Is an Oyster Card the way to go?

[mango]

Hi,

I will be attempting my first FNC in a few weeks time based on the traditonal labarynth route, but with the necessary modifications for Ken O and the BPS extension. The only aim will be to hopefully finish it within the day. My question relates to use of an oyster card. Some comments online suggest that relying upon the daily fare cap is risky because if you exceed the maximum journey travel times at any point, you are charged the maxium fare, and then for every journey after that, which could mean it ending up being a very expensive day. An alternative could be a paper 1-day travelcard but that's not very practical for quick entry/exit and is prone to damage. Otherwise, I can see some people have used a rail smart card, e.g. the Chiltern Railways smartcard, and then loaded a 1-day travelcard onto that. Any input greatly appreciated.

[jrparkin]

It depends

When I did my attempt in 2022, because I lived in Yorkshire I travelled down for a week and bought a weekly travelcard. The reason for this was I needed 2-3 days of acclimatization practice beforehand. The other advantage is you don't get timed out as it were

And I do recommend doing the practice. If you are attempting for the first time you won't have a second to waste getting lost so a detailed knowledge of where you are going is crucial.

Also write your route down, don't memorise it. This will help you if you need to change it on the fly. Bear in mind you can get both a Met and a Piccadilly from Rayners Lane early morning so you may need to adjust there

If you don't need a practice a day ticket is the best option. You can buy it the day before if that helps. I kept mine in a leather wallet to keep it safe

[Alan White]

I wouldn't recommend using Oyster or contactless for the whole day, for the reasons you give. I've used an ITSO smartcard (Greater Anglia, but any will do) with a z1-6 day travelcard. For the 7-9 bits I use Oyster because it's cheaper and less subject to the vagaries of TfL's gate programming.

You may find this thread https://oysterfares.com/topic/tube-chal ... n-one-day/ useful.

[RJSRdg]

When I did the FNC last year, I started at Amersham and did it all with a paper Travelcard.

[mango]

Thanks all. I have decided to go with a Chiltern Railways smart card which I will add a 1-day travelcard onto on the day. I'll then use Oyster beyond zone 6 on the western stretches of the met line.

We will make our attempt to complete all 272 on Friday 2nd Aug, starting at T4 and aiming to end at Amersham. My friend Dave and my daughter will be joining me, so wish us luck. I've done as much planning as I can, mainly based on info I've gleaned from this site. I'll post how we got on onto the forum.

[Alan White]

Good luck! I look forward to reading all about it.

[Golf]

Thanks all. I have decided to go with a Chiltern Railways smart card which I will add a 1-day travelcard onto on the day. I'll then use Oyster beyond zone 5 on the western stretches of the met line.

We will make our attempt to complete all 272 on Friday 2nd Aug, starting at T4 and aiming to end at Amersham. My friend Dave and my daughter will be joining me, so wish us luck. I've done as much planning as I can, mainly based on info I've gleaned from this site. I'll post how we got on onto the forum.

i probably do morden parkrun that weekend that friday do you need any help?

[mango]

Hi Golf - thanks for the message.

There's two areas on my route that worry me that could cause signficant delays - MHE and the Hainault Loop. Is there any advice on how best to tackle these?

I suspect with MHE it's simply a case of taking the first northbound train and change at Finchley Central if it's not going to MHE, but with trains to MHE only every 15 mins I'm not sure there's much else to do than to wait it out.

On the Hainault Loop the plan is to head there from central London, and having completed it head back down to Leytonstone then transfer via the Overground to Walthamstow Central. If the first train available is to Epping is the best bet to tackle that first, then head to Hainault, or wait for the first Hainault train? I suspect a lot depends on the frequency/timing of the shuttle.

[Golf]

personally it depends on your route for example i was at MILE END on the district one time not planning to go up to HAINAULT or EPPING and quite happy to continue my progress towards UPMINSTER and the perfect train is on opposite platform so if that part is before the CENTRAL you always got that bonus there. dont forget u can do the reverse swap later on to go back to UPMINSTER

Regarding MHE i have always found it better coming from HIGH BARNET approaching COCKFOSTERS you have a rough estimation of the time needed to transfer over to HIGH BARNET and a 10 min plus 2 for change i also use so say 12minutes to FINCHLEY CENTRAL. if you decide you like the opposite direction and you know you got to wait say 7 minutes or longer taking the EDGWARE branch out is usually sensible come back to it. the best routes are ones where u have 9 or 10 plans in advance!

So on arrival at COCKFOSTERS you have say 40 mins for the next MHE bound u know u got 25 mins give or take for travel between the two end of lines not only does the save u a bit of energy for later sometimes but its a no lose gamble!