That's no Travelcard...

[LexyBoy]

A couple of weekends ago I was making a journey from Stroud to London – I already had a ticket to Reading and wished to purchase a Day Travelcard from Reading. As I didn’t have time to go to the ticket office (which is, excitingly, now actually open most of the time!) before the train arrived, I asked the guard on board for said ticket, showing him my Gold Card. Simple enough, you would think.

After a good couple of minutes poking at his Avantix and asking me if fares or routeings sounded familiar to me, and which zones I wanted (!), I was sold something which sounded roughly the right price. Two tickets then proceeded to print out, but the guard assured me that it was a Travelcard (which it obviously wasn’t as there was no rounded), and that’s how they print from the mobile devices.

So, what I got was the following:

Ticket type: OFF PEAK DAY R
Class: STD
Disc: GOLDC
From: READING STNS
To: U1256 LONDN
Price: £14.65
[B]Route: EALING CM/W ACTN[/B]

I couldn’t be bothered to sort it out then, reasoning that I could always excess it to the correct Travelcard. For some reason the simple (and cheaper) solution of just buying a CDR to London and using Oyster from there didn’t occur to me!

Anyway, I was curious as to why this ticket even exists when a Day Travelcard is cheaper, but more importantly what’s going on with that routeing? I can only assume that it’s intended to mean a change at Ealing Broadway, but I didn’t think the Underground featured at all in the Routeing Guide?

Also, is it particularly hard to issue a Travelcard from Avantix mobile? Was the chap just entering the wrong destination or what? It can't be a very unusual request surely!

FWIW, the tickets didn’t open any barriers except on exiting Paddington Underground.

Bit of a ramble, sorry

 

[island]

That's a return ticket for one journey to any LU station in zone 1-6. They can be issued as period returns as well, which Travelcards can't. No idea about the routeing or the price, but there are plenty of examples one can dredge up for tickets that are more expensive than others which are better.

For a Travelcard, the destination should be entered as 0035 (LONDON ZONES 1-6).

 

[DarloRich]

thats no travel card - Its a space station!

I THINK Island is right about the period retruns bit. I am sure i had one like that for a recent journey to London with onward tube travel where the ticket was to the LU station in question.

I am no expert and stand to be corrected

 

[OwlMan]

The route is via Ealing Common or West Acton. As said previously it is a day return to any Underground station in zones 1-6 travelling via on of the above stations.

Peter

 

[LexyBoy]

I realise it's a day return to an Underground station (I was only going to one place anyway so this wasn't a problem). My query is that I wasn't aware of any tickets having LUL-specific routeing - and in any case, one could travel via the specified stations from Paddington anyway (e.g. if going to Hillingdon, or Ealing Broadway for that matter).

Makes sense about the period returns being available, those would be useful (though probably more expensive than using Oyster).

 

[tinselworm]

yeah i asked for a travelcard and was sold a (cheaper) Worle-London ZONES U1-U6 but this is only because...

You cannot get railcard discounts on travelcards as the discount does not apply to underground stations, which therefore would change the discount percentage so they don't do it

 

[Mojo]

yeah i asked for a travelcard and was sold a (cheaper) Worle-London ZONES U1-U6 but this is only because...

You cannot get railcard discounts on travelcards as the discount does not apply to underground stations, which therefore would change the discount percentage so they don't do it

Yes you can. Railcard discounts apply to both out-boundary and in-boundary One Day Travelcards, the latter includes those purchased from LU ticket offices or machines as well as those sold by Tocs.

 

[causton]

Yes you can. Railcard discounts apply to both out-boundary and in-boundary One Day Travelcards, the latter includes those purchased from LU ticket offices or machines as well as those sold by Tocs.

And off-peak fares on Oyster with some(most?) Railcards!

(wait a minute, tinselworm is on to something here... look!)

http://vvcap.net/db/Uzy0bjF3zOul4beweX_W.htp

Other railcards seem to do the same thing. Undiscounted fare for an ODT shows up fine at £61...

