Ticket "Via Wimbledon Park" - Is My Journey Valid?

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Hi all.

Recently, I purchased a ticket from Guildford to London Liverpool Street.

Wanting to save a bit of money, I selected the cheaper option, which says "valid only for travel via (changing trains or passing through) Wimbledon Park (Underground)".

Having just inspected my journey itinerary, however, the booking site has routed me the following:

Guildford > Wimbledon (South Western Railway)
Wimbledon > Farringdon (Thameslink)
Farringdon > London Liverpool Street (Underground)

This route does not pass through Wimbledon Park, so am I valid to make this journey on the ticket that I have?

Many thanks.

 

[Haywain]

Could you clarify exactly what ticket you have bought, including what the destination shows as on the ticket?
It is normally the case that a ticket is valid in conjunction with the itinerary issued at the same time as the ticket but the additional information will help to see if you may encounter problems.

 

[JonathanH]

This seems to be a ticket from Guildford to London Zones 1-3 routed Wimbledon Park
eg https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=ZLV&grpd=0791&rte=509&tkt=SOH or https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=ZLV&grpd=0791&rte=509&tkt=CDR

This is clearly intended for a journey using the District Line from Wimbledon to a Zone 1 destination, not to go via Thameslink to Farringdon.

There is no interavailability of underground tickets on the Thameslink route from Wimbledon.

It might raise some questions if the OP were to encounter a ticket checker, but I guess they would show their itinerary and note that it had been mis sold. With Wimbledon to Farringdon running only once every hour from Monday, they may end up going via the District Line anyway.

Wimbledon - Notting Hill Gate - Liverpool Street is timed by TfL at 56 minutes
Wimbledon - Victoria - Oxford Circus - Liverpool Street is also timed at 56 minutes
Wimbledon - Farringdon - Liverpool Street is timed by TfL at 53 minutes

Doesn't seem much slower to just use the District Line

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Could you clarify exactly what ticket you have bought, including what the destination shows as on the ticket?
It is normally the case that a ticket is valid in conjunction with the itinerary issued at the same time as the ticket but the additional information will help to see if you may encounter problems.

It's an Anytime Day Return, and the destination on the actual printed ticket shows as "London Underground Zones 1-3 only valid via Wimbledon Park (Underground)".

 

[Haywain]

It's an Anytime Day Return, and the destination on the actual printed ticket shows as "London Underground Zones 1-3 only valid via Wimbledon Park (Underground)".

As noted above, it’s not valid on Thameslink so it is possible you will encounter problems travelling that way. More importantly, you could have got cheaper tickets for your journey.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

This must be a contender for a flow with the most number of variant Anytime Day Return fares. Some are routed via Reading, some via Clandon/Woking, some via Wimbledon Park, and most are in combination with different single LU journeys on either zones 1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5 or 1-6.

The one that the OP has asked about seems to be the very cheapest Anytime Day Return fare available between Guildford and Liverpool Street Und, which might impinge upon route flexibility.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

More importantly, you could have got cheaper tickets for your journey.

May I be enlightened as to what these tickets could have been?

When booking the tickets, the only options were this one, and the more expensive Anytime Day Return via Clandon/Woking.

 

[30907]

According to BRFares.com there are various tickets routed this way

This seems to be a ticket from Guildford to London Zones 1-3 routed Wimbledon Park
eg https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=ZLV&grpd=0791&rte=509&tkt=SOH or https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=ZLV&grpd=0791&rte=509&tkt=CDR

This is clearly intended for a journey using the District Line from Wimbledon to a Zone 1 destination, not to go via Thameslink to Farringdon.

My guess is that the journey planner enforces a change at Wimbledon.

It might raise some questions if the OP were to encounter a ticket checker, but I guess they would show their itinerary and note that it had been mis sold.

A wise precaution. An innocent traveller might assume that Wimbledon Park is somewhere round Haydons Road

With Wimbledon to Farringdon running only once every hour from Monday, they may end up going via the District Line anyway.

An important flag-up.

 

[JonathanH]

The Anytime Day Return from Guildford to London Zones 1-3 route Wimbledon Park is £26.10
https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=ZLV&grpd=0791&rte=509&tkt=SDR

The Anytime Day Return from Guildford to London Terminals route Clandon / Woking is £27.60, so it already beats that
https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=1072&rte=506&tkt=SDR

The Anytime Day Return from Guildford to Wimbledon is £19.50
https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=WIM&tkt=SDR

Peak Oyster single from Wimbledon to Liverpool Street (avoiding ticket barriers on route) is £3.40 each way, so I don't think there is a cheaper option at peak time. Happy to be enlightened though.

 

[Haywain]

May I be enlightened as to what these tickets could have been?

Apologies, for an Anytime Day Return this may not be the case.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Apologies, for an Anytime Day Return this may not be the case.

No worries.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What's the purpose / extra validity of the higher priced Guildford -> Liverpool Street Und Anytime Day Return (SDR) fare, also routed via Wimbledon Pk and allowing one return journey in London Zones 1-6? Priced at £29.70 (rather than £26.10 for the version with London Zones 1-3 validity already mentioned upthread).

 

[JonathanH]

What's the purpose / extra validity of the higher priced Guildford -> Liverpool Street Und Anytime Day Return (SDR) fare, also routed via Wimbledon Pk and allowing one return journey in London Zones 1-6? Priced at £29.70 (rather than £26.10 for the version with London Zones 1-3 validity already mentioned upthread).

I don't think that would be sold for Liverpool Street via Wimbledon Park - it is perhaps a limitation of BRFares - the purpose of a Guildford to London Zones 1-6 ticket via Wimbledon Park would be to travel to places like Epping in Zone 6.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

Having just inspected my journey itinerary, however, the booking site has routed me the following:

Guildford > Wimbledon (South Western Railway)
Wimbledon > Farringdon (Thameslink)
Farringdon > London Liverpool Street (Underground)

It's difficult to get this one right. This journey meets all the requirements for the route code: Visit Wimbledon, don't visit Clapham Junction and use the Underground. They need to add something like 'not Elephant and Castle' to get the intended journeys.

 

[swt_passenger]

It's difficult to get this one right. This journey meets all the requirements for the route code: Visit Wimbledon, don't visit Clapham Junction and use the Underground. They need to add something like 'not Elephant and Castle' to get the intended journeys.

The requirement is Wimbledon Park, not Wimbledon.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

The requirement is Wimbledon Park, not Wimbledon.

The data for the route, as used by journey planners to validate the fare, requires travel via Wimbledon, not Wimbledon Park. It would be impossible to check whether the journey has gone via Wimbledon Park as the intermediate stations on most Underground legs are not known to the planner so that condition can't be enforced. Requiring Wimbledon doesn't seem to help much here, so perhaps it's a mistake.

 

[yorkie]

Indeed. Journey planners just look at what the data says; this may not be the same as the human readable text.

It's the same with easements and also time restrictions.

In any case, the ticket is contractually valid in accordance with the itinerary provided.

 

[swt_passenger]

The data for the route, as used by journey planners to validate the fare, requires travel via Wimbledon, not Wimbledon Park. It would be impossible to check whether the journey has gone via Wimbledon Park as the intermediate stations on most Underground legs are not known to the planner so that condition can't be enforced. Requiring Wimbledon doesn't seem to help much here, so perhaps it's a mistake.

Oh right, I wasn’t aware of that so far in the earlier discussion. Seems a bit of a schoolboy error…

 

[Paul Kelly]

Seems a bit of a schoolboy error…

It probably dates back to before the days of journey planners. The via stations that must be shown on these sorts of fares are generally all specified in legal agreements between RDG and TfL.