I guess it's not strictly Potters Bar related but do you want to save £300 on an annual all zones gold card?

I travel in each day to Kings Cross and by tube to zone 2. This years all zones renewal is £2080 (or £1934 with 7% discount). I found out it's possible to buy a cheaper combination of tickets for this journey.

A rail point to point season to Finsbury Park is £896 and a Zone 1/2 ticket is £808. If you manage to retain the charter discount you can get the point to point for £833 though the T&C's say you should only get the discount for the same type of renewal ticket. This totals to £1641 and I now have an Oyster (which won't need reprinting every couple of months) and a printed rail ticket which can stay walletted.

I rarely if at all go outside of zone 1/2 and if the train is suspended for any reason, the tube will accept tickets to Barnet/Cockfosters and the Zone 1/2 is good for the onward bus to here.

Since renewing, WAGN have told me it is permitted to buy a similar combination to Oakleigh Park and then a Z1-4 for £1644. This is valid even if the train doesn't stop at the station on the basis that the zonal ticket is not a season, it's a period travelcard (sec 17.3 of the NR conditions permits this)

This system works well on all stations between here and Welwyn Garden, with the maximum saving at £475 from Welham Green. Costs for various season tickets can be found on South West Trains season ticket page which will take a Trainline.com login. I renewed the paper ticket through them no problems as it saved queueing at the ticket office and they posted it to home.

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As a follow-up, you can buy WAGN period tickets here which are posted to you, saving queueing at the ticket office.

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I'm sorry but I'm not sure to have understand everything...
For my next job, I have to go to elephant&Castle station.

If I follow your idea, i have to buy a season ticket from Potters Bar to Finsbury park + a season Oyster Card Z1-2.

My question is : Is that possible to stay in the train with this formula from Finsbury Park to Kings Cross ? Or I have to take underground from Finsbury Park ?

Thanks for your help,

Sébastien

Sébastien Wrote:If I follow your idea, i have to buy a season ticket from Potters Bar to Finsbury park + a season Oyster Card Z1-2.

Yes you can stay on the same train as the Oyster is a season ticket which covers zones 1/2 (and Finsbury Park is in zone 2). The paper ticket covers you only as far as Finsbury Park. If you get stopped at Finsbury Park you might need to show both bits.

You could only not stay on the train if the ticket were Oyster Prepay, in which case you would have to get off, run down the stairs to the Oyster pads, pad yourself in, and then run back upstairs again! But a season ticket has no restrictions like that.

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Thanks for your informative comments !

It's very nice to save £30 and more per month !  

Looked into buying a season ticket just to Finsbury Park and then the Oyster for Zones 1 & 2 but the price I was quoted for the ticket to FP was £1400? So it worked out that I should just keep to my nrmal Gold Card to from PB to all zones.

Hi,
If you choose an annual season ticket from Potters Bar to Finsbury park (without Zone 2-6) , the cost is "only"  932 £ and not 1400 £      

Make sure they quote you for a point to point season and not a zonal season, the ticket needs to say "Between Potters Bar & Finsbury Park" and not "Potters Bar & R1256". By the sounds of it they quoted you between here and zones 2-6 (which is £1492) when you should have been quoted £932.

When I renew in December I'm going for the point to point down to Oakleigh Park and then a Z1-4 which is the cheapest option at £1748 as compared to the full renewal of £2160. For some reason even if you just split the normal all zones into two (season to Hadley Wood and a separate Z1-6) you still save £144.

The combinations are below.

PBR > All Zones £2160
PBR > HDW - £436 + Z1-6 @ £1580 = £2016 saves £144
PBR > NBA - £456 + Z1-5 @ £1452 = £1908 saves £252
PBR > OKL - £532 + Z1-4 @ £1216 = £1748 saves £412
PBR > AAP - £776 + Z1-3 @ £1000 = £1776 saves £384
PBR > FPK - £932 + Z1-2 @ £856 = £1788 saves £372

I've had my ticket combo checked many times separately and last week on the approach to Finsbury Park I flashed the Oyster to be asked where I was going, said "Potters Bar" and he said it's not valid to there, flashed the gold card and he was happy with it.

Thanks for all this info. I am actually travelling from Cuffley. I have tried all combinations and it still seems the Gold Card to all zones is the cheapest way. A point to point to Finsbury Park is £1176 this plus £856 for zones 1 & 2 is more expensive than the £1888.60 (with 5% discount) for my renewal. Any ideas on getting it cheaper is greatly appreciated!

The reason this works is because of the anomoly fares between zonal tickets and point to points (which are calculated per mile) so it's not consistent in the saving. Welham Green is the 'best' combination locally and saves £475 a year.

I have worked out all the combinations, the cheapest is to winchmore hill (£600) and a Z1-4 (£1216) so total £1816.

It's only a slight saving by the time you take off your 5% discount. I managed to retain the discount by ordering it online from http://www.swt-seasontickets.com but technically as it's a change of ticket (even though it follows the same route) you should not get the discount. If you did keep the discount then the saving comes to about £100 a year. Doens't sound a lot but £100 is £100!

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Has anyone had trouble renewing their season ticket online? No one knows. It will do a new ticket but not a renewal.

To those of you who travel with First Capital Connect, I have just been told by their Customer Relations Dept that there will no longer be any discounts on Season Ticket renewals and that we have to apply for compensation on delays within 28 days.

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