I'm shortly going to renew my annual travelcard for the first time and
wondered if anyone could enlighten me in a few areas, some of which
I'm sure should be published information but I'm finding it
increasingly hard to find anything on the TfL website!

1) What percentage of my £1328 ticket goes to the retailer? Will my
local newsagent be incredibly appreciative if I go to him rather than
the local tube station?

2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

3) I know I'm entitled to various Gold Card benefits - is there any
detailed list of these available online? And for the one I'm most
likely to use - Network Railcard discount for an extension ticket
beyond my zones - what exactly do I ask for, Gold Card or Network
Railcard discount? And what evidence might I need to show - is it the
paper record card?

TIA for all your help!

gw

On Nov 26, 4:00 pm, gw2486 wrote:
I'm shortly going to renew my annual travelcard for the first time and
wondered if anyone could enlighten me in a few areas, some of which
I'm sure should be published information but I'm finding it
increasingly hard to find anything on the TfL website!

1) What percentage of my £1328 ticket goes to the retailer? Will my
local newsagent be incredibly appreciative if I go to him rather than
the local tube station?


Sorry, don't know about that

2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?


Cost is £5 admin fee for the change in number of zones, plus the pro-
rata cost (or refund for less zones) for the difference in the
validity. Plus the hassle of filling in the form and hoping that it
doesn't get lost in the post (which is what happened to me). The form
is available from any staffed station, but not all the staff seem to
know what it is. You also need a least a month's validity left to
exchange the ticket.

3) I know I'm entitled to various Gold Card benefits - is there any
detailed list of these available online? And for the one I'm most
likely to use - Network Railcard discount for an extension ticket
beyond my zones - what exactly do I ask for, Gold Card or Network
Railcard discount? And what evidence might I need to show - is it the
paper record card?


Generally just showing the Gold Card record card is sufficient when
buying extensions. You also get the option to buy a first class
upgrade for £5 at weekends. You can also use the Gold Card to buy
tickets for accompanying adults (33% off) and children (60% off), but
if used to buy a travelcard, you need to have the same zone validity
on the season as you are buying for the other people or you need to
buy a day ticket for yourself.

TIA for all your help!

gw

In message
,
gw2486 writes

1) What percentage of my £1328 ticket goes to the retailer? Will my
local newsagent be incredibly appreciative if I go to him rather than
the local tube station?

I don't think you can get an annual travelcard from a retailer - only a
monthly.

--
Paul Terry

On 26 Nov, 16:00, gw2486 wrote:
I'm shortly going to renew my annual travelcard for the first time and
wondered if anyone could enlighten me in a few areas, some of which
I'm sure should be published information but I'm finding it
increasingly hard to find anything on the TfL website!

1) What percentage of my £1328 ticket goes to the retailer? Will my
local newsagent be incredibly appreciative if I go to him rather than
the local tube station?

I don't think you can buy annual seasons from newsagents (aka 'Ticket
Stops'). In fact I'm not sure if they can sell pro-rata seasons for
periods longer than a month.


2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

Andy has answered this one in his reply.


3) I know I'm entitled to various Gold Card benefits - is there any
detailed list of these available online? And for the one I'm most
likely to use - Network Railcard discount for an extension ticket
beyond my zones - what exactly do I ask for, Gold Card or Network
Railcard discount? And what evidence might I need to show - is it the
paper record card?

TIA for all your help!

gw


The base level of Gold Card benefits applies no matter who you buy
your ticket from, whether a National Rail TOC, London Underground or a
TfL Travel Information Centre - these benefits are listed on this
webpage (it might look a bit scrappy but the information is all
present and correct):
https://www.trainsfares.co.uk/season...d_benefits.asp

Some TOCs may offer further benefits on top of these, such as South
West Trains 'Gold Service' which gives the holder "six tickets
entitling you to free travel at weekends on any South West Trains
services" - more info on this page:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...oldService.htm

Though they won't just give those six free tickets to anyone...
"Gold Service membership is available for Annual Season Tickets
holders aged over 16 who buy their tickets at South West Trains
outlets and use our services."
'Gold Service' T&Cs:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...m#gold_service

When buying your tickets you need to ask for a Gold Card discount as
opposed to a Network Railcard discount, and the discounted ticket(s)
will be marked with the "GOLDC" code as opposed to the "NSE" (for
Network Railcard) code (though different codes are used for
accompanying children's tickets). You'd need to show either your Gold
Card, if it was issued as a paper ticket, or if it was issued on
Oyster then you'd need to show your paper record card.

Some TOCs still use the system where season ticket renewals will be
subject to a 5% or 10% discount if there has been poor performance
over the previous reporting period(s), sorry I forget the details of
how this works.

However if you're buying a Travelcard for less than the 6-zones I'd
think it'd definitely be best to get it on Oyster, then if and when
you travel out of your zones on the Tube, DLR or on the limited number
of National Rail routes that accept Oyster PAYG, you wouldn't need to
buy an (expensive) extension ticket before travel but the excess would
be taken automatically from your PAYG balance.

On 26 Nov, 16:16, Andy wrote:
On Nov 26, 4:00 pm, gw2486 wrote:

(snip)

2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

Cost is £5 admin fee for the change in number of zones, plus the pro-
rata cost (or refund for less zones) for the difference in the
validity. Plus the hassle of filling in the form and hoping that it
doesn't get lost in the post (which is what happened to me). The form
is available from any staffed station, but not all the staff seem to
know what it is. You also need a least a month's validity left to
exchange the ticket.


