Travel/rail cards in London for 11 year old (Southwest Trains)

[Strix]

I am thinking forward to September here. DD will need to travel from zone 5 to 4. The train is easier/faster than the bus. But, obviously, the bus is free.

Does anyone know how I work out what the train would cost? Can I get a travel card for her? She has an Oyster zip, but I am struggling to work out what that costs. I think she would get a 1/2 fare but not sure.

It seems the only "travelcard" available covers zone 1-6, but that is extortion since we don't need zones 1, 2, 3, or 6.

Thanks.

The information you need is on www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/tube-dlr-lo-11-15-fares-jan-2014.pdf so it will cost about £45/month for zones 4 and 5, which is a half-fare. For the train, you wouldn't need a travelcard, surely? You just need a season ticket from one station to another, usually with some nearby ones being regarded as the same.

Good luck to your DD!

We are South west trains - son has a season ticket, I forget the exact name of it but it's for going to/from place of education. It does work out about 1/2 price. It is available for under 16 yr olds.

Forgot to add that you can set the season to run for a half-term or a whole term, ie you aren't bound by the set periods on offer. Anyone can do this, not just schoolkids. My DD has one for each half-term (during hols, she's mostly with DH and I, so the Family and Friends Card gets used instead!). This saves a lot of ag - we did start off with weeklies though, just to relieve any pressure she felt about having to look after it, but she agreed in the end that it wasn't worth the extra effort.

Thank you. That's very helpful information (which my feeble brain was unable to locate on tfl). I think a zone 4-5 railcard and some top up on her Oyster zip will do the trick.

You can put the season onto the Oyster can't you? Save her travelling with travelcard AND Zip?

Depends which sort of train OP is talking about Titchy - I thought that for DD, but it doesn't work for Overground, only Underground.

Mind you, she has her lunch money on her Oyster as well, so that might be a step too far for her in any case

You can put a travel card on oyster, but not sure about a rail card. I shall find out soon enough though. I think I'll got to Richmond Station since they do train and Tube and see what my options are. It's not really any big deal if she has to carry a little cardboard rail ticket in addition to her oyster zip? I'm sure they will both fit into the same pocket of her oyster wallet.

Lunch money on an oyster? Now that one I have not heard of before.

Ds has his Oyster card which I just top up, mainly as he doesn't take train to and from school every day during the week (depends on other activities before and after school).

Agree you can put travelcard there, but OP only wants 2 zones, which may mean t/c not applicable - it sounds like a season ticket. Yes, my dd just keeps hers separate and it doesn't seem to be a problem for her.

Lunch money is a school thing - not a bad idea. If only they would allow topups online as well...

Almost certain you can only put a travel card on the Oyster, but the season ticket can be ordered online with specified dates (start and end of half termly worked for us). It is a paper ticket so a photo card ID is required which links all purchase details so if you lose the ticket it can be tracked (not sure if you have to pay a fee for the replacement ticket, but even if you do it is cheaper than forking out for a whole new season ticket).

Tickets can also be organised in person at the station and for the first time you might have to do this because of needing a photo card (unless you can now do this online too...sorry has been a while since I caught the train).

Ah.. photo card... do you know if the oyster zip (which has her photo) counts as photo card or do I need yet another photo ID for the train ticket purchase.

Oops, forgot about that Strix - yes, she'll need it in addition. Boring and IMO unnecessary, but true. The train co's do have free wallets that hold ticket, photocard and have one space, so Oyster could go in that. There are also lots of companies that give out free ones - we have a small collection!

If you get an zone 4-5 travelcard loaded on her oyster then that will be the simplest option since it can be replaced if lost. The train company will not replace a lost train ticket more than once a year because they can't be remotely blocked and someone who finds it can use it until an RPI catches up with them.
You don't be able to get any oyster products loaded at Richmond though because they don't have oyster facilities.

Are you sure about the zone 4-5 travel card? I thought they didn't exist any more.

The link Everhopeful posted earlier shows a fare of £45.40 a month for a Z4-5 travelcard on an 11-15 oyster so I would say this is something you should be able to either buy online or get loaded at a tfl ticket office. This is not something you'll be able to buy at a National Rail ticket office unless that ticket office can do oyster cards.

You might need to find out whether a point to point rail ticket will be cheaper than an oyster travelcard. You can use the season ticket calculator on the national rail enquiries website for this.

Point to point is usually cheaper than a travel card for sure.

www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/buses-and-trains/bus-tickets,-passes-and-travel-discounts/student-fare-card-scheme/train-student-fare-card/qualifying-stations-for-train-student-fare-card

DD gets season ticket point to point every half term. This is cheaper than a PAYG travel card. You can't put it on the Zip card but the zip card serves as the photo card and links the season ticket to the zip card in case it is lost.