Topic ID 5574
I recently contacted National Express as I found that a pay as you go Oyster card worked out cheaper than the additional cost of £1,036 of including a Travelcard as part of my season ticket. I therefore looked at the difference in costs charged by National Express. The season ticket costs for Hertford East, Ware and St Margarets are identical at £2,188, however if you add on a travel card the cost for Ware and St Margarets increases by only £720 to £2,908 where as Hertford increases by £1,036 to £3,224! I've just had a reply from NatExp shown below "The difference on the Hertford East line is accounted for by the fares from Hertford being set by First Capital Connect and from Ware towards London by us. First Capital Connect charge a higher add-on for a Season Ticket including London Zones 1-6 than we at National Express East Anglia does. There is no fixed amount that we have to charge for the London Zones 1-6 add-on as this add-on can be priced in a number of ways. It can be a factor of how big the payment that has to be made into the Travelcard scheme from the sale of the ticket is as well as the cost of Pay As You Go, etc". Therefore my hopes of getting a partial refund have been scuppered! But it does show how costly First Capital Connect are, as talking to other colleagues, they are charged around £700 extra on their networks season tickets. Just thought I would make people aware as Oyster works out cheaper and I've noticed that since I got a pay as you go one, I've actually been less lazy and walked to work more from Liverpool St rather than getting the tube every time [:)]