Gold Card + Ability to Contactlessly Extend outside Z1-6

[ctom_s]

Hi,

I live near Upminster, back in the pre-pandemic days I used to buy an Upminster to Z1-6 travelcard from Upminster National Rail Station and put this on the ol' oyster card. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought this was preferable to buying a Z1-6 from a tube station, since I got a gold card if I bought from national rail but not otherwise. What was also good is I could say travel to gatwick airport contactless and only get charged like 3 pounds because I could tap out my oyster and it would charge me an extension fare.

However these days these seems mutually exclusive...if I buy an oyster Z1-6 I don't get a gold card, but I got told that National Rail stations don't offer oyster z1-6 anymore, so instead I have my Upminster to Z1-6 on a c2c smartcard. This is fine I have my gold card but I've lost the functionality to contactlessly travel outside of Z1-6 since I can't put money on my c2c smartcard. Instead I have to buy paper extensions to my Z1-6 card instead which is a) more time consuming and b) could potentially cost more money(?)

I did quiz staff at both Fenchurch street and Upminster about this but they were clueless (and understandably to some extent, it's difficult to explain and complicated)

Is there any way of replicating what I had before? I heard oysters are likely to scrapped completely and everything contactless which will encounter the same problem.

I just feel I'm entitled to both these things (I think) and I've no idea how to get them. I see myself as having a relatively high amount of knowledge about this stuff (although nothing compared to some on these forums) but if I can't figure it out what hope does the average Joe have?

Kind Regards,
Tom

 

[hkstudent]

Hi,

I live near Upminster, back in the pre-pandemic days I used to buy an Upminster to Z1-6 travelcard from Upminster National Rail Station and put this on the ol' oyster card. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought this was preferable to buying a Z1-6 from a tube station, since I got a gold card if I bought from national rail but not otherwise. What was also good is I could say travel to gatwick airport contactless and only get charged like 3 pounds because I could tap out my oyster and it would charge me an extension fare.

However these days these seems mutually exclusive...if I buy an oyster Z1-6 I don't get a gold card, but I got told that National Rail stations don't offer oyster z1-6 anymore, so instead I have my Upminster to Z1-6 on a c2c smartcard. This is fine I have my gold card but I've lost the functionality to contactlessly travel outside of Z1-6 since I can't put money on my c2c smartcard. Instead I have to buy paper extensions to my Z1-6 card instead which is a) more time consuming and b) could potentially cost more money(?)

I did quiz staff at both Fenchurch street and Upminster about this but they were clueless (and understandably to some extent, it's difficult to explain and complicated)

Is there any way of replicating what I had before? I heard oysters are likely to scrapped completely and everything contactless which will encounter the same problem.

I just feel I'm entitled to both these things (I think) and I've no idea how to get them. I see myself as having a relatively high amount of knowledge about this stuff (although nothing compared to some on these forums) but if I can't figure it out what hope does the average Joe have?

Kind Regards,
Tom

Go to TfL and buy the season ticket there. You will be posted a golden record card

 

[ctom_s]

Go to TfL and buy the season ticket there. You will be posted a golden record card

Interesting...I did that years ago when I live in Z2 and never got posted anything

 

[hkstudent]

Interesting...I did that years ago when I live in Z2 and never got posted anything

You need to go online to purchase the annual season to get that from posted.
And supposingly, buying at a TfL station will get the gold record card at spot.

Annual Gold Card discount

You can get Annual Gold Card discounts when you buy an Annual Travelcard for travel in London

tfl.gov.uk

 

[Watershed]

Hi,

I live near Upminster, back in the pre-pandemic days I used to buy an Upminster to Z1-6 travelcard from Upminster National Rail Station and put this on the ol' oyster card. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought this was preferable to buying a Z1-6 from a tube station, since I got a gold card if I bought from national rail but not otherwise. What was also good is I could say travel to gatwick airport contactless and only get charged like 3 pounds because I could tap out my oyster and it would charge me an extension fare.

However these days these seems mutually exclusive...if I buy an oyster Z1-6 I don't get a gold card, but I got told that National Rail stations don't offer oyster z1-6 anymore, so instead I have my Upminster to Z1-6 on a c2c smartcard. This is fine I have my gold card but I've lost the functionality to contactlessly travel outside of Z1-6 since I can't put money on my c2c smartcard. Instead I have to buy paper extensions to my Z1-6 card instead which is a) more time consuming and b) could potentially cost more money(?)

I did quiz staff at both Fenchurch street and Upminster about this but they were clueless (and understandably to some extent, it's difficult to explain and complicated)

Is there any way of replicating what I had before? I heard oysters are likely to scrapped completely and everything contactless which will encounter the same problem.

I just feel I'm entitled to both these things (I think) and I've no idea how to get them. I see myself as having a relatively high amount of knowledge about this stuff (although nothing compared to some on these forums) but if I can't figure it out what hope does the average Joe have?

Kind Regards,
Tom

Wherever you buy an Annual Travelcard, it should either be issued on Gold Card stock or you should be issued with a Gold Record Card (sometimes through the post). The only exception would be if you bought it from a station outside the Gold Card area, but clearly Upminster is within it.

However, as you say, getting your Travelcard on Oyster is advantageous as it allows you to extend your travel without needing to buy a separate (likely paper) ticket. I therefore suggest you buy your Travelcard from TfL (either one of their stations or online).

The direction of travel is certainly for Oyster to be phased out, but there are no public plans or timescales yet. I think it probably still has a good number of years left, possibly as long a decade.

As you say, it's slightly problematic. Whilst there is capping with contactless - and indeed the 'back end' system even calculates whether a smaller cap, e.g. Zones 1-4, plus extension fare is cheaper - it only works on a weekly basis, and only Monday-Sunday. There's no opportunity to buy monthly or annual seasons, which represents a significant cost increase for anyone who previously bought these products.

Despite the 'simplification' brought about by PAYG single fares and capping, it's still a minefield, with different fare scales depending on which operator(s) and route(s) you use, different Peak and Off-Peak times depending on your direction of travel and route, and so on... There is certainly a lot of work to be done to make it easier to understand. Sadly that would likely only ever go in one direction - rationalising to the 'highest' (i.e. most expensive) common denominator.

 

[ctom_s]

I guess that's simple enough then, if my mistake was to assume buying from tfl means you don't get a gold card I that's fine...I guess I'll just keep this till November there's no easy way to transfer right?

Or perhaps I should cancel and rebuy before the prices go up? (Think someone said to me this was March)

 

[JonathanH]

Unfortunately there are now a number of places where the extension fares on Oyster / Contactless beyond the Zone 6 boundary exceed those for touching out and back in at the boundary station so the 'seamless' option is not always the cheapest. The extension fares do not appear to be published.

 

[island]

You need to go online to purchase the annual season to get that from posted.
And supposingly, buying at a TfL station will get the gold record card at spot.

Annual Gold Card discount

You can get Annual Gold Card discounts when you buy an Annual Travelcard for travel in London

tfl.gov.uk

This is easier said than done at present as stations now no longer have equipment that enables both issuing of an annual season ticket onto Oyster and printing of a Gold Record Card.

 

[ctom_s]

So, in conclusion I guess buying a tfl z1-6 online is likely the way forward

 

[island]

Allegedly TfL visitor centres can still sell annual Travelcards and print Gold Record cards in person, though I think only three remain open and on very limited hours.