Liverpool Street to Ipswich: Splits, Oyster, Network Railcard, etc

[OuluChris]

Hi,

I previously posted in another thread about the journeys I make at a weekend and several people there were kind enough to help.

On that thread it was suggested that "there are people on here who will happily tell you every possible permutation and saving possible on any journey you ever hope to make".

So I decided to test that (!) and hope that some people will be kind enough to assist.

I make the following journeys:

Friday:
London Liverpool Street to Ipswich (by myself)
Ipswich to Stratford (me and my 11 year old daughter)

Sunday:
Stratford to Ipswich (me and my 11 year old daughter)
Ipswich to Stratford (by myself)

I already split the tickets at Manningtree because this enables me to use my Network Railcard. I also have a TfL zone 1-3 travelcard (not sure if that is relevant or not).

Question:
What is the cheapest way of accomplishing this journey? I cannot leave Liverpool Street until about 5:15pm and I must be in Ipswich by approximately 7pm on Friday.

Many thanks for any help.


Chris

 

[Wolfie]

Hi,

I previously posted in another thread about the journeys I make at a weekend and several people there were kind enough to help.

On that thread it was suggested that "there are people on here who will happily tell you every possible permutation and saving possible on any journey you ever hope to make".

So I decided to test that (!) and hope that some people will be kind enough to assist.

I make the following journeys:

Friday:
London Liverpool Street to Ipswich (by myself)
Ipswich to Stratford (me and my 11 year old daughter)

Sunday:
Stratford to Ipswich (me and my 11 year old daughter)
Ipswich to Stratford (by myself)

I already split the tickets at Manningtree because this enables me to use my Network Railcard. I also have a TfL zone 1-3 travelcard (not sure if that is relevant or not).

Question:
What is the cheapest way of accomplishing this journey? I cannot leave Liverpool Street until about 5:15pm and I must be in Ipswich by approximately 7pm on Friday.

Many thanks for any help.


Chris

How long a period is your Travelcard for? Is it an annual issued with a Goldcard? That could make quite a difference.....

 

[OuluChris]

How long a period is your Travelcard for? Is it an annual issued with a Goldcard? That could make quite a difference.....

My Oyster Card is loaded with a Zone 1-3 travelcard once a month.

However, if an annual card issued with a Goldcard (no idea what that even is!) would make a significant difference to the annual outlay then that would be something I'd consider.

Thanks,


Chris

 

[Be3G]

Yes, there're two ways a travelcard can help you see – one way that's already possible, and another that's unlocked by specifically buying an annual one.

First of all, there're tickets available from the edge of travelcard zones to stations outside London, which means that you don't need to pay twice for the section of a longer-distance journey that is already covered by your travelcard. These tickets are ‘boundary zone’ tickets: rather than purchasing a London Terminals to Manningtree return, you can purchase a Boundary Zone 3 to Manningtree return and save a few pounds per ticket that way.

The annual-specific advantage is that when purchasing a year-long travelcard you also get something called a ‘gold card’, which is like a Network Railcard but so much more useful. The biggest attraction of this to you would be that the gold card would cover the whole journey to Ipswich, not just the section to Manningtree. This has the potential to save you a not insignificant sum each year considering the weekly nature of jour journey, plus annual travelcards work out cheaper per month anyway than monthlies. And, of course, you'd no longer need to spend £30 a year on the Network Railcard.

 

[OuluChris]

Yes, there're two ways a travelcard can help you see – one way that's already possible, and another that's unlocked by specifically buying an annual one.

First of all, there're tickets available from the edge of travelcard zones to stations outside London, which means that you don't need to pay twice for the section of a longer-distance journey that is already covered by your travelcard. These tickets are ‘boundary zone’ tickets: rather than purchasing a London Terminals to Manningtree return, you can purchase a Boundary Zone 3 to Manningtree return and save a few pounds per ticket that way.

The annual-specific advantage is that when purchasing a year-long travelcard you also get something called a ‘gold card’, which is like a Network Railcard but so much more useful. The biggest attraction of this to you would be that the gold card would cover the whole journey to Ipswich, not just the section to Manningtree. This has the potential to save you a not insignificant sum each year considering the weekly nature of jour journey, plus annual travelcards work out cheaper per month anyway than monthlies. And, of course, you'd no longer need to spend £30 a year on the Network Railcard.

