Paper Annual Gold Card

[Hadders]

Can a LNER ticket office issue an annual season ticket on paper?

Trying to renew my annual Hatton to Lapworth Gold Card and Kings Cross ticket office is telling me they can only issue it as a smartcard.

I do not want a smartcard simply because the reason for this Gold Card is so that I can apply a discount to my PAYG Oyster card. Having the Gold Card as a smartcard means I’ll end up with two smartcard SMs in my wallet which will cause card clash.

I know I’ll get a Gold Record card but the record card isn’t valid on its own, I’ll still need to carry the smartcard to be valid.

Can anyone in the know advise.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Because of our Smart TicketIhg Targets we only issue annual seasons on Smartcards. You should only get a card clash when both are valid (prob not too often)

 

[Hadders]

Because of our Smart TicketIhg Targets we only issue annual seasons on Smartcards. You should only get a card clash when both are valid (prob not too often)

The current Gold Card is on an LNER smartcard and I get card clash all the time on the Underground, even though the LNER smartcard doesn’t have a ticket valid for the underground loaded on it.

 

[Wallsendmag]

I was under the impression that shouldn’t happen.

 

[Hadders]

I was under the impression that shouldn’t happen.

TfL gateline a say something like reader error. Means having to take the Oyster card out of the ticket wallet when touching in and out. 1st World problem but it would be easy to get caught out at a standalone validator.

Oh for the days of Nigel in the Stevenage Travel Centre…

 

[Wallsendmag]

TfL gateline a say something like reader error. Means having to take the Oyster card out of the ticket wallet when touching in and out. 1st World problem but it would be easy to get caught out at a standalone validator.

Oh for the days of Nigel in the Stevenage Travel Centre…

It was fun sitting with Nigel he was on first name terms with all the regulars

 

[Ediswan]

I was under the impression that shouldn’t happen.

My understanding of 'card clash' is that the reader gets an unusable jumbled up mixture of the details for multiple cards.

Oh for the days of Nigel in the Stevenage Travel Centre…

I suspect I know who you mean. As of yesterday, the Travel Centre is still there, complete with sign over the door, but the lights are out.

 

[Hadders]

Stevenage Travel Centre closed earlier this year (April IIRC), although the (switched off) TVM was only removed a few weeks ago. Nigel retired at least 5 years ago but the other staff who worked there were excellent as well.

Sadly the GTR ticket office struggles with anything more complicated than a one day Travelcard or a day return to Peterborough.

 

[Ediswan]

Stevenage Travel Centre closed earlier this year (April IIRC), although the (switched off) TVM was only removed a few weeks ago. Nigel retired at least 5 years ago but the other staff who worked there were excellent as well.

Sadly the GTR ticket office struggles with anything more complicated than a one day Travelcard or a day return to Peterborough.

I do recall going into the travel centre and apologising for making a complicated enquiry. The initial response was along the lines of "we like complicated".

 

[Haywain]

I do not want a smartcard simply because the reason for this Gold Card is so that I can apply a discount to my PAYG Oyster card. Having the Gold Card as a smartcard means I’ll end up with two smartcard SMs in my wallet which will cause card clash.

With the season on a smartcard you will get a Gold Record Card to act as the railcard. As for card clash, just carry them in different parts of a folding wallet, such as a railcard wallet, and open it up to the appropriate part at barriers. I have 3 different smartcards in a railcard wallet and haven't experienced card clash when doing this.

Stevenage Travel Centre closed earlier this year (April IIRC), although the (switched off) TVM was only removed a few weeks ago. Nigel retired at least 5 years ago but the other staff who worked there were excellent as well.

It closed in March 2022, and I'm pretty sure Nigel retired in 2018. The TVM was removed on November 17th, and the space has now been handed back to GTR who will probably manage to let the space for a much needed coffee shop!

 

[Hadders]

I do recall going into the travel centre and apologising for making a complicated enquiry. The initial response was along the lines of "we like complicated".

Indeed. The staff always found a way to sort something out. Sleeper berths, ferry reservations, excess fares, obscure tickets, they’d do anything. I tried to put as much business over their counter as I could.

With the season on a smartcard you will get a Gold Record Card to act as the railcard. As for card clash, just carry them in different parts of a folding wallet, such as a railcard wallet, and open it up to the appropriate part at barriers. I have 3 different smartcards in a railcard wallet and haven't experienced card clash when doing this.

That’s what I’ve ended up doing. As I said it’s a 1st world problem but it’s still a bit inconvenient. I live in hope that one day only one smartcard will be needed and I’ll be able to purchase a Gold Card discounted one day Travelcard from Stevenage to London Zones 1-6 and load it to a LNER smartcard. Be even better if I could add some PAYG credit so I could use the one card when making a journey to somewhere like Shenfield.

It closed in March 2022, and I'm pretty sure Nigel retired in 2018. The TVM was removed on November 17th, and the space has now been handed back to GTR who will probably manage to let the space for a much needed coffee shop!

