Travelcard question

In theory yes but in practice the way cash fares have been set up you pay exhorbitant rates I believe.

But you can easily buy a 1-4 or 1-6 travelcard, you aren't restricted to 1-2.

oops...I misread the original post but the answer is still basically the same.

Let's say you have a zone 1-2 7 day paper travelcard and have to travel to zone 6 (Hampton Court?)....you need an extension fare to cover your travels from the beginning of zone 3 where your travelcard ceases to be valid to zone 6 or a cash zone 3-6 fare....check it out, I beieve it's £4 which is the standard cash fare for most everything in London.

Leaving aside the 2 for 1's for a second, that is the big big big advantage of the 7 day cards on oyster...you would pay out of your prepaid portion of the oyster card (oyster cards can have up to 2 period travelcards plus a PAYG for extension fares) the oyster fare for zones 3-6 which is far less than £4, I believe it's £1.10 off-peak and £2 peak (it's for example what one pays when using a zone 1-2 oystercard to go out to Heathrow so I'm pretty sure the prices are correct)...

Yes indeed this garbage of not taking oyster cards for the 2 for 1's really complicates matters, doesn't it. You would think the national railroad lines and tfl could get their act together, wouldn't you.

"You would think the national railroad lines and tfl could get their act together, wouldn't you"

Why? The promotion is not to encourage tube/bus usage in London. It is aimed at folks traveling in to London on mainline trains. It really isn't targeted at foreign visitors - but we get to use it because of the "get around" of buying paper travel cards.

I get you janisj but as this example shows, it sure does make things complicated now doesn't it. You would also think that tfl, which has spent millions trying to work with the national railroads for universal acceptance of oyster within London would try to do something about it to offer similar discounts. The whole set up is just...well plain idiotic wouldn't you agree.

And here's a relatively complicated qiestion in all this...if the national railroad lines sells a paper 7 day travelcard, does tfl get a take on it?

"You would also think that tfl...would try to do something "

Yes it should. The abuse of this promotion by cheapskate foreign tourists is a disgrace.

No doubt in the kind of country where arriving foreign tourists are expected to wait in a queue till every single passenger from the Master Race has gone through immigration, taxpayers' money would be assigned, as a major priority, to stamping it out.

However, we regard financial prudence as more important than going out of our way to be obnoxious to foreigners. So the promotion remains open to them.

"if the national railroad lines sells a paper 7 day travelcard, does tfl get a take on it?"

The revenue from travelcards is shared between the train operating companies, and the tubes and buses.
The proportions depend partly on where the ticket is sold. If the travelcard is sold by one of the train operating companies, they get more of the revenue than if the same ticket were sold by a tube station.
Some suburban stations are used by both National Rail trains and Underground trains (Richmond or Barking, for example) while others are used only by National Rail trains (Hampton Court, for example). The revenue from travelcard sales will be divided according to some agreed formula.

flanner, I will try my best in the future to stay out of your way, but I find your rhetoric here counterproductively far out of line. Not to mention going out of its way to be obnoxious.

I don't think that anyone here is trying to defraud your country. I didn't read the fine print of the 2 for 1 deals, because I don't tend to read fine print. If the website says the offer was only for UK residents I didn't see it. I entered my rail station of origin as requested, and I did save 5 GBP on a 2 for 1, out of the hundreds I spent on rail tickets when visiting your country, with no intention of taking bread from the mouths of british citizens.

If you or your countrymen have ever had to wait in line behind me at an airport, I regret that and agree it's an odd policy. Throwing Master Race lingo in here goes far beyond adding anything to the 2 for 1 question and takes your post into the "Huh? What's THAT all about?" territory.

stokebailey: The scheme isn't limited to UK-only residents -- We aren't "cheating". But that is only because the marketing mental midgets who created the plan left that huge loophole. It wasn't created to get folks to travel around central London by the "trick" of buying a paper tube ticket at a train station. It was created to get more people to use long distance or commuter mainline trains for leisure/sightseeing, not for folks traveling around on the Circle line on paper so they can get in the Tower on the cheap.

My hunch is - unless they work out something w/ tfl - it will eventually go the way of the late lamented discount code for the Gatwick Express. Because so many folks shared the "inside secret" on line, they pulled the plug on the deal.

Flanner, actually some people here seem to recommend buying one travelcard to get the 2 for 1 deal, and that would be dishonest and against the rules. Better to economize on a meal or two if saving a few pounds is the issue, rather than walk around London with that sneaky feeling.

BTW flanner...

I know that's a pet peeve of yours but it simply isn't true.

At JFK airport, arriving international passengers are split into two groups, very true...one for US citizens and residents and the other for all others but the lines do not move all that more slowly depending on the breakdown of the arriving passengers. Also arrival formalities for arriving Americans is simpler than for all other arrivals as the fingerprinting and picture taking is not done (believe me I'm not a fan of that myself).

But it's not any different at Heathrow where arriving international passengers are broken into two groups, eu and non eu and the non eu queues move much more slowly which is understandable as an eu citizen need only show an identity card and is quickly waived on. Those from outside Europe are given a slightly more formal examination although for arriving Americans, Canadians, Australians it's usually very quick.

So kind of get off that kick.

As far as the 2 for 1's, I have never seen any indication whatsoever that its use is restricted to people from Britain. If tht was so, there are ways the promotion could be restricted that way.

All three times we've been to to London in the past four years, we have used the 2/1 coupons that you can print out for those who have RT tix to London on Southern Railway.

We always arrive at Gatwick and take the Southern train. On the Southern site there is a link where you can print out the coupons.

We have never believed that this offer was for UK citizens only -- and we have not hidden anything from the folks at the Gatwick ticket place.

Last trip (Oct 2008) we went with another couple and used the Group Save 4 for 2 deal on the airport train as well as the train from London to Windsor. Once again, the ticket agents made it clear that, even with the group save tix, the 2/1 coupons were valid -- we had two of each coupon -- one for each couple. Saved a ton of money.

SS