Oyster Cards, "Suburban Services" and Wellingborough Station

[JakeGrey]

Now, I realise that if Northamptonshire is considered a London suburb then something has gone badly wrong, but we are only 45 to 50 minutes out of St Pancras and I can't for the life of me find any clear definition of "suburban services starting or ending in Zones 1-9". And there's also what looks an awful lot like an Oyster touch-in point at the station entrance.

There's no way it could be this easy or cheap, is there?

 

[causton]

No.

Smartcards will be rolled out further across the UK soon and this will be for one of those, not for Oyster. Many other places have these validators, including Glasgow and the Isle of Wight, so I don't think you'll be using Oyster there either

And this is the map you need of Zones 1-9: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf

 

[JakeGrey]

*sigh* I might've bloody well known.

I'd ask if you had any ideas for ways to afford the commute from London to Wellingborough that don't involve somehow finding upwards of six hundred quid for a season ticket while on the dole, but I suspect I know the answer.

 

[Hadders]

I think we need to get some perspective where season tickets are concerned.

A monthly season ticket from Wellingborough to London Terminals is £554.20 per month
Wellingbouough to London Thameslink (allowing you to travel as far south as Elephant & Castle vis Farringdon) is £576.40
A monthly travelcard allowing unlimited travel in London Zones 1-6 is £628.70 per month.

Depending on which ticket you go for (and how many days you travel) then it works out at around £30 per day. Compare this with a super-off peak return from Wellingborough to London at £44 or an Anytime Day Travelcard at £103.

You could reduce the daily cost further by purchasing an annual season ticket or by using odd period monthly periods.

Wellingborough is 75 miles from London so if you were to drive it is reasonable to expect the fuel alone to cost at least £22 for each trip (say 15p per mile). You then have to factor in costs for depreciation, wear and tear etc on top of this. Of course if you were to drive then there is no way you could make the journey in the 45-50 minutes that the train takes.

Forum members may be able to recommend a more suitable combination of tickets suitable for your needs if you are able to give more details about your particular journey, its frequency and details of any railcards held.

I can't deny that season tickets require a hefty outlay but when you analyse what you actually pay per journey then a different picture often emerges.

 

[CallySleeper]

What you'll have seen at Wellingborough is an EMT ITSO smartcard reader

 

[JakeGrey]

I think we need to get some perspective where season tickets are concerned.

A monthly season ticket from Wellingborough to London Terminals is £554.20 per month
Wellingbouough to London Thameslink (allowing you to travel as far south as Elephant & Castle vis Farringdon) is £576.40
A monthly travelcard allowing unlimited travel in London Zones 1-6 is £628.70 per month.

Depending on which ticket you go for (and how many days you travel) then it works out at around £30 per day. Compare this with a super-off peak return from Wellingborough to London at £44 or an Anytime Day Travelcard at £103.

You could reduce the daily cost further by purchasing an annual season ticket or by using odd period monthly periods.

[...]

I can't deny that season tickets require a hefty outlay but when you analyse what you actually pay per journey then a different picture often emerges.

Which is all very useful to know, but it doesn't really help me much when my current total monthly income is about £480. The weekly season tickets are a bit more realistic, but then I doubt many of the jobs I'm qualified for actually pay weekly, and about three quarters of said monthly income stops immediately if and when I get some work.

 

[maniacmartin]

Where exactly is your workplace? (which part of London).

Also, how old are you, and what days of the week and what hours will you be working?

 

[JakeGrey]

Where exactly is your workplace? (which part of London).

Also, how old are you, and what days of the week and what hours will you be working?

I haven't actually got that far yet; I'm mostly trying to find out whether or not it's worth even looking for jobs in the Greater London area.

 

[maniacmartin]

Some London employers do season ticket loans.

My opinion is that it is not worth applying for low-paid jobs in central London if you live in Wellingborough, unless you are prepared to move house (into a houseshare in London), because as you have seen, the travel costs are high.

 

[londonbridge]

I live in the Sutton/Croydon area, when I was out of work and looking at jobs to apply for I considered the potential travelling cost and/or time before applying. Areas where I applied for jobs included Gatwick, Dorking, Leatherhead, Redhill, Epsom, Walton On Thames, Weybridge, Harrow (Middlesex) and Loughton. I had no reply to my application from the Loughton job and I was turned down for Harrow because the employer would only consider local applicants. Where I managed to get an interview I was sometimes asked about travelling and my stock reply was that I had done my research and was happy, and that if I felt the travelling time or distance would be a problem then I wouldn't have wasted the employers time by applying for the job in the first place. Most of them seemed happy with this answer. I did have one job in central London where he highlighted the fact that I was in zone 5 and asked if I had considered the cost of commuting into zone 1-again I replied that it would not be a problem and got a second interview but didn't get the job.