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London Thameslink/Terminals

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eljajo95

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I’m vaguely aware of the “London Thameslink” destination being different from “London Terminals”, but as I don’t usually use Thameslink services I’m not sure of any detail and am worried of a little bit of knowledge being a bad thing. The situation is this: on Wednesday, I’ll be travelling from London Bridge to Crawley for a short meeting before returning to London immediately. The complicating factor is that I want the flexibility to be able to return by a direct service to City Thameslink, instead of returning to London Bridge.

If I purchase a return London Terminals – Crawley, I presume there is no difficulty travelling from and back to London Bridge. But am I right that that wouldn’t be valid at City Thameslink? (Would it be valid at Blackfriars? Close enough!) Do I need a ticket with origin London Thameslink – or would that not be valid at London Bridge? If so is there a sensible product I could buy allowing me both route options on the spur of the moment? If relevant, I hold a Gold Card and a 16-25 Railcard (because I have an Annual Season, but make enough journeys outside the Gold Card area to justify holding both).
 
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swt_passenger

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City Thameslink and Blackfriars are both valid London Terminals from the south, and have been for many years.

For a journey purely on the south side, ie NOT going as far as Farringdon, you can safely ignore the London Thameslink fares.
 

Hadders

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I agree, a London Terminals - Crawley ticket is valid at City Thameslink but not any further north.
 

Joe Paxton

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See this diagram of ticket validities for Thameslink from points south...

thameslink_south.jpg


(source)
 

maniacmartin

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I know why they did it, to stop lines crossing, but my eyes are burning from seeing London Bridge to the left of Elephant & Castle on that map!
 

JB_B

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I know why they did it, to stop lines crossing, but my eyes are burning from seeing London Bridge to the left of Elephant & Castle on that map!

Yes, it took me a while to find London Bridge, too. IMO that's a very poor design all round - only a tiny proportion of pixels discriminate London Thameslink/London Terminals/Neither.
 

alistairlees

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Yeah, it’s not a great map
- implies you can go from Elephant & Castle to Cannon Street, when you can’t
- London Bridge in the wrong location causes confusion for anyone who knows relative locations (probably most people using this map)
- the colours chosen (red / green) to differentiate the key message are a poor choice
- the visibility of the difference is minimal (as others have said, very few pixels to convey the key info)
- a new type of London station (“London Thameslink Terminals”) has been created to confuse passengers further
- the lines could have been used more effectively (possibly to distinguish routes to London terminals and routes to London Thameslink stations, though that could also be confusing with the concept of the Thameslink route, so might not work in practice)
- why the distinction between dark grey and light grey lines? This is not on the key
- Elephant & Castle is not a London Terminal station (it’s shown as being both Thameslink and Terminals) and your London terminals ticket would not be valid to there if you were coming in via some routes (though it would be valid for other routes)

Apart from those things it’s very good.
 
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WesternLancer

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Everyone's gone to town on the map, but this page is by far the clearest and simplest explanation of the validity of National Rail tickets in London that I know of.
Yeah - it's been crying out for that sort of map for years (that said pretty sure I've been let through gates at St P from the south with a London terminals ticket by staff who perhaps don't know or think a generous interpretation of the rules is in everyones interest).

Ticketing there should have been reformed years ago when 'new' St P opened as it's an obvious destination for people from both north and south wanting eurostar, airport services etc etc (many who will be irregular travelers or from overseas who will not appreciate the situation as it currently stands - and which presumably dates back to pre thamelslink opening BR regional fares structures).

D x
 

WesternLancer

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Obv also confusing / not clear to people since St P Thameslink isn't a 'terminal' of the track (compared with say Brighton) or the service (eg Brighton/Bedford and numerous other places now)...
 
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