 

[lyesbkz]

You cannot get railcard discounts on travelcards

 

[causton]

But according to the copy of NFM09 I have, in this situation at least you actually can't it seems! NRE agrees. Although I am holding in my hand a discounted out-boundary travelcard, so I know they exist too

 

[tinselworm]

And off-peak fares on Oyster with some(most?) Railcards!

(wait a minute, tinselworm is on to something here... look!)

http://vvcap.net/db/Uzy0bjF3zOul4beweX_W.htp

Other railcards seem to do the same thing. Undiscounted fare for an ODT shows up fine at £61...

Maybe it's just me!

 

[lyesbkz]

But according to the copy of NFM09 I have, in this situation at least you actually can't it seems! NRE agrees. Although I am holding in my hand a discounted out-boundary travelcard, so I know they exist too

Actually no, thinking about this, I was reading the TfL website and it shows this particular product as £8.00, even for Railcard holders (which is the non-discounted price) so I assumed I'd be unable to get one. It used to show as 5.30 too.

Something's definitely going on :-?

 

[tinselworm]

And off-peak fares on Oyster with some(most?) Railcards!

(wait a minute, tinselworm is on to something here... look!)

http://vvcap.net/db/Uzy0bjF3zOul4beweX_W.htp

Other railcards seem to do the same thing. Undiscounted fare for an ODT shows up fine at £61...

and if i go into National Rail Enquiries and ask for a Worle>London RTN with Travelcard, on my railcard it costs £61.

 

[causton]

Maybe it's just me!

I think it's just an error in the fares database.
Yatton has one available for £46.20
Weston Milton seems to have the same fares as Worle, and so that comes up with no discounted fares either
W-S-M has one for £50.15 - still cheaper than the £61 undiscounted from Yorle!

(Still assuming a 16-25 railcard, I assume others work the same as I tested them first)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

and if i go into National Rail Enquiries and ask for a Worle>London RTN with Travelcard, on my railcard it costs £61.

If you look in the bottom right it just says 1 Adult. Choose a fare without travelcard and it will say 1 Adult (16-25 RAILCARD) - showing it can't find a railcard discounted fare!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Actually no, thinking about this, I was reading the TfL website and it shows this particular product as £8.00, even for Railcard holders (which is the non-discounted price) so I assumed I'd be unable to get one. It used to show as 5.30 too.

Something's definitely going on :-?

No, that's wrong. I did email them, but £5.30 is the correct price as expected - you can confirm that at least a rail station will sell it by checking tickets from any London station to "London" or similar usually. I did have a copy of a ticket to prove it issued from a TfL machine but can't find it now...

 

[tinselworm]

I think it's just an error in the fares database.
Yatton has one available for £46.20
Weston Milton seems to have the same fares as Worle, and so that comes up with no discounted fares either
W-S-M has one for £50.15 - still cheaper than the £61 undiscounted from Yorle!

(Still assuming a 16-25 railcard, I assume others work the same as I tested them first)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


If you look in the bottom right it just says 1 Adult. Choose a fare without travelcard and it will say 1 Adult (16-25 RAILCARD) - showing it can't find a railcard discounted fare!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


No, that's wrong. I did email them, but £5.30 is the correct price as expected - you can confirm that at least a rail station will sell it by checking tickets from any London station to "London" or similar usually. I did have a copy of a ticket to prove it issued from a TfL machine but can't find it now...

So is it a cock up in the website then?

 

[causton]

So is it a cock up in the website then?

Not just the website, but the entire fares database by the looks of things! I'm no expert by any means but I can't see a reason for not allowing railcard discounts to one specific place from 2 specific stations - when everywhere else along the route seems to be fine!

 

[466.networkers]

I frequently purchase a ODT with High Speed from Sittingbourne with my 16-25 Railcard (£16.70) ... The Railcard discount is definitely applied.

I know this doesn't directly affect the OP and his query but OOB TC's do exist.

(posted from my iPhone)

 

[tinselworm]

I suppose I'll just email them and ask Hah It's mostly pointless as i started using a oystercard now anyway

 

[bnm]

For some reason the simple (and cheaper) solution of just buying a CDR to London and using Oyster from there didn’t occur to me!

Or taken advantage of a routeing guide easement and bought an even cheaper CDR to Hanwell!