londoncityslicker wrote:
snip
Don't forget that on the annual cards, your best bet would be to use a rail
company which gives 52 weeks for the price of 40 (like Thameslink)

You can still just buy a zone 1-2 or zone 1-4 travelcard like this. Not sure
if they can also give you an oyster for this if bought at a suitable
station.

As Barry Salter has already pointed out, you get 52 weeks for the price
of 40 whether you buy from TfL or National Rail (NR). You do, however,
get a reduction in line with the Passenger's Charter if your National
Rail route has performed badly.

I am unclear as to exactly how the Passengers Charter reductions
operate - I think it is specific as to a line (or group of lines), and
I think it only operates for those who are renewing a monthly or longer
ticket (i.e. it doesn't operate for weekly tickets, nor for first
purchases). I also don't know the extent of the savings on offer if one
was to shop around. Perhaps someone in the know can contribute to this.


With regards to Oyster cards, most NR stations don't issue them, though
a few do. There's a list in the TfL Fares leaflet (link below), but I
believe that there are more NR stations than on that list that now
dabble in Oyster. All the listed stations are either served by the
Underground/DLR or the North London Line (Silverlink Metro), which for
ticketing purposes increasingly masquerades as a tube line (IIRC it now
uses tube zonal ticket pricing throughout). Before I get carried away
with this, I'm actually going to start a new thread asking about which
NR stations sell Oyster.

Link to the TfL Fares leaflet list:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...05.pdf#page=13