There are already 4 coffee shops at Stevenage station so I would imagine they’ll carry on with their winning formula and put in another.

What they really need to do is demolish the existing ticket office, open up the concourse and put in a larger gateline. A new ticket office could be installed in one of the retail units by the lifts.

Update: GTR at Stevenage sold me the ticket on paper I’ll take back what I said about them upthread.

 

[infobleep]

Indeed. The staff always found a way to sort something out. Sleeper berths, ferry reservations, excess fares, obscure tickets, they’d do anything. I tried to put as much business over their counter as I could.


That’s what I’ve ended up doing. As I said it’s a 1st world problem but it’s still a bit inconvenient. I live in hope that one day only one smartcard will be needed and I’ll be able to purchase a Gold Card discounted one day Travelcard from Stevenage to London Zones 1-6 and load it to a LNER smartcard. Be even better if I could add some PAYG credit so I could use the one card when making a journey to somewhere like Shenfield.


There are already 4 coffee shops at Stevenage station so I would imagine they’ll carry on with their winning formula and put in another.

What they really need to do is demolish the existing ticket office, open up the concourse and put in a larger gateline. A new ticket office could be installed in one of the retail units by the lifts.

Update: GTR at Stevenage sold me the ticket on paper I’ll take back what I said about them upthread.

Do you keep a record of the journeys you have made, to ensure you get value out of your gold card or do you make so many journeys that you this to be true?

 

[Hadders]

Do you keep a record of the journeys you have made, to ensure you get value out of your gold card or do you make so many journeys that you this to be true?

I make so many journeys that I k own it is true. Just today I’ve saved £16 on travel for me and two family members between Northampton and Birmingham. Tomorrow I’m travelling to Streatham so that will be another saving.

 

[Kite159]

Hopefully you will have no issues getting a member of LU staff to add the gold card discount to your oyster

 

[Hadders]

Hopefully you will have no issues getting a member of LU staff to add the gold card discount to your oyster

All done at the Tube Booking Hall at Kings Cross St Pancras on New Years Eve with no issues at all

 

[kristiang85]

I know I’ll get a Gold Record card but the record card isn’t valid on its own, I’ll still need to carry the smartcard to be valid.

Oh is this true? I've been carrying only the gold record card and photo card for proof of my Hatton/Lapworth ticket for the last 3 years and not once been advised of this (I don't trust smartcards so I still buy only paper or etickets)

I should probably find my smart card then...

 

[Wallsendmag]

Oh is this true? I've been carrying only the gold record card and photo card for proof of my Hatton/Lapworth ticket for the last 3 years and not once been advised of this (I don't trust smartcards so I still buy only paper or etickets)

I should probably find my smart card then...

Why don't you trust smartcards? There are a couple of apps out there that will read them for you.

 

[infobleep]

I make so many journeys that I k own it is true. Just today I’ve saved £16 on travel for me and two family members between Northampton and Birmingham. Tomorrow I’m travelling to Streatham so that will be another saving.

That is good to hear. I don't make enough under £13 journeys myself to be 100% certain and I live well within the Network Rail Card area.

Thus I keep a record. In time it might work out to always be true that I don't bother.

 

[Hadders]

That is good to hear. I don't make enough under £13 journeys myself to be 100% certain and I live well within the Network Rail Card area.

Thus I keep a record. In time it might work out to always be true that I don't bother.

For me there are four principle benefits of a Gold Card over a Network Railcard:

- Enlarged area covering East Anglia and the West Midlands
- Ability to add the discount to a PAYG Oyster for discounted off-peak travel in London
- 09:30 start time for discounted travel on weekdays compared to 10:00 (makes a difference when I'm meeting people for business)
- No minimum fare (to be fair not a massive issue but there are times when it can be useful, even of a Stevenage to London journey)

 

[kristiang85]

Why don't you trust smartcards? There are a couple of apps out there that will read them for you.

Because I like to be in full control of how much my ticket costs when I buy it, not trusting a card to work it out for me. But that's a discussion for another place...

 

[Haywain]

Because I like to be in full control of how much my ticket costs when I buy it, not trusting a card to work it out for me. But that's a discussion for another place...

Isn't that about Pay As You Go rather than smartcards?

 

[infobleep]

For me there are four principle benefits of a Gold Card over a Network Railcard:

- Enlarged area covering East Anglia and the West Midlands
- Ability to add the discount to a PAYG Oyster for discounted off-peak travel in London
- 09:30 start time for discounted travel on weekdays compared to 10:00 (makes a difference when I'm meeting people for business)
- No minimum fare (to be fair not a massive issue but there are times when it can be useful, even of a Stevenage to London journey)

I hardly ever go to East Anglia or West Midlands and if I did, probably on advanced tickets due to the distance to get there and advances being cheaper.

9:30 is useful but I don't often travel at that time.

The things I find most useful are Underground and the no minimum fare too.