Elizabeth line ticket / fare problem

[PGreen]

I know there have been a few threads about Elizabeth line ticketing, but I’ve not seen this issues discussed (apologies if it has been).

I travel into Paddington from Maidenhead and buy a day return to Paddington as normally I cycle to my office from Paddington.

The problem comes when I want to go home from Liverpool St / Farringdon / Tott Ct Rd. If I’m at any of those stations I can’t ‘tap in’ and get the train all the way to Maidenhead as the only place I could ‘tap out’ would be Maidenhead so would be charged the full single fare from Liverpool St to Maid re had even though I already have a ticket from Paddington to Maidenhead.

As far as I can see I would have to tap in at Liverpool St, get off the train at paddington, leave the platform, tap out and then go back to the Elizabeth line platform with my paper / barcode ticket or get a GWR train.

Is there any way around this?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[yorkie]

No cheap way to do it on a paper ticket; a Travelcard or ticket to Zone U123 London would work but that's at disproportionate cost for a single leg journey.

LU singles are extremely expensive, to encourage the use of PAYG.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Situation effects me too. I've asked tfl for readers on low-level platforms at Paddington but no plans to install them.
Oyster refunds don't go through for me on website so usually its a 20 minute phonecall to report a missed tap.

 

[PGreen]

Thanks Yorkie. As you say travel card doesn’t make sense if only doing one ‘underground’ journey.

Agreed Jamiescott, purple readers on the lower level platforms would work if you could jump off and tap and get back on the same train. It’s a shame tfl didn’t think of this / don’t plan to do anything about it.

It’s very frustrating as all I want to do pay the correct fare but I can’t without having to miss the train!

 

[swt_passenger]

Thanks Yorkie. As you say travel card doesn’t make sense if only doing one ‘underground’ journey.

Agreed Jamiescott, purple readers on the lower level platforms would work if you could jump off and tap and get back on the same train. It’s a shame tfl didn’t think of this / don’t plan to do anything about it.

It’s very frustrating as all I want to do pay the correct fare but I can’t without having to miss the train!

That’s not the purpose of route validators (purple), they are normally about showing you did not take the obvious route through zone 1. I think what you want to be able to do is to record a “continuation exit” - they provide for this at Farringdon, because there was apparently a high demand for it.

 

[akm]

I travel into Paddington from Maidenhead and buy a day return to Paddington

What exact ticket are you buying? If it's an undiscounted adult day return, you might as well just routinely use contactless, then there's no issue as to where you start your journey home from.

 

[Hadders]

It's not clear exactly what ticket you are purchasing or what time of day you are travelling but paper tickets from Maidenhead to Paddington are:
Anytime £27.00
Off Peak £14.80 (valid after 09:19, no evening restrictions on EL trains)
Single contactless journey on Elizabeth Line/London Underground £2.80 peak £2.70 Off Peak

Contactless fares from Maidenhead to Paddington are:
Peak £13.50 (touch in time at Maidenhead 06:30 - 09:30)
Off Peak £7.40 (touch in at Maidenhead at all other times)

Liverpool Street to Maidenhead:
Peak £16.30 (applies to touch-in at Liverpool Street between 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00)
Off Peak £10.10

Unbless there are railcards to factor in then it seems to me that using contactless throughout is probably the way to go.

 

[PGreen]

Thanks akm and Hadders. Sorry I should have said I have a 16-25 railcard. Can I link that to a contactless card or Oyster card? Then that would solve the problem.

 

[Watershed]

Thanks akm and Hadders. Sorry I should have said I have a 16-25 railcard. Can I link that to a contactless card or Oyster card? Then that would solve the problem.

It can be added to an Oyster card, but not a contactless card. But of course Oyster isn't valid out as far as Maidenhead.

The fact that peak fares are charged in the evening for contactless (but not for paper tickets) means that it's likely to be cheapest to use a combination of contactless and paper/smartcard single/return tickets, although it depends on when exactly you'll be travelling.