This sounds like a great idea but it doesn't seem to work.

Checking on Greater Anglia's website gives the following:

LST to IPS (return): 17/07/15, Anytime Return, £50.65 (with Annual Goldcard)

Compared to:

LST to MNG (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £23.35 (with Network Railcard)
MNG to LST (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £6.20
TOTAL = £29.55
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

First of all, there're tickets available from the edge of travelcard zones to stations outside London, which means that you don't need to pay twice for the section of a longer-distance journey that is already covered by your travelcard. These tickets are ‘boundary zone’ tickets: rather than purchasing a London Terminals to Manningtree return, you can purchase a Boundary Zone 3 to Manningtree return and save a few pounds per ticket that way.

Oh and sorry but would you mind explaining this in a bit more detail? Where is the outermost zone 3 station (I've spent 10 minutes using Google to try and work this out without any joy!) and would the train have to stop there (similarly to a split ticket)?

Thanks,


Chris

 

[postye]

This sounds like a great idea but it doesn't seem to work.

Checking on Greater Anglia's website gives the following:

LST to IPS (return): 17/07/15, Anytime Return, £50.65 (with Annual Goldcard)

Compared to:

LST to MNG (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £23.35 (with Network Railcard)
MNG to LST (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £6.20
TOTAL = £29.55
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Oh and sorry but would you mind explaining this in a bit more detail? Where is the outermost zone 3 station (I've spent 10 minutes using Google to try and work this out without any joy!) and would the train have to stop there (similarly to a split ticket)?

Thanks,


Chris

Manor Park is on the Boundary of Zone 3, so you could get a ticket from there to MNG/IPS and as long as you have a period travelcard for Z1-3 the train would not need to stop as per NRCOC condition 19c

 

[causton]

Oh and sorry but would you mind explaining this in a bit more detail? Where is the outermost zone 3 station (I've spent 10 minutes using Google to try and work this out without any joy!) and would the train have to stop there (similarly to a split ticket)?

Thanks,


Chris

It doesn't matter - just go to a ticket office and ask for a ticket from the Boundary of Zone 3 (or as it says on the ticket, Boundary Zone 3!)

As this is obviously not a physical station, the train does not need to stop

 

[postye]

A boundary Zone 3 - Manningtree off peak day return is £16.95 with a Network Railcard so saving around £6.50 on the London-Manningtree fare, this fare would need to be bought from the ticket office at Liverpool Street, it cant be bought online

 

[Be3G]

This sounds like a great idea but it doesn't seem to work.

Checking on Greater Anglia's website gives the following:

LST to IPS (return): 17/07/15, Anytime Return, £50.65 (with Annual Goldcard)

Compared to:

LST to MNG (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £23.35 (with Network Railcard)
MNG to LST (return): 17/07/15, Off Peak Day Return, £6.20
TOTAL = £29.55

What you've found there is a complication caused by the length of the journey and differing peak time restrictions. In Greater Anglia's eyes, London to Ipswich is too long a journey for a day return, so they only offer period returns for that trip. The off-peak period returns in this case have evening restrictions on them, so they can't be used for your Friday evening journey, hence the expensive anytime return being offered. Conversely, GA believe that London to Manningtree is a viable day trip, so they offer day returns for that journey, and the off-peak day return has no evening restrictions, hence you can use it on Friday.

So the short answer is that you can still get a discount on the Manningtree to Ipswich leg (as can your daughter), but perversely you'll need to continue to split the tickets there!

 

[greatkingrat]

If you had an Annual Travelcard I think the cheapest option would be

Off Peak Day Return Boundary Zone 3 - Manningtree 16.95 (Fri)
Super Off Peak Day Return Boundary Zone 3 - Manningtree 14.15 (Sun)
2 x Off Peak Day Return Manningtree - Ipswich 2x4.10 = 8.20

Off Peak Return (Child with Gold Card discount) Ipswich - Stratford 7.50

TOTAL £46.80 per week

If you want to buy online, a Manor Park - Manningtree ticket is the same price and would also be valid with your season.

With a Network Card it would be £53.30 per week.

 

[Hadders]

Further details on Gold Cards here.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46573.aspx

I agree that an Annual Season ticket would be the way to go here if the OP can afford the initial outlay.

