I've crossposted becuase I think certian parts of my query are relevant to
both groups.

I don't think I've missed any obvious tricks but it's worth checking.

I'm thinking of buying another annual Colchester-London All Zones (£4600.00)
to start in a couple of week time. I'm trying to work out a combination of
tickets that will either a) save money or b) let me have an Oyster card as
well [does this mean I can buy 2 partner Network cards!]

I'm sick to death of having to constantly replace it because the print has
faded (though it'll work the gates), or because the magnetic stripe encoding
has stopped working, or not being able to use gates because its an oyster
only gate, etc.

I've tried the one (to me) fairly obvious tactic of trying to see if a
Colchester to Stratford and then a Z1-2 Oyster travelcard (there doesn't
seem to be a Z1 only travelcard) would make it cheaper.

I've not really worked out the actual feasibility of this for me but its
possible that COL-KPA (Kensington Olympia) is an alternative to an All Zones
travelcard

Any suggestions at all please?

--
[.n]

On Aug 25, 5:25*pm, "[.n]" wrote:
I've crossposted becuase I think certian parts of my query are relevant to
both groups.

I don't think I've missed any obvious tricks but it's worth checking.

I'm thinking of buying another annual Colchester-London All Zones (£4600.00)
to start in a couple of week time. I'm trying to work out a combination of
tickets that will either a) save money or b) let me have an Oyster card as
well [does this mean I can buy 2 partner Network cards!]

I'm sick to death of having to constantly replace it because the print has
faded (though it'll work the gates), or because the magnetic stripe encoding
has stopped working, or not being able to use gates because its an oyster
only gate, etc.

I've tried the one (to me) fairly obvious tactic of trying to see if a
Colchester to Stratford and then a Z1-2 Oyster travelcard (there doesn't
seem to be a Z1 only travelcard) would make it cheaper.

I've not really worked out the actual feasibility of this for me but its
possible that COL-KPA (Kensington Olympia) is an alternative to an All Zones
travelcard

Any suggestions at all please?

--

[.n]

Where do you travel to (and how often) and which zones do you use ?

A Colchester to London Terminals annual season is £3960
It then depends whereelse you go to see what is best.

Peter

On Aug 25, 5:25*pm, "[.n]" wrote:
I've crossposted because I think certain parts of my query are relevant to
both groups.

I don't think I've missed any obvious tricks but it's worth checking.

I'm thinking of buying another annual Colchester-London All Zones (£4600.00)
to start in a couple of week time. I'm trying to work out a combination of
tickets that will either a) save money or b) let me have an Oyster card as
well [does this mean I can buy 2 partner Network cards!]

All annual Travelcards (whether inboundary or outboundary) are issued
as Gold Cards, so yes you would have two separate Gold Cards and would
thus be entitled to buy two partner Network Cards. It has however been
noted that some National Rail ticket offices fail to endorse the Gold
Card when a discounted partner Network Railcard is purchased...


I'm sick to death of having to constantly replace it because the print has
faded (though it'll work the gates), or because the magnetic stripe encoding
has stopped working, or not being able to use gates because its an oyster
only gate, etc.

I've tried the one (to me) fairly obvious tactic of trying to see if a
Colchester to Stratford and then a Z1-2 Oyster travelcard (there doesn't
seem to be a Z1 only travelcard) would make it cheaper.

First things first - a zones 1&2 Travelcard would *not* cover the
journey from Stratford into Liverpool Street/ central London because
Stratford is in zone 3!

(Also season Travelcards are now only available in two zone
combinations - this was a change made a few years back.)


I've not really worked out the actual feasibility of this for me but its
possible that COL-KPA (Kensington Olympia) is an alternative to an All Zones
travelcard

Any suggestions at all please?

It would be helpful to know what your regular journey is - a rail-only
season ticket from Colchester to London plus using Oyster Pay-as-you-
go for your Tube and/or bus journeys might work out cheaper, but it
all depends on the specific journey in question and how often you make
other journeys etc etc etc

"[.n]" wrote in message
om...

