On Mar 2, 11:57*pm, martin wrote:

From last week's Mayor's Question Time:

http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/...on.do?id=30225

Question by Caroline Pidgeon

Why is it not possible at present to get Gold Card or Network Railcard
benefits in conjunction with Oyster PAYG? How many people would
benefit from this? Do you have any plans to introduce this?

Answer by Boris Johnson

Railcard schemes are provided by the Train Companies, generally on a
national or regional basis, and TfL does not hold any statistics
regarding holder numbers.

Following discussions with Companies, TfL hopes to introduce PAYG Gold
Card benefits from the end of May. The Train Companies imposed
conditions on their Network Railcard scheme some years ago, which
means that it only provides limited discounts for travel within
London. The Train Companies continue to wish to focus this card on
their regional leisure market, and have indicated that they do not
wish to offer PAYG benefits for travel on their services within
London.

That's good news with regards to the Gold Card discount - the current
situation for annual Travelcard holders where a Gold Card-discounted
paper extension ticket is / might be cheaper than using Oyster PAYG to
automagically pay for the extension is rather absurd.

(I haven't actually done a comparison of the relevant fares, but I
assume the GC-discounted extension is always cheaper, but maybe I'm
wrong for some fares?)

Not surprised to hear that the Network Railcard won't be included -
the answer does very much make it sound as though TfL would be
willing, and its the TOCs that are objecting - but I do wonder a
little just how keen TfL would be, given that they might well lose out
on some revenue from weekend travellers (weekdays being irrelevant
considering the £13 minimum fare that applies to Network Railcard
discounted tickets).

Anyhow, the stuff about the TOCs wishing "to focus this card on their
regional leisure market" is perhaps a bit disingenuous, given how
little promotional focus they give for the Network Railcard -
GroupSave seems to get most of the limelight (it's a truly great
offer, of that there is no doubt, but people aren't always travelling
in groups of three or four - solo or just the two of you and the
Network Railcard makes sense). To be absolutely fair to the TOCs, the
Network Railcard leaflet does appear to be very widely available in
leaflet racks at stations.

It's worth noting the Network Railcard-discounted inboundary
Travelcard - i.e. zones 1-6 - still costs £5.00 this year, which is
now cheaper than all the off-peak Day Travelcard and Oyster PAYG caps
(for they are now at the same level), i.e. including the zones 2-6 cap
which is now £5.10.

Therefore if you have a Network Railcard, are starting your travels
that day at an NR or Tube station (for a Network Railcard-discounted
Day Travelcard can also be bought at Tube stations but *only* from the
ticket office, not the ticket machines), and crucially you *know* that
you'll be travelling around enough to justify the £5 expense (which
might well not be the case - in particular factoring in any season
Travelcard or Bus Pass that might already be held - all utterly
depends on the circumstances of course), then buying the discounted
Day Travelcard makes sense. Also, this rather assumes that you're not
dashing to the station with just enough time to touch-in and jump on
your train

(Though a few times I have been amazingly organised and purchased said
discounted Day Travelcard the day before - indeed some TOC TVMs make
this easy to do - and have even taken advantage of the 28 1/2 hour
validity period by using it to get home on a post-midnight bus - which
is a property all Day Travelcards, discounted or not, share.)