Peter Frimberley wrote:
Well I don't know about whether you can change now. But the sums are
fairly simple using the fares on the TfL website. it's £3.50 before
7pm, £2 if you can travel later, so work out how many days a week you
can come home after 7pm and deduct accordingly. Assuming you come home
before 7pm every day then you're looking at £7 a day, or £35 a week on
prepay. Or, approx £455 for 3 months depending on how many working
days there are that quarter. Whereas you've presumably paid £435.60
for your 3 months travelcard.

Don't forget about daily capping, which has a more lenient definition of
off-peak (for most purposes). If your inbound trip is after 9:30 (no, I
don't know if that refers to entry or to exit), the daily Z1-5 cap is
£5.80. That adds up to £377 for 3 months, substantially less than the
£435.60 for a Travelcard.

But it's presumably too late to change now.

So prepay is approx £20 per quarter more expensive, but if you have a
few days off in that quarter, or come home before 7pm a few days,
you'd probably pull that £20 back. On the other hand you might go in
to town on a few weekends, which would be free journeys on the
travelcard. Only you can decide ...

If my calculations are correct, then if 17 inbound trips are after 9:30
and the others are all before 9:30, PAYG with capping works out just
slighly cheaper. Obviously, if more than 17 inbound trips are after
9:30, PAYG looks even better.

But on the flip side, if you ever travel by Tube or bus on weekends,
you'll be paying extra with PAYG but not with a Travelcard.
--
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA