London - Brighton Off-Peak Return

[317 forever]

I am about to spend a couple of days in Brighton. Owing to other travels including London, I am buying a separate London - Brighton Off-Peak Return.

I plan to travel from London Victoria to Brighton on a Gatwick Express class 387 but back from Brighton to London Blackfriars on a Thameslink class 700.

I hope that such a ticket is valid on both route without any segregation for Gatwick Express.

 

[gray1404]

It is possible to get Advance tickets on that to/from London Victoria on that route starting at £5 each way (without a railcard) on the Southern branded services. If you know the dates and around what time you wish to travel, someone here will advise accordingly.

In the example posted above a Route: Any Permitted ticket would be valid on both of those services if it was to/from London Terminals. (i.e. outward from Victoria and return to Blackfriars.

 

[317 forever]

Thank you for your quick reassurance Gray.

I did notice the £5 Advance Singles. I can time my journey back from BTN easily but not the one there so much. Ironically, I did get an Advance fare on a Gatwick Express BTN - VIC journey in 2010 but did not spot any this time.

 

[gray1404]

You are most welcome. It may be useful if you post your travel dates and times in case anyone is able to come up with anything else that might help you get a cheaper fare.

Yes, the Advances between those two points now are only offered on the trains that are branded as Southern (they are routed Southern Only). It is possible to get an Advances on Thameslink or Gatwick Express branded services if coming from future afield. For example, if have a ticket routed VTWC & Connections.

Of course, all these trains are really operated by the one company GTR. They want to fool us all into thinking it is three separate companies, which is a total lie.

 

[yorkie]

When are you travelling?

I did notice the £5 Advance Singles. I can time my journey back from BTN easily but not the one there so much. Ironically, I did get an Advance fare on a Gatwick Express BTN - VIC journey in 2010 but did not spot any this time.

GTR (and pre-2015 the now defunct Southern train company) use whatever branded stock they feel like and journey planners and/or platform screens may show the 'wrong' type of branding too. GTR really mess the branding up a lot, which wouldn't be such a big problem if they consistently admitted all brands are the same train company!

But for Brighton to Victoria it's usually only the company's slightly faster (56min) "Southern" branded trains that have Advance fares. Their slower trains which are misleadingly branded "Gatwick Express" don't.

As for the Off Peak Return (SVR), you can either pay £32 for Thameslink Only (likely to result in arguments at the Platform 13/14 gateline and possibly on-board; they will claim to work for a fictional company that has been defunct since 2008) or pay £35.10 to satisfy the "Red Gestapo" for an Any Permitted ticket.

Two singles may be cheaper, especially if travelling at a weekend in one direction.

How are you getting to/from Victoria/Blackfriars? Will you have any other tickets?

The full range of fares is at: http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=1072&dest=BTN

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

You could try splitting at GTW. South of there some very attractive off peak fares remain, a legacy from when there really were two competing TOCs on the route and DfT's reluctance to put the fares up when that caper finally came to halt.:roll:

 

[Joe Paxton]

As for the Off Peak Return (SVR), you can either pay £32 for Thameslink Only (likely to result in arguments at the Platform 13/14 gateline and possibly on-board; they will claim to work for a fictional company that has been defunct since 2008) or pay £35.10 to satisfy the "Red Gestapo" for an Any Permitted ticket.

Two singles may be cheaper, especially if travelling at a weekend in one direction.

For the OP's desired travel - down on a GatEx from Victoria, coming back on a Thameslink class 700 train another day, the £35.10 Off-Peak Return is the cheapest (non argument) option - assuming they don't want to travel in the expensive morning peak (and discounting using an Advance ticket for the journey down to Brighton, because Advances aren't available on the GatEx class 387 operated services).

No combination of single tickets, even at weekends, is cheaper. (If the OP was starting from and returning Brighton then the situation is different, as there are Super Off-Peak fares to London - however unfortunately these are not offered for journeys from London to the south coast.)

On a broader point, I'm not entirely convinced of the similarity between some railway employees and members of the Third Reich's secret police force, but I'll just leave it at that!

 

[yorkie]

There are Super Off Peak fares available from Brighton to London (and the London area), including some that won't result in a potentially unpleasant experience with unsavoury individuals at the Victoria platform 13/14 gateline if used on the company's slightly slower services to Victoria.

 

[317 forever]

You could try splitting at GTW. South of there some very attractive off peak fares remain, a legacy from when there really were two competing TOCs on the route and DfT's reluctance to put the fares up when that caper finally came to halt.:roll:

Thank you for this suggestion. It may be fractionally cheaper if I split the ticket at GTW and change onto a Thameslink train there.

(As an aside, the saving would not be as great as when I had a day out in Leicester from Stockport, travelled via Stoke & Derby and split my ticket at Uttoxeter).

My thanks also to all of you for your comments and suggestions.