That's the kind of thing I'd always post using recorded delivery, it
only costs 70p. Of course it also costs the time and effort of going
to a Post Office - though it's worth keeping a few recorded delivery
forms to hand, so you don't have to fill it out in the post office.

A lot of things "get lost in the post" when I'm sure that most of them
get delivered fine, it's just ineptitude at the recipients end that
causes it to get "lost" there. I get the feeling that an item of post
delivered by recorded delivery often elicits a more professional
response.

2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

They refund the difference between what you paid for the annual and what it
would have cost had you bought monthlies and weeklies, less an admin fee.

The annual is the same as 10.4 monthlies so at 10 months no refund is due
and from about month 8 on the refund might not amount to enough to buy much
at all.

I got caught by that this year having gone into hospital with a month off
work. I expected they would just extend by a month but by the time they'd
worked it out and taken the admin fee off, there wasn't enough left from
the 4 month refund to buy two monthlies to take me up to the end of the
year! Just had to take the hit of 36 days travel paid for which I couldn't
use. Take off the leave and courses where I didn't use it, monthlies would
have been cheaper.

Cheers,
Dave

2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

Cost is £5 admin fee for the change in number of zones, plus the pro-
rata cost (or refund for less zones) for the difference in the
validity. Plus the hassle of filling in the form and hoping that it
doesn't get lost in the post (which is what happened to me). The form
is available from any staffed station, but not all the staff seem to
know what it is. You also need a least a month's validity left to
exchange the ticket.

That's the kind of thing I'd always post using recorded delivery, it
only costs 70p. Of course it also costs the time and effort of going
to a Post Office - though it's worth keeping a few recorded delivery
forms to hand, so you don't have to fill it out in the post office.

A lot of things "get lost in the post" when I'm sure that most of them
get delivered fine, it's just ineptitude at the recipients end that
causes it to get "lost" there. I get the feeling that an item of post
delivered by recorded delivery often elicits a more professional
response.

Ahh, but it wasn't me posting it, it was Harrow-on-the-Hill station!!
They don't actually have an address on the form and it says to return
it to any station. The second form wasn't lost, as the helpful person
at the station faxed it through and phoned me to confirm that it had
been received at the other end

On Nov 27, 11:08 am, DaveP wrote:
2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

They refund the difference between what you paid for the annual and what it
would have cost had you bought monthlies and weeklies, less an admin fee.

The annual is the same as 10.4 monthlies so at 10 months no refund is due
and from about month 8 on the refund might not amount to enough to buy much
at all.

I got caught by that this year having gone into hospital with a month off
work. I expected they would just extend by a month but by the time they'd
worked it out and taken the admin fee off, there wasn't enough left from
the 4 month refund to buy two monthlies to take me up to the end of the
year! Just had to take the hit of 36 days travel paid for which I couldn't
use. Take off the leave and courses where I didn't use it, monthlies would
have been cheaper.


This only applies to a refund for an unused period on a ticket, not on
a change in zones. Changes in zones are done pro-rata for the
remaining period of the annual ticket and as I said about are
available until only 1 month is less.

You are correct if you are completely stopping use of the season, then
there is no refund after 10 1/2 months, but this was not the question
that the OP asked.

On 27 Nov, 14:44, Andy wrote:
2) If I move during the year and I want to extend or restrict the
zonal validity of my ticket, what are the costs involved?

Cost is £5 admin fee for the change in number of zones, plus the pro-
rata cost (or refund for less zones) for the difference in the
validity. Plus the hassle of filling in the form and hoping that it
doesn't get lost in the post (which is what happened to me). The form
is available from any staffed station, but not all the staff seem to
know what it is. You also need a least a month's validity left to
exchange the ticket.

That's the kind of thing I'd always post using recorded delivery, it
only costs 70p. Of course it also costs the time and effort of going
to a Post Office - though it's worth keeping a few recorded delivery
forms to hand, so you don't have to fill it out in the post office.

A lot of things "get lost in the post" when I'm sure that most of them
get delivered fine, it's just ineptitude at the recipients end that
causes it to get "lost" there. I get the feeling that an item of post
delivered by recorded delivery often elicits a more professional
response.

Ahh, but it wasn't me posting it, it was Harrow-on-the-Hill station!!
They don't actually have an address on the form and it says to return
it to any station. The second form wasn't lost, as the helpful person
at the station faxed it through and phoned me to confirm that it had
been received at the other end

Apologies for making a quite incorrect assumption! Sounds like they
were helpful at Harrow (at least they definitely were the second
time).

My comments were really just based on the general and hardly original
notion that the post gets blamed for losing a lot more than it really
does.

On Nov 27, 2:53 pm, Mizter T wrote:
On 27 Nov, 14:44, Andy wrote:




Ahh, but it wasn't me posting it, it was Harrow-on-the-Hill station!!
They don't actually have an address on the form and it says to return
it to any station. The second form wasn't lost, as the helpful person
at the station faxed it through and phoned me to confirm that it had
been received at the other end

Apologies for making a quite incorrect assumption! Sounds like they
were helpful at Harrow (at least they definitely were the second
time).

My comments were really just based on the general and hardly original
notion that the post gets blamed for losing a lot more than it really
does.

No worries

Indeed, I think that the Harrow staff have generally been most
helpful. I also wish that I'd taken up the offer of the person who I
gave the original form. That was to just cancel the remaining part of
the annual ticket (paying the £5 admin fee) and use the credit to pay
towards a new annual ticket starting from that day. I just didn't
fancy having the £1100ish pounds bill so soon after moving house!! He
would have given me the refund at the pro-rata rate. I quite agree
about the post comments, although until recently, I've still getting
post delayed by the industrial action and then redirected to my new
address and there are still several things missing.