 

[Benjwri]

It is worth noting that it’s likely to be about 5 minutes quicker to get off at Paddington and change to a GWR semi fast service, which would also solve your issue with tapping out.

 

[Jamiescott1]

It mainly effects me on strike days as my season ticket is to Paddington only and gwr services dont run to maidenhead on strike days so have to get the EL

 

[kieron]

Thanks akm and Hadders. Sorry I should have said I have a 16-25 railcard. Can I link that to a contactless card or Oyster card? Then that would solve the problem.

You can't, but A 16-25 railcard does affect the costs of different options. I think going to the barriers and back at Paddington with your bike will be cheapest, but only you know how much the convenience of a through train is worth to you.

1. If you leave Maidenhead after 9:18, an off peak travelcard (for £13.45) is probably your best option. Otherwise:

2. If you know in the morning that you'll return from Liverpool Street or wherever, you can buy a return from Maidenhead to "London Underground Zone 1" (or something like that) for £21.75 with your railcard.

3. If you only find out after you reach London, then a single ticket from (say) Liverpool Street to Zone 1 costs £6.70. Along with a £17.80 Maidenhead-London ticket that costs £24.50 in total.

In July and August (when your railcard's minimum fare doesn't apply) you could cut the cost of option 2 a bit by buying an anytime single to London Terminals (£9.90) and an off peak single back from Zone 1 (£11.65) to give a total of £21.55. It may also help that you don't need to buy the second ticket until you're about to travel.

 

[XAM2175]

Thanks akm and Hadders. Sorry I should have said I have a 16-25 railcard. Can I link that to a contactless card or Oyster card? Then that would solve the problem.

You can't, but a 16-25 railcard does affect the costs of different options. I think going to the barriers and back at Paddington with your bike will be cheapest, but only you know how much the convenience of a through train is worth to you.

For completeness: you can link a 16-25 Railcard to an Oyster, but it will only give the discount on off-peak fares.

 

[fandroid]

3. If you only find out after you reach London, then a single ticket from (say) Liverpool Street to Zone 1 costs £6.70. Along with a £17.80 Maidenhead-London ticket that costs £24.50 in total.

You'd be paying a £3.90 penalty over Oyster/Contactless for that Liverpool Street to Zone 1 paper ticket

 

[Trainguy34]

I know there have been a few threads about Elizabeth line ticketing, but I’ve not seen this issues discussed (apologies if it has been).

I travel into Paddington from Maidenhead and buy a day return to Paddington as normally I cycle to my office from Paddington.

The problem comes when I want to go home from Liverpool St / Farringdon / Tott Ct Rd. If I’m at any of those stations I can’t ‘tap in’ and get the train all the way to Maidenhead as the only place I could ‘tap out’ would be Maidenhead so would be charged the full single fare from Liverpool St to Maid re had even though I already have a ticket from Paddington to Maidenhead.

As far as I can see I would have to tap in at Liverpool St, get off the train at paddington, leave the platform, tap out and then go back to the Elizabeth line platform with my paper / barcode ticket or get a GWR train.

Is there any way around this?

Thanks for any advice.

You could potentially get a train around 5 mins before the Maidenhead / Reading Train so you have time to tap out

 

[ChewChewTrain]

You could potentially get a train around 5 mins before the Maidenhead / Reading Train so you have time to tap out

If one taps out without then going through the barrier, will gateline staff ask to see one’s ticket for onward travel?

 

[Trainguy34]

If one taps out without then going through the barrier, will gateline staff ask to see one’s ticket for onward travel?

Probably but 5 mins would be enough time to come up, tap out, go across the Paddington EL Concourse and go back down to the platforms. Hope this helps

 

[Jamiescott1]

If one taps out without then going through the barrier, will gateline staff ask to see one’s ticket for onward travel?

I've tapped out a few times without going through barriers at Paddington low level.
No questions asked