Does a travel card give unlimited travels in London zones only?

[hawaii2468]

Let's take Reading & London zone 1-6 off peak day travel card for Sunday as an example. Is this card holder entitled for unlimited trips between Reading and London zone 6(any permitted routes) as well or only a round trip between Reading and London zone 6 + unlimited trips made within London zone 1-6?

Further more, can I use this travel card to start my journey from London Waterloo instead of Reading? Then return from Reading to Waterloo and end with one more Waterloo - Reading trip?

Thanks for you answers!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

You get unlimited travel in the zones and a return from Reading to London, you do not have to use any part of the ticket if you do not want to, but once you go/return to Reading, only the Travelcard part remains valid, you would require a new ticket to get back to the London Travelcard zones.

If you wish further travel outside the zones, you can buy 'Boundary Zone' fares from station ticket offices, which will allow single or return journeys to the station named, there are tickets from named stations to the 'Boundary Zone' also, though not from every station.

If you are starting your day in London, it might be wise to buy a regular Travelcard and the Boundary Zone tickets, as necessary, to get you to and from Reading.

 

[calc7]

Note that many automatic ticket gates "swallow" Out-boundary Travelcard tickets at the destination (e.g. initial origin) even though the zonal part should remain valid until 0430 the next day.

 

[island]

Note that many automatic ticket gates "swallow" Out-boundary Travelcard tickets at the destination (e.g. initial origin) even though the zonal part should remain valid until 0430 the next day.

True. The gateline attendant will normally let you through and keep the ticket if you want to use it as a Travelcard later on, although I suppose the farther you are from London the less likely they will think it reasonable (e.g. probably fine at places like Greenhithe, Slough, or Watford Junction which are all served by red buses, less so at Gloucester.

 

[dcsprior]

A couple of years ago, we were staying at a hotel near Chafford Hundred, we planned to mail two return trips to London in one day, so at the ticket office asked if it was possible to buy a ticket that was valid for unlimited use on one day - they said "yes" and proceeded to sell me what I'm guessing was a day travelcard.

On the way back from London the first time, the barrier ate our tickets - but when I complained to the member of staff, they retrieved them so we could use it a second time.

 

[maniacmartin]

Further more, can I use this travel card to start my journey from London Waterloo instead of Reading? Then return from Reading to Waterloo and end with one more Waterloo - Reading trip?

So you want to go:
Waterloo - Reading
Reading - Waterloo
Waterloo - Reading

This is not possible as the ticket is essentially a Reading - Boundary Zone 6 Return + Zone 1-6 Travelcard. Outside the zones, you are limited to one return journey.

With normal return tickets, once you have used the return part, you are not then allowed to use the outbound part. I'm not sure whether this rule applies to outboundary Travelcards or not, given that it is all on one coupon, but I suspect it does. This would mean once you've "returned" to Reading, you can't then do the outbound journey from Reading.

 

[clagmonster]

Further more, can I use this travel card to start my journey from London Waterloo instead of Reading? Then return from Reading to Waterloo and end with one more Waterloo - Reading trip?

That would not be valid. So we can recomend the best combination of tickets, please can you let us know:
Do you have any railcards,
How many passengers are travelling (adults and children under the age of 16),
At what times you will be making the journies,
Whether you will be making other journies within the Travelcard Zones.