Is a Network Railcard worth it?

[GodAtum]

If I pay £30 for it, how many times a year will I need to travel from Clapham Junction - London to make it worthwhile? Each anytime return ticket is £5.90.

 

[Mojo]

If I pay £30 for it, how many times a year will I need to travel from Clapham Junction - London to make it worthwhile? Each anytime return ticket is £5.90.

The Network Railcard has a £13 (£17 for Anytime day Travelcards) Minimum fare on weekdays, and is not valid at all before 10.00 a.m. on weekdays

 

[GodAtum]

The Network Railcard has a £13 (£17 for Anytime day Travelcards) Minimum fare on weekdays, and is not valid at all before 10.00 a.m.

I will be travelling after 10am on weekends.

 

[transmanche]

If I pay £30 for it, how many times a year will I need to travel from Clapham Junction - London to make it worthwhile? Each anytime return ticket is £5.90.

The discounted fare is £3.90, so you'll break even after 15 return journeys.

However, the Mon-Fri minimum fare of £13 will effectively restrict its use to weekends and public holidays only.

 

[crehld]

If I pay £30 for it, how many times a year will I need to travel from Clapham Junction - London to make it worthwhile? Each anytime return ticket is £5.90.

Making 16 journeys using the ticket you cite would be required. However, given there's a minimum fare of £13 on weekday you'd only be able to get the discounted price on this ticket on weekends. If you just want it for travel between Clapham Junction and London I reckon you'd be much better off just using an oyster card which I believe is much cheaper, even taking into account any discount offered by the Network Railcard on the ticket you propose to use.

 

[GodAtum]

The discounted fare is £3.90, so you'll break even after 15 journeys.

However, the Mon-Fri minimum fare of £13 will effectively restrict its use to weekends and public holidays only.

Thanks, I will only really use it around 10-12 times a year I think.

I already have a Zone2-6 travelcard, so just looking at ways to get into London.

 

[transmanche]

If you just want it for travel between Clapham Junction and London I reckon you'd be much better off just using an oyster card which I believe is much cheaper, even taking into account any discount offered by the Network Railcard on the ticket you propose to use.

The off-peak single PAYG fare for a NR Z1-2 journey is £2.10 (£4.20 return), so more expensive than the discounted off-peak return.

There are no Network Railcard discounts on Oyster PAYG.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I already have a Zone2-6 travelcard, so just looking at ways to get into London.

Is your Travelcard issued on an Oystercard or on paper? If it's on an Oystercard, then you'd only pay £1.90 for each off-peak single journey in/out of Waterloo or Victoria, using Oyster PAYG.

Your Travelcard is also valid for use on all TfL bus services - even in Z1.

 

[crehld]

The off-peak single PAYG fare for a NR Z1-2 journey is £2.10 (£4.20 return), so more expensive than the discounted off-peak return.

There are no Network Railcard discounts on Oyster PAYG.

Ah ha - I see.

Given the OP is only intending to travel between the two stations 10 to 12 times a year (and 15 journeys are required to break even, 16 to start making any savings), would using an Oyster not be more beneficial anyway, that is (assuming 12 return trips to be made at weekends):

24 x journeys using undiscounted Oyster @ £2.10 each = £50.40

vs.

12 x discounted off-peak returns @ £3.90 + the £30 outlay for the railcard = £76.80

 

[transmanche]

Given the OP is only intending to travel between the two stations 10 to 12 times a year (and 15 journeys are required to break even, 16 to start making any savings), would using an Oyster not be more beneficial anyway, that is (assuming 12 return trips to be made at weekends):

Definitely! (The OP hadn't posted about it only being 10-12 journeys when I wrote my post.)

 

[GodAtum]

The off-peak single PAYG fare for a NR Z1-2 journey is £2.10 (£4.20 return), so more expensive than the discounted off-peak return.

There are no Network Railcard discounts on Oyster PAYG.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Is your Travelcard issued on an Oystercard or on paper?

Your Travelcard is also valid for use on all TfL bus services - even in Z1.

It's a paper monthly. I actually come from East Croydon, so if I have time exit at Clapham and buzz myself back in with an Oyster.

It's really surprising how much paper tickets are. On my Oyster last Sunday I paid £4.60 to get from East Croydon - Totteridge & Whetstone!

 

[causton]

It's really surprising how much paper tickets are. On my Oyster last Sunday I paid £4.60 to get from East Croydon - Totteridge & Whetstone!

Welcome to London. Paper expensive. Oyster and contactless cheap!

 

[bb21]

If you are coming in from East Croydon, I would say that Oyster would be your best bet, as getting off the train and back on would not impose much of a time penalty. No more than 10 minutes for most part of the day.

The saving for each return journey using Network Railcard is therefore tiny (30p), so you would need to do a lot of return journeys (100) to break even. This is not taking into consideration days where you end up capped on Oyster in Zones 1 and 2, and weekdays when the Oyster fare is much cheaper.

