Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

For the customers of Greater Anglia, FCC and Network Rail
JohnSmith
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Joined:Thu 12 Dec, 2013 2:04 pm
Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by JohnSmith » Thu 05 Apr, 2018 8:32 am

Govia have finally got round to adding a pay as you go function to their Key smart card. It's called KeyGo. Very handy if you don't go into London every day.

https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/ticke ... card/keygo

Cunning Alph
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Joined:Fri 14 Feb, 2014 11:15 pm

Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by Cunning Alph » Sun 08 Apr, 2018 1:04 pm

They are making slow progress, but progress none the less...
You should noted that if you travel to London more than 5 times in 3 months, KeyGo is NOT the cheapest options. You should get a carnet ticket instead.

What I am hoping is for them put the carnet option onto the Key Card, and stop selling the paper version. As is now, the carnet ticket does work at the gate at Hertford, because they want the guard to check the date to stop "cheating" !! Also, buying them means waiting for it to print out 14 paper cards ! You do not want to be the one waiting behind me when I am buying it !!

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Steve
Project Leader
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Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by Steve » Sun 08 Apr, 2018 2:33 pm

... or they could just join Oyster

monkeyman1974
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Joined:Tue 19 Apr, 2016 9:19 pm

Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by monkeyman1974 » Sun 08 Apr, 2018 3:22 pm

Steve wrote:... or they could just join Oyster
which was part of their franchise commitment

JohnSmith
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Joined:Thu 12 Dec, 2013 2:04 pm

Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by JohnSmith » Sun 08 Apr, 2018 8:14 pm

I don't travel all the way into London so carnet is not an option for me.

I'm giving the KeyGo a go tomorrow so I'll report back on how it went.

I have asked a question as to what they would charge me if I travelled from Hertford North to Bowes Park in the morning and then from Kings Cross to Hertford North in the evening. Still waiting on a reply.

Cunning Alph
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Joined:Fri 14 Feb, 2014 11:15 pm

Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by Cunning Alph » Mon 09 Apr, 2018 7:16 pm

Joining Oyster card would be useful for people who travel on the underground network as well. Saving them carrying 1 more card.
For people using only "London Terminals" then what they offer now is slightly more flexible than oyster. Oyster, if I remember correctly is pre-pay only. KeyGo allow you post-pay as well, so no need "top-up".
Also not sure adding carnet type ticket will be an option for Oyster. It may depends on who control the oyster system, and what they would allow different company to customise their own ticket offers.

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Steve
Project Leader
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Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by Steve » Mon 09 Apr, 2018 9:47 pm

Cunning Alph wrote:Joining Oyster card would be useful for people who travel on the underground network as well. Saving them carrying 1 more card.
For people using only "London Terminals" then what they offer now is slightly more flexible than oyster. Oyster, if I remember correctly is pre-pay only. KeyGo allow you post-pay as well, so no need "top-up".
Also not sure adding carnet type ticket will be an option for Oyster. It may depends on who control the oyster system, and what they would allow different company to customise their own ticket offers.
Oyster allows you to use any contactless card, so you don't even need an Oyster card or account.

JohnSmith
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Joined:Thu 12 Dec, 2013 2:04 pm

Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by JohnSmith » Thu 12 Apr, 2018 8:40 am

Yesterday I did:
Hertford North to Alexandra Palace in the morning
Finsbury Park to Hertford North in the evening.

KeyGo calculated that the cheapest option was a Hertford North to Finsbury Park return at £15.50.

I looked at prices for Hertford North to Alexandra Palace return plus a single from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace. This would have been £12.70 + £3.20 = £15.90.

So far, so good.

Then I thought about:
Hertford North to Bowes Park return plus Bowes Park to Finsbury Park return. That would be: £8.80 + £ 5.40 = £14.20. The restriction here would be that I would have to catch trains that stop at Bowes Park.

Unfortunately you can't add your own daily returns on to the Key card so the Bowes Park option is only viable with paper tickets.

beebopb
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Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by beebopb » Tue 17 Apr, 2018 12:45 pm

If I have a season ticket, say Hertford North to London Terminals, on 'The Key' and then one day I travel on a different route, say Hatfield to Kings Cross, using KeyGo will it apply an appropriate Gold Card discount to that fare do you think?

monkeyman1974
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Re: Great Northern-Thameslink Pay As You Go

Post by monkeyman1974 » Fri 20 Apr, 2018 9:34 pm

beebopb wrote:If I have a season ticket, say Hertford North to London Terminals, on 'The Key' and then one day I travel on a different route, say Hatfield to Kings Cross, using KeyGo will it apply an appropriate Gold Card discount to that fare do you think?
I used to have a key from Welwyn North to KX. In addition to being able to use intermediate stations (I'd sometimes use Hatfield); it also worked from Hertford North, which I'd use if I was having a drink. I'd long since given up on the Hertford North service as it was slow, crowded and the trains are as old as me.

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