting paper tickets and no staff in sight.

Hopefully I haven't put you off too much!

 

[redreni]

You can get a 7-day Travelcard on Oyster or on a TOC-issued Smartcard.

If you don't have the card already, the latter may be better as they're issued free of charge, whereas there's a charge for an Oyster card.

 

[Wolvercoter]

Excellent. Thanks for your advice @Watershed @Vexed and @redreni

Didn't know the time limits applied only to PAYG. Will likely do the outboundary Denham Travelcard option, as I may also use the Travelcard paper ticket for a Boundary Zone 6 starting fare for another journey.

 

[Watershed]

Excellent. Thanks for your advice @Watershed @Vexed and @redreni

Didn't know the time limits applied only to PAYG. Will likely do the outboundary Denham Travelcard option, as I may also use the Travelcard paper ticket for a Boundary Zone 6 starting fare for another journey.

You can use Boundary Zone tickets even if your Travelcard is loaded to a smartcard/Oyster card - again, no need to touch in/out for it to be valid (not that you can anyway, if travelling beyond the covered Zones). But as it's only a pound extra, you may prefer the Denham option to retain a paper ticket.

 

[Wolvercoter]

Hi all. Quick question.. do I need a photocard for a paper seven day travelcard from Denham? When attempting to purchase via a machine outboundary, it asks for a photo ID. Any help much appreciated.

 

[Watershed]

Hi all. Quick question.. do I need a photocard for a paper seven day travelcard from Denham? When attempting to purchase via a machine outboundary, it asks for a photo ID. Any help much appreciated.

Yes, photocards are required for paper season tickets. Smartcard season tickets don't require them - I know, it doesn't make much sense.

You can get a photocard at any staffed ticket office for free by presenting a passport-type photo (most larger stations have booths where you can get these).

 

[Wolvercoter]

Ok... thanks @Watershed