 

[LexyBoy]

I'm sure you're aware, but it's worth pointing out that an annual ticket would give you the benefits of a Gold Card - basically a superior Network Railcard with no minimum fare - as well as potentially being cheaper over a year (depending how careful you are with buying tickets to avoid covering holidays etc).

It's really surprising how much paper tickets are. On my Oyster last Sunday I paid £4.60 to get from East Croydon - Totteridge & Whetstone!

It's deliberate - paper tickets were hugely increased in price to force people onto Oyster. This despite the fact that Oyster does not allow for certain situations that the paper tickets it replaced did - combining tickets without having to detrain for example - as well as making some Railcards useless for these journeys.

 

[transmanche]

It's a paper monthly. I actually come from East Croydon, so if I have time exit at Clapham and buzz myself back in with an Oyster.

You can do that at Vauxhall (your Travelcard is valid that far) which may be useful if making an onward journey by tube.

It's really surprising how much paper tickets are. On my Oyster last Sunday I paid £4.60 to get from East Croydon - Totteridge & Whetstone!

Although with your Travelcard you only really needed to pay a Z1 tube fare. You might want to consider changing to get a Travelcard on an Oystercard (although it would mean losing any specific additional benefits you may be getting from your current TOC-issued Travelcard).

I'm not sure how much the Oyster PAYG system would charge for an East Croydon-Totteridge and Whetstone journey, if already loaded with a Z2-6 Travelcard. Logic would dictate £2.30 (the appropriate Z1 tube fare), but sometimes logic doesn't come into mixed-mode journeys via Z1 on Oyster PAYG. (I assume that you'd use Thameslink from East Croydon to Kentish Town, and Northern line from there?)

You could, of course, travel that journey without paying anything extra if you're prepared to change onto London Overground at Clapham Junction travel to Kentish Town West, then walking to Kentish Town to pick up the Northern line. Very slow, but free!

 

[Haywain]

What Oyster PAYG also does is restrict you to using trains that stop at Clapham Junction, which means that using Thameslink services into the core is not an option.

 

[bb21]

What Oyster PAYG also does is restrict you to using trains that stop at Clapham Junction, which means that using Thameslink services into the core is not an option.

Yes, that too.

Since it is an inboundary Travelcard, I would echo the advice by others to get it issued on Oyster next time, as several benefits can then be unlocked.

 

[transmanche]

What Oyster PAYG also does is restrict you to using trains that stop at Clapham Junction, which means that using Thameslink services into the core is not an option.

Not at all. If you have your Z2-6 Travelcard loaded onto an Oystercard (with some PAYG balance) and made a journey such as East Croydon to Totteridge & Whetstone, then when you touch out at Totteridge & Whetstone it will simply charge the appropriate Z1 PAYG fare - as it knows you would have had to travel via Z1 to make the journey.

(Of course, if you travelled via the WLL/NLL, interchanging between Kentish Town West and Kentish Town, the system would know that you hadn't travelled via Z1 and thus (technically) shouldn't change anything extra.)

 

[Haywain]

Not at all. If you have your Z2-6 Travelcard loaded onto an Oystercard (with some PAYG balance) and made a journey such as East Croydon to Totteridge & Whetstone, then when you touch out at Totteridge & Whetstone it will simply charge the appropriate Z1 PAYG fare - as it knows you would have had to travel via Z1 to make the journey.

(Of course, if you travelled via the WLL/NLL, interchanging between Kentish Town West and Kentish Town, the system would know that you hadn't travelled via Z1 and thus (technically) shouldn't change anything extra.)

It does create that restriction in the OP's current situation of holding a paper ticket. This is what I specifically referred to as bb21 clearly managed to understand.

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to London. Paper expensive. Oyster and contactless cheap!

I wouldn't say Oyster is cheap. Sometimes less expensive

 

[IanD]

I already have a Zone2-6 travelcard, so just looking at ways to get into London.

Buy an annual version, you'd get your free gold card and not have to worry about getting a Network Railcard or minimum fares. Plus you could get a national or network railcard for yourself/anyone else for £10.

 

[MikeWh]

I beileve that the OP is someone who is almost certain to have a first class travelcard which means it cannot be added to an Oyster.

 

[GodAtum]

yes it's 1st class ticket. I used to change at Vuaxhall and get a bus to avoid zone 1.

 

[DarloRich]

If I pay £30 for it, how many times a year will I need to travel from Clapham Junction - London to make it worthwhile? Each anytime return ticket is £5.90.

Do you not already have a gold card via a season ticket? It now has wider validity which may reduce you payback time

 

[GodAtum]

No only a monthly ticket.

 

[DarloRich]

No only a monthly ticket.

oh - apologies i assumed you to be an annual season holder. Still, even when i used monthlies the cost of the railcard version of the gold card was still worth it even limited to weekend travel.