London - bexhill and eastbourne

[LondonJohn]

I wonder if anybody can help me with a routing guide query. I would like to travel London - Bexhill then on to Eastbourne later the same day and return from Eastbourne to London the following day.

It will be a Saturday/Sunday and I have a Network Gold Card.

Can I buy a Saver Return to Bexhill at £20.45 and nill excess this to come back from Eastbourne as the fare is £20.40 to/from Eastbourne and use it to travel one way or is London-Bexhill-Eastbourne a valid route if I buy the later.


I dont mind travelling London-Eastbourne and buying a day return to/from Bexhill but I was hoping as both seem close if I could do it just on one ticket.

 

[yorkie]

The only issue is whether you are permitted to double-back between Hampden Park and Eastbourne. As discussed in the "proposed easement" thread, this easement used to exist, then was removed by ATOC (seemingly without permission or the knowledge of Southern!) and now it is proposed to be re-instated.

Simply ask the guard if it's okay to do this. If a new ticket is required, it's only £2.70 for an Off Peak Day Return (£1.80 with a Network Gold Card) from Hampden Park to Eastbourne (assuming the train calls at Hampden Park). I'd be extremely surprised if you were asked to pay extra to double-back for that section.

It is quite possible that guards still believe the old easement is in place, after all guards don't have the time to go wading through the easements list to check if easements are still in place or not!

 

[embers25]

Unless I'm misunderstanding your question and proposed trip you would just need a London-Bexhill Saver as you use the outward portion to get to Bexhill and then break your return journey at Eastbourne before continuing on to london the next day.

Forgot the screwed up easement issue Yorkie mentioned which won't affect your outbound trip but may affect your return, particularly if you take the Bexhill-Eastbourne non-stop "express".

 

[MikeWh]

Surely if you stay on the same train then you are allowed to double back as it is a direct train?

 

[embers25]

Surely if you stay on the same train then you are allowed to double back as it is a direct train?

Yes but the op was saying he would break his journey in Eastbourne so the through train rule doesn't apply.

 

[island]

London to Bexhill is only valid via Lewes; via St Leonards fails the fares check. It's open to you to use your London Terminals to Bexhill SVR via Lewes and then commence your return journey as far as Eastbourne, breaking it there and coming back to London the next day.

If you want to travel via St Leonards it'll cost you an extra 30p; you would use an SVR from London Terminals to St Leonards W Sq (or Hastings if you prefer).

Edit: The doubling back bit does mess things around because of Hampden Park, but it's unlikely to be an issue.

 

[MikeWh]

Yes but the op was saying he would break his journey in Eastbourne so the through train rule doesn't apply.

Ooops! Sorry about that. However, no train from Hastings to Lewes avoids Eastbourne so it would be pretty poor to prevent break of journey at just that point on the route. You aren't using an extra section of track becasue no-one on a through train is forced to de-train at Hampden Park. I appreciate the confusion since the easement has been removed, but I don't see how they could justify charging for the double-back.

 

[embers25]

Ooops! Sorry about that. However, no train from Hastings to Lewes avoids Eastbourne so it would be pretty poor to prevent break of journey at just that point on the route. You aren't using an extra section of track becasue no-one on a through train is forced to de-train at Hampden Park. I appreciate the confusion since the easement has been removed, but I don't see how they could justify charging for the double-back.

Agreed and I have certainly never ever had an issue but it depends if they reprogrammed the barriers at Eastbourne to reject tickets as certainly in the past a Havant to Ashford ticket went through for break of journey.

 

[John @ home]

London to Bexhill is only valid via Lewes; via St Leonards fails the fares check.

London to Bexhill is valid via St Leonards because it's the shortest route.

 

[island]

That's a good point!