 

[londonbridge]

. In Greater Anglia's eyes, London to Ipswich is too long a journey for a day return, so they only offer period returns for that trip.

Rubbish, what about (for the forthcoming season) Brentford, Charlton, Fulham and QPR supporters, and indeed Ipswich supporters travelling to any of these four for the away game, you've got plenty of potential day return customers there.

 

[Hadders]

Rubbish, what about (for the forthcoming season) Brentford, Charlton, Fulham and QPR supporters, and indeed Ipswich supporters travelling to any of these four for the away game, you've got plenty of potential day return customers there.

The point is that the rail industry historically only offered day returns on distances of around 50 miles. There are some exceptions but generally anything over this distance is a 'period' return.

Of course there are some very long trips that are possible in a day. London to Edinburgh, for example.

 

[OuluChris]

If you had an Annual Travelcard I think the cheapest option would be

Off Peak Day Return Boundary Zone 3 - Manningtree 16.95 (Fri)
Super Off Peak Day Return Boundary Zone 3 - Manningtree 14.15 (Sun)
2 x Off Peak Day Return Manningtree - Ipswich 2x4.10 = 8.20

Off Peak Return (Child with Gold Card discount) Ipswich - Stratford 7.50

TOTAL £46.80 per week

If you want to buy online, a Manor Park - Manningtree ticket is the same price and would also be valid with your season.

With a Network Card it would be £53.30 per week.

Thank you to everybody who contributed and extra special thanks to those people who actually helped to cost the journey and work out the various permutations.

I am going to purchase an annual travel card when I get back from holiday in August. In the meantime though I am already going to take advantage of the idea of purchasing tickets from the boundary of Zone 3.

I think my initial purchase of tickets will be made in a ticket office if only because all this sounds too good to be true! Assuming a purchase in a ticket office goes off without a hitch then in future I'll buy them online and use Manor Park as the origin station.

Thanks again.


Chris

 

[34D]

Thank you to everybody who contributed and extra special thanks to those people who actually helped to cost the journey and work out the various permutations.

I am going to purchase an annual travel card when I get back from holiday in August. In the meantime though I am already going to take advantage of the idea of purchasing tickets from the boundary of Zone 3.

I think my initial purchase of tickets will be made in a ticket office if only because all this sounds too good to be true! Assuming a purchase in a ticket office goes off without a hitch then in future I'll buy them online and use Manor Park as the origin station.

Thanks again.


Chris

Assuming this is on oyster, they will give you a 'gold record card' at the time.

I guess your 11 year old daughter already has one of these passes?

 

[OuluChris]

Assuming this is on oyster, they will give you a 'gold record card' at the time.

I guess your 11 year old daughter already has one of these passes?

Ahem...

I thought kids travelled free on TfL services but whilst investigating all this I discovered that isn't correct.

Since she was 11 four months ago it appears we've been fare dodging for the last four months!

(This isn't quite as bad as it sounds because we usually use the bus in London and children do travel for free on the bus)

Having said that I completed a web application for a 11-15 oyster card and submitted it last Thursday.

(There isn't an icon for looking slightly shame-faced but if there was it would be here!)


Chris

 

[OuluChris]

Hi again!

Sorry to come back and disturb an old thread but...

All the answers given to me previously related to a boundary ticket from Zone 3. This could be priced online by inserting the boundary of Zone 3 as Manor Park.

Hopefully this is a simple question: if I move house so that I only need a Zone 1 to 2 travelcard where is the boundary of Zone 2 to get an online price?

Thanks,


Chris

 

[Z12XE]

Just go to BRfares.com and put Boundary Zone 2, or 0041 as the origin

 

[bb21]

I don't think you will find a station in Zone 2 that has the same range of fares as Boundary Zone 2, for the simple reason that there is no station in Zone 2 on that route.

 

[greatkingrat]

Although Stratford is due to be moved into zone 2 in January 2016.

 

[swt_passenger]

Although Stratford is due to be moved into zone 2 in January 2016.

Was it not going to be a 'zone 2/3' station, with a few others in the area?

 

[321over360]

Was it not going to be a 'zone 2/3' station, with a few others in the area?

From what I remember, it going to be a zone 2/3 station, and not just Zone 2, I think there is a lot against them making it into Zone 2 fully as it will mean peoples travelcards will go up if it went fully Zone 2, but luckily it is going to be dual zone