Cheapest way to communte from zone 3 to zone 6?

[whataboutbob]

For the forst time in 15 years I have a job which requires me to commute. It's week 2 and I am shocked at how much I've been spending! I've been topping up my Oyster card as I go.
Would it be cheaper to get weekly travelcard, or is the spend on Oyster capped to the equivalent of a weekly travelcard? I work five days a week.

We need more info. What time of day are you travelling? Is it all peak hours? Are any of your 5 days at the weekend? How many individual journeys do you make in the day? What sort of journeys? A bus, a Tube, train, tram? ie, I do a bus, two Tube lines, a train and a bus to get to work. The daily spend on PAYG is capped to match the day travelcard price.

Yes, sorry. I take the train to work and back, at 7:58 and 16:45 usually, so peak hours. I work for the NHS and in the new year I am going to start visiting other sites so doing multiple train/ bus journeys during the day ( my employer would reimburse non commuting to and from work journeys) . I only work Monday to Friday. I wouldn’t really use travel card very much at weekends as I tend to cycle locally or travel into zone 1. When the days get longer I might use my bike and get off in zone 5 and cycle the rest to bring costs down. Any cost saving suggestions welcome!

Unless you can bike or bus it then it'll stay the same price!

can you cycle at all? It's def. the cheapest (and most pleasant way) to get around London imo. Maybe a folding bike would be the way forward?

(you may be able to buy one on a cyclescheme or similar scheme).

The Oyster card is capped only to the daily rate. It's cheapest to get an annual card. If not then monthly. If not then weekly.

A lot of employers will give you an interest-free loan to get an annual travelcard, so you can pay for it each month. An annual travelcard usually costs about 10x a monthly one.

Make sure you buy a travelcard early, the fares go up in Jan

Annual card, some employers do loans. Or monthly.

Are you going through zone 1 on the commute? It's a lot cheaper if you can avoid it.

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll go for a month travelcard as from Monday. Thanks for the heads up re fare increases in January!

There's an MSE article here on saving money on commuting that might be worth a read too.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/train-season-tickets/

Re cycling, I’m not quick enough or fit enough to do the whole journey so I thought I could do the last leg so I don’t have to travel into zone 6 and then I could get a cheaper railcard.

It may not be viable but if you only use busses it is capped at £4.50 per day.

The weekly cap is also applied on pay as you go oyster and contactless, not just daily

I take an interest free loan via my employer and buy an annual travel card just before the annual increase. Means I get one month and a half for free.
If you do anything more than a return trip a day, eg add a bus journey on top of your train journey, or travel more than 4 days a week, the annual card is usually the most cost effective option. And you get an annual gold travel card with it which gives you and 3 of your family/friends 33% discount on any train trip (except Virgin Train)

Just a question. I have checked Tfl website but am still not clear. Can I add a travelcard to my oyster card, without getting a photocard? Is it doeable online? I treid to get a one week travelcar dat the station via a machine this am and it asked me for my photocard (which I do not have). Thank you.

you can. I have an annual travelcard on my oyster. You can order it online, that's the easiest. Just register your oyster, add the season ticket and you pick it up when you touch in next.

Yes, or if like me you have an old generation oyster that can no longer be topped up online there are a number of visitor centres you can get your annual travel card from. I will be getting my new one tomorrow from Euston. I feel slightly better paying £1,600 f2f in case anything goes wrong