Bedford - London Avoiding Evening Peak Restrictions

[Hadders]

2 adults and 2 children travelling from Bedford - London this week for a day out (will need tube and bus travel in London on arrival).

Outbound after 10.00am but likely to want to return during the evening peak. I have Network Railcard.

Would the following combination be valid and does this avoid the evening peak restrictions?

Bedford-Boundary Zone 6 CDR (2 adults, 2 children with Network Railcard) £32.40
Epson - London Zones 1-6 off-peak travelcard Route Southern (4 adults with Groupsave) £19.40

Total £51.80

If this combination is valid could an EMT service be used (what is the status of the Groupsave discounted travelcard on EMT?). Does anyone know of a cheaper combination?

Many thanks in anticipation.
Hadders.

 

[yorkie]

Yes, Boundary Zone 6 [0072] to Bedford Stns [0410] Off Peak Day Return (CDR) is valid in the evening peak

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=0072&dest=BDM&grpd=0410&rlc=NEW&rte=0&ldn=0&tkt=CDR

Yes, NRCoC Condition 19 permits more than one ticket to be used for one journey. In this particular case 19(a) applies; both are Zonal tickets.

EMT is perfectly valid. Although your Travelcard is routed "Southern only" NRCoC 10 only restricts you to Southern for the Epsom to Ewell East portion of your journey. Off Peak Travelcards are, of course, valid on all operators within the appropriate Zones.

Unfortunately some EMT staff reportedly have difficulty looking up restriction codes & rules and instead make their own rules up (source: regular customers on EMT who I know personally and who are knowledgeable in the area of ticketing) therefore I could not guarantee a hassle-free journey. As always I am happy to proof read a letter to the Company in the event that any member of EMT staff deems the tickets invalid.

 

[Hadders]

Thanks Yorkie!

I thought it would be valid. What I'm unsure of is the validity on EMT of a Groupsave discounted travelcard given that they seemingly don't accept Groupsave - is this likely to be an issue, especially given some of the things one reads on here about EMT!

 

[yorkie]

According to NRE ("the definitive source of information for all passenger rail services on the National Rail network..."), EMT do accept GroupSave (yes I know it's not as simple as that, as discussed in previous threads!), however in any case my understanding of Travelcards is that, within the Zones, an out-boundary Travelcard is not subject to any of the additional T&Cs that can be applicable to the leg of the journey from origin to the boundary, and that within the Zones, a Travelcard is a Travelcard allowing use of all services within the Zones.

Any additional T&Cs that restrict you to particular operators should, in this case, only apply between Epsom and Ewell East, as I understand it.

 

[RJ]

2 adults and 2 children travelling from Bedford - London this week for a day out (will need tube and bus travel in London on arrival).

Outbound after 10.00am but likely to want to return during the evening peak. I have Network Railcard.

Would the following combination be valid and does this avoid the evening peak restrictions?

Bedford-Boundary Zone 6 CDR (2 adults, 2 children with Network Railcard) £32.40
Epson - London Zones 1-6 off-peak travelcard Route Southern (4 adults with Groupsave) £19.40

Total £51.80

If this combination is valid could an EMT service be used (what is the status of the Groupsave discounted travelcard on EMT?). Does anyone know of a cheaper combination?

Many thanks in anticipation.
Hadders.

Not valid I'm afraid. EMT have their own special Groupsave arrangements and are quite vocal in publicising non acceptance of standard Groupsave tickets.

 

[radamfi]

Not valid I'm afraid. EMT have their own special Groupsave arrangements and are quite vocal in publicising non acceptance of standard Groupsave tickets.

But he's only using Groupsave within the Travelcard zones, where there is no TOC restriction. Outside the zones, he is using the regular Network Railcard discounted tickets and not Groupsave.

 

[Mike395]

But he's only using Groupsave within the Travelcard zones, where there is no TOC restriction. Outside the zones, he is using the regular Network Railcard discounted tickets and not Groupsave.

This is true - however I think (as much as I disagree with it!) that EMT could argue that the Z1-6 Travelcard forms a part of their journey.

 

[island]

I think that might be a red herring. EMT would not accept a Groupsave day return ticket to (say) Luton Airport Parkway route ANY PERMITTED, but it would accept a non-Groupsave ticket.

 

[yorkie]

But they are only using the Z1-6 Travelcard within the Zones, beyond the Zones they have NSE-discounted tickets from Boundary Zone 6 to Bedford.

If they were using a GroupSave discounted Luton to Z1-6 Travelcard, EMT could claim that it was not valid (between Luton and the Zone 6 Boundary) due to EMT apparently not accepting the "wrong type" of GroupSave (!!), which I would dispute anyway due to such a claim not being compliant with NRCoC Condition 10 - though it's not applicable/relevant to this particular query as an NSE discount is being used for travel beyond the Zones.

 

[RJ]

Why not avoid the problems altogether and use a cheaper Family Travelcard from Epsom? 2ad 2ch works out at £17.40.

 

[radamfi]

Why not avoid the problems altogether and use a cheaper Family Travelcard from Epsom? 2ad 2ch works out at £17.40.

Using a Friends & Family Railcard means buying one. He might not think it worth buying one if he doesn't travel outside the South East, or at least doesn't travel outside the South East with a child.

 

[RJ]

Using a Friends & Family Railcard means buying one. He might not think it worth buying one if he doesn't travel outside the South East, or at least doesn't travel outside the South East with a child.

A Family Travelcard is not the same thing as a Travelcard with a Family and Friends discount applied. FTC tickets can only have certain outboundary stations as the origin and don't require any extra documentation.

 

[radamfi]

A Family Travelcard is not the same thing as a Travelcard with a Family and Friends discount applied. FTC tickets can only have certain outboundary stations as the origin and don't require any extra documentation.

Sorry, I misread your message. Yes, that does sound like a good suggestion.