Finsbury Park [FPK] - Stevenage [SVG]

[Sircharles]

hi guys

Im trying to figure out the best way of travelling Finsbury to Stevenage but a yearly train ticket comes in at £3000!

monthly is £288.00

Is there some way the oyster card can work in here to discount it or are there any other discounts people may know of?

Thanks in advance.
Graham

 

[north]

hi guys

Im trying to figure out the best way of travelling Finsbury to Stevenage but a yearly train ticket comes in at £3000!

monthly is £288.00

Is there some way the oyster card can work in here to discount it or are there any other discounts people may know of?

Thanks in advance.
Graham

I assume you mean Finsbury Park rather than Finsbury which is in the city.

This is the journey I did for a couple of years. The answer is not really...

Up until the 2nd of January there used to be a reverse commuter discounted season from Harringay to Stevenage called flexitime but FCC have withdrawn it. Now the Harringay season is only 4 pounds less. Certainly not worth it for the significantly increased journey times.

Depending on what time you have to be in Stevenage you can use off peak carnets to reduce this to £12.60/day (if traveling everyday this is a no saving)

The usual advice about buying monthlies to 5 weeks rather than a month obviously counts.

The greenline coach has competitive seasons but goes from Finchley Road/Hendon.

Perhaps not the place but you can drive it in 1 hour each way if you know the best routes.

 

[yorkie]

Is there some way the oyster card can work in here to discount it or are there any other discounts people may know of?

A member here, jonmorris0844, used to get a combination of a season from Hatfield to a station in the Travelcard zones, plus a Travelcard season on Oyster. This is because a few years ago WAGN stated that they would accept such combinations without the train needing to call at the station where you change from one ticket to the next. FCC honoured this agreement for several years but last year stopped honouring it.

The official rule is that if you combine two or more tickets, the train(s) must call at the station(s) where you change from one ticket to the next unless ONE of the tickets is a season and the other(s) is/are NOT.

So, for example, a Travelcard Zones 1-6 Season plus a Return from Hadley Wood to Stevenage is valid on non-stop trains between King's Cross and Stevenage, but a Travelcard Zones 1-6 Season plus a Hadley Wood to Stevenage is not valid on non-stop trains between King's Cross and Stevenage.

 

[barrykas]

The official rule is that if you combine two or more tickets, the train(s) must call at the station(s) where you change from one ticket to the next unless ONE of the tickets is a season and the other(s) is/are NOT.

The third possibility is of both tickets being zonal.

So, for example, a Travelcard Zones 1-6 Season plus a Return from Hadley Wood to Stevenage is valid on non-stop trains between King's Cross and Stevenage, but a Travelcard Zones 1-6 Season plus a Hadley Wood to Stevenage is not valid on non-stop trains between King's Cross and Stevenage.

Another possibility would be a combination of Stevenage - Zones 5-6 and Zones 1-4. (As an example...That may not be the cheapest option). That would be valid on a non-stop train.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[Sircharles]

to reduce this to £12.60/day (if traveling everyday this is a no saving)

The usual advice about buying monthlies to 5 weeks rather than a month obviously counts.

sorry as im new to this forum i don't know what that is all about?

thanks all for replys

 

[MikeWh]

You can buy season tickets for any period from 1 month up to 1 year. A monthly will run from, for example, 17th Jan - 16th Feb. However, if you start on 17th Jan and go up to 18th Feb (1 month and 2 days) you can then start your next ticket on Feb 21st (after the weekend). If you can time it so that you aren't paying for bank holiday long weekends, or weeks you have as holiday, then the savings will soon add up.

 

[yorkie]

sorry as im new to this forum i don't know what that is all about?

thanks all for replys

The first line you quoted is about Carnet tickets, but the word Carnet wasn't in your quote.

Carnet generally means a book of, say, 10 tickets bought in one transaction in advance that are then validated. An equivalent would be a "mini season ticket" at some football clubs, where you get 10 tickets for 10 games of your choice.

Details of FCC's carnet scheme are here: http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/tickets-and-fares/peak-tickets/carnet/

The second line you quoted refers to a normal Season ticket. If you work Mondays-Fridays and do not require the ticket at weekends, then it makes sense to look at your calendar and work out the best periods to have a season ticket issued for.

e.g. for someone working Mondays-Fridays and not weekends/bank holidays who has annual leave on 26-28 April starting work tomorrow, it would be wise to buy a season ticket starting tomorrow (17/01/2011) and usually you would want it to finish 5 weeks later on 18/02/2011, you would then get the next season issued from 21/02/2011, unfortunately February isn't a good month to get a season, it would expire on 20/03/2011, and then the third season would be from 21/03/2011 to 21/04/2011, then the next season would not be required to start until 03/05/2011, which you would want to finish on 03/06/2011 that requires a 1 month 2 day, 1 month and 1 month 1 day season, and another 1 month 1 day, to last you until 3rd June. and so on...

However as February isn't a good month to renew a season it may be cheaper to do it slightly differently, I'm not sure about that.

For most months, you would want to extend a 1 month ticket to last 5 weeks, by adding the appropriate number of days. This varies when you have annual leave, bank holidays, etc.

 

[Sircharles]

ok, I wasn't expecting such great replys. thanks all for help.

But bottom line seems I must buy a monthly or seasonal ticket really?

There is no discount rail card for me, no?

looks like £288 per month.

My god rail is expensive.

 

[island]

There are no Railcard discounts on season tickets (the alleged reason being that they're discounted enough already).

Under certain, but by no means all, circumstances (which generally involve travelling fewer than 4 days a week on average) using daily tickets or Oyster PAYG may work out cheaper. Maybe.