I'm sick to death of having to constantly replace it because the print has
faded
I found that I could get the print to last the whole year by giving it a
spray with some ink jet fixative. For best results treat it immediately
after purchase and leave the ticket to dry overnight or, even better, over
a weekend.

D A Stocks

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

I've tried the one (to me) fairly obvious tactic of trying to see if a
Colchester to Stratford and then a Z1-2 Oyster travelcard (there doesn't
seem to be a Z1 only travelcard) would make it cheaper.

First things first - a zones 1&2 Travelcard would *not* cover the
journey from Stratford into Liverpool Street/ central London because
Stratford is in zone 3!

[.n] - Whoops - my mistake!!! I had thought it was a Z2 station.


I've not really worked out the actual feasibility of this for me but its
possible that COL-KPA (Kensington Olympia) is an alternative to an All
Zones
travelcard

Any suggestions at all please?

It would be helpful to know what your regular journey is - a rail-only
season ticket from Colchester to London plus using Oyster Pay-as-you-
go for your Tube and/or bus journeys might work out cheaper, but it
all depends on the specific journey in question and how often you make
other journeys etc etc etc

[.n] - I mostly travel from Colchester (and to confuse matters - I've also
been considering the PlusBus addon for £500) to High Street Kensington. I do
do other journeys occasionally, but that's my main commute - hence the
possibility of travelling to KPA

On 25 Aug, 20:50, "[.n]" wrote:
"Mizter T" wrote in message

...

I've tried the one (to me) fairly obvious tactic of trying to see if a
Colchester to Stratford and then a Z1-2 Oyster travelcard (there doesn't
seem to be a Z1 only travelcard) would make it cheaper.

First things first - a zones 1&2 Travelcard would *not* cover the
journey from Stratford into Liverpool Street/ central London because
Stratford is in zone 3!

[.n] - Whoops - my mistake!!! I had thought it was a Z2 station.



I've not really worked out the actual feasibility of this for me but its
possible that COL-KPA (Kensington Olympia) is an alternative to an All
Zones
travelcard

Any suggestions at all please?

It would be helpful to know what your regular journey is - a rail-only
season ticket from Colchester to London plus using Oyster Pay-as-you-
go for your Tube and/or bus journeys might work out cheaper, but it
all depends on the specific journey in question and how often you make
other journeys etc etc etc

[.n] - I mostly travel from Colchester (and to confuse matters - I've also
been considering the PlusBus addon for £500) to High Street Kensington. I do
do other journeys occasionally, but that's my main commute - hence the
possibility of travelling to KPA

If saving money is your objective, then COL to SRA is £3772 and SRA to
KPA is £520 (routed not London) or a zone 2 and 3 travelcard is £664.
If you got the latter travelcard on oyster it would be simple to touch
in at SRA and touch out at LST (noting that Oyster PAYG is valid on
that route) then in at ZLV and out at HSK if you so wished.
Overground is a stagger as I'm sure you know.

The travelcard option totals 4436 which isn't that much less than COL
to ZONE R1256 at 4600. I forget the cost of an oyster extension into
and out of zone 1, however you'd need to see whether you'll spend more
than £164 on journeys to zones 1/4/5/6 in a year. Any travel out to
Heathrow for example? Any frequent trips to places in the network
area (where for example buying boundary zone 6 to Didcot will save you
some money)?

I'm surprised actually, but theres no point in changing at Shenfield
to get the local train that calls at Harold Wood (COL to HRO 3180,
zone 1-6 1904).

In general, there are no season fares from Colchester to any
destinations inside Z1-6 apart from places on the line of route from
there (i.e. HRO, SRA, LST etc). I can't actually find any from
Colchester to anywhere where one would have to cross London - but I
haven't looked that far. Some curious fares from COL to places on
south eastern trains, routed as Zone R1256 LONDN (Swanscombe and
Chatham produce this, Maidstone and Hastings don't).