Flitwick to Canary Wharf via Farringdon

[Drakien]

Good morning all. I'm finding it very hard to get a clear picture of what I need to do for my new commute.

I'll be traveling twice a week from Flitwick to Canary Wharf, via Farringdon.

1. Thameslink sell weekly or daily tickets which include the TfL travelcard, but can I confirm that the best value for me is the Thameslink Flexi season ticket from Flitwick to Farringdon, plus Pay As You Go from Farringdon to Canary Wharf?

2. If so, do I need to touch out my Thameslink Key smartcard on my inbound journey, at Farringdon? If so, where?

3. Do I need to exit the gates at Farringdon and then reenter to start my oyster journey? Or are there platform level validators for that?

4. When going home, do I need to touch in my Key smartcard at Farringdon? Or is it sufficient to have touched in at Flitwick in the morning?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Mike395]

The best ticket/combination of tickets on this route depends on a number of factors - for just travelling twice a week a Flexi Season (which, as you note, can be loaded onto a Key smartcard) might be the best option, but there may be cheaper alternatives. Two additional questions:

• Will you be travelling in both the morning peak (arriving in London before 10am) and the evening peak (departing London between 4pm and 7pm)?
• Do you have any railcards/are entitled to any? (In particular - 16-25/26-30/Senior/Disabled)

 

[Drakien]

The best ticket/combination of tickets on this route depends on a number of factors - for just travelling twice a week a Flexi Season (which, as you note, can be loaded onto a Key smartcard) might be the best option, but there may be cheaper alternatives. Two additional questions:

• Will you be travelling in both the morning peak (arriving in London before 10am) and the evening peak (departing London between 4pm and 7pm)?
• Do you have any railcards/are entitled to any? (In particular - 16-25/26-30/Senior/Disabled)

Yes to peak time travel, no eligible travelcard.

 

[Horizon22]

To my knowledge there still aren't platform validators at Farringdon for TL/Elizabeth line interchange.

 

[Drakien]

In that case I will leave the gates and come back in again on Oyster.

 

[Mike395]

Going eastbound you can use the validators on the platform (next to each set of steps/ramp up to the adjacent Underground platform) which will save you the hassle of exiting and re-entering (also as a tip, if the lifts aren't too busy they're by far the quickest way of getting down to the Elizabeth line from that platform!), on the return journey yes going up to the gateline probably makes most sense until validators are installed.

If travelling at peak hours both ways, a Flexi Season may well work out best.

To cover the questions re touching out/in with your Key smartcard at Farringdon, even once validators are installed for interchange you'll need to do so in both directions (the Key and Oyster will both be accepted on the same reader)

 

[Watershed]

If you have a Flexi Season loaded to a smartcard, it only needs to be touched on a reader/gateline before you make your first journey of the day - as this activates a day's travel. After that it's not inherently necessary to touch in/out, although obviously you'll need to do so to get through any gatelines.

So your pattern would be in the morning, touch in smartcard at the Flitwick barriers, touch in with Oyster/contactless at the standalone reader between the southbound Thameslink and northbound H&C/Met/Circle platforms, use the lift to the EL platform, touch out at the Canary Wharf barriers.

And in the evening, touch in at the Canary Wharf barriers, then either lift back to the southbound TL platform and touch back out at the standalone reader and cross the bridge to the northbound TL platform, or exit the gateline with Oyster/contactless and re-enter with your smartcard, use smartcard to exit Flitwick barriers.

 

[kieron]

Good morning all. I'm finding it very hard to get a clear picture of what I need to do for my new commute.

I'll be traveling twice a week from Flitwick to Canary Wharf, via Farringdon.

1. Thameslink sell weekly or daily tickets which include the TfL travelcard, but can I confirm that the best value for me is the Thameslink Flexi season ticket from Flitwick to Farringdon, plus Pay As You Go from Farringdon to Canary Wharf?

That may be the cheapest option for those trains, but you don't save much compared with a through ticket.

Flexi-season/PAYG combination
cost: £287.70 per 8 days + £3.20 x 2 per day ≈ £42.36 per day.
extra work: touch in/out in Farringdon

Through ticket
cost: £43.10 per day
extra work: Either collect tickets from the station, or have them posted to you.

There's some hassle with either option, so it's just a question of what makes more sense in your particular situation.

If you were trying to save money, you could save a few pounds a day by buying a flexi-season to West Hampstead instead, switching to PAYG there, and (say) taking the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf. This would be slower as you'd need to change train in Luton or St Albans.

 

[miklcct]

This would be slower as you'd need to change train in Luton or St Albans.

Don't Bedford - Brighton trains call at West Hampstead, running non-stop from St Albans?

 

[purple-Azumas]

Don't Bedford - Brighton trains call at West Hampstead, running non-stop from St Albans?

Yes, but the Beford - Gatwick Airport services go direct from St Albans - St Pancras, missing out West Hampstead.

 

[kieron]

Don't Bedford - Brighton trains call at West Hampstead, running non-stop from St Albans?

They do for most of the day, but there's a gap between 6:29 and 8:59 (from Flitwick) where no southbound train does. Some of the PM and northbound peak trains also skip West Hampstead, but there are at least hourly direct Bedford trains.

 

[AlbertBeale]

If you have a Flexi Season loaded to a smartcard, it only needs to be touched on a reader/gateline before you make your first journey of the day - as this activates a day's travel. After that it's not inherently necessary to touch in/out, although obviously you'll need to do so to get through any gatelines.

So your pattern would be in the morning, touch in smartcard at the Flitwick barriers, touch in with Oyster/contactless at the standalone reader between the southbound Thameslink and northbound H&C/Met/Circle platforms, use the lift to the EL platform, touch out at the Canary Wharf barriers.

And in the evening, touch in at the Canary Wharf barriers, then either lift back to the southbound TL platform and touch back out at the standalone reader and cross the bridge to the northbound TL platform, or exit the gateline with Oyster/contactless and re-enter with your smartcard, use smartcard to exit Flitwick barriers.

Re bolded word - actually westbound H&C/Met.