London travelcard question

[Green Lane]

Hi again,

Can anyone tell me, is there a way I can buy a ticket online from a TOC website which is effectively equivalent to a one-day zone 1-4 off-peak London travelcard, such that it can be collected from a machine at a national rail station?

Here's an example where this may be convenient for me:-

Let's say I decide the evening before travel that I'd like to travel from Liverpool Lime Street to Colindale tube station (Zone 4). (And I may also be taking a couple of other trips within zones 1-4 on the same day)

I already hold a London Midland "Great Escape" ticket, so my journey to Euston is already covered.

I don't want to order a one-day travel card from the Oyster website because it's an extra £2.00 for postal delivery and takes 2-4 working days to arrive. I'm not too bothered about the £2.00 TBH, but I'm really just after the convenience of not having to order the ticket until the day before travel, in case for whatever reason, I can't actually go.

So, I'd ideally like to pick up the ticket at the Virgin machine at Liverpool Lime Street on the morning of travel, because I don't want to queue up at Euston to buy a ticket.

Is there a way I can do this, for example by using the London Midland website to order a suitable ticket in advance?

Last time I went to London a few weeks back, I went to Greenwich, but that was easy for me to get the ticket in advance which had U12* or something on it as Greenwich is a National Rail station, but Colindale isn't. I would like a similar ticket like that but which has U1234* or something on it, what's the best way to do this from a NR TOC website, assuming it's possible?

Thanks again for any possible help/info.

 

[robbob700]

Just put any London National Rail Station Z1-4 station as the origin and "London Travelcard Zones 1-4" as the destination.

 

[Green Lane]

Just put any London National Rail Station Z1-4 station as the origin and "London Travelcard Zones 1-4" as the destination.

Thanks for the reply, I tried that as follows on the London Midland website.

From: London Euston
To: London Travelcard Zones 1-4

and then I just get a message "No fares have been found for your selected journey", so I can't get to the stage where you can click on the "buy now" button.

I think the problem may be that the software is actually trying to find a timetabled route for the journey, which is I suppose is impossible.

I may try another TOC website, to see if it has the same issue. Of course it is possible that I'm doing something wrong. Cheers!

 

[OwlMan]

try using a station like South Hampstead (that works)

Peter

 

[Green Lane]

try using a station like South Hampstead (that works)

Peter

Indeed it does - problem solved.

I notice that the system lists all timetabled services from South Hampstead to Euston.

Thanks very much for the help. Cheers both! - This is much more convenient for me personally than using the TfL site and postal delivery.

 

[455driver]

On a similar note, I am taking my 7 year old up to London tomorrow. Now the way I read it, if I have a one day travel card (paper type) he travels for free. Is this right or am I missing something. Many thanks for any response.

 

[bpmsmith]

On a similar note, I am taking my 7 year old up to London tomorrow. Now the way I read it, if I have a one day travel card (paper type) he travels for free. Is this right or am I missing something. Many thanks for any response.

Looks correct to me.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14554.aspx

 

[robbob700]

He travels for free on London Buses, London Underground, London Overground, DLR and Tramlink but not generally on National Rail except lines shown in blue on this map

 

[Deerfold]

He travels for free on London Buses, London Underground, London Overground, DLR and Tramlink but not generally on National Rail except lines shown in blue on this map

Does that mean that child travel is free on the East London Railway (Overground), but not on the other services passing between the same stations on the Southern part of the line? That sounds like a recipe for confusion (again).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I thought free travel for children was only up until the age of 5?

 

[yorkie]

It's up to 10 with an Oyster photocard subject to terms and conditions, on "tube, DLR, LO and some NR routes" and no photocard required on "buses and trams".

 

[robbob700]

Children under 10 don't need a oyster photocard when accompanied by an adult unless they look over 10!

 

[455driver]

Thanks for the speedy replies (and map) will definitely be sticking North of the river then

 

[yorkie]

Children under 10 don't need a oyster photocard when accompanied by an adult unless they look over 10!

I can't find where it says that. And determining whether a child looks 9, 10, or 11 would be extremely difficult and highly subjective. I could see a potential for arguments there!

 

[button_boxer]

I can't find where it says that.

"You need a 5-10 Oyster photocard to travel free on Tube, DLR, London Overground and some National Rail routes
If travelling without an adult
Or you look older than 10"

(from the link posted by bpmsmith)

 

[Green Lane]

Not that it matters much, but as for the original query - seems I couldn't order the "travelcard" the day before as originally planned.

This morning, I did try buying a ticket for tomorrow, 5th June from South Hampstead to London Travelcard Zones 1-4 on both London Midland and East Coast websites.

London Midland website says something to the effect of "No delivery options are available - perhaps it is too near to the travel time". East Coast website says something very similar "No delivery options available for your tickets - please buy a ticket at the station".

I totally understand that there'd be insufficient time to post tickets out, but I always collect mine from the station using the machine, which only requires two hours time between booking and collection. I still thought I'd get the option to collect from the machine, but it doesn't appear.

Pretty sure I've ordered quite a few tickets in recent weeks on the morning before travel and collected them from Liverpool Lime Street Virgin ticket machines at lunch time, so was a little surprised I couldn't buy the above ticket online today.

EDIT: If I instead select some other random train journey for tomorrow, I do get "collect from station" options, so it must be something to do with the actual journey or ticket. For example South Hampstead to Watford Junction is OK. I think if the ticket includes "London TravelCard Zones 1-4" then the option to collect ticket from the station does not appear.

EDIT: I also note that if I try to book a ticket from South Hampstead to London Travelcard Zones 1-4 for 12th June (8 days away) I only get the option for postal delivery - so in a nutshell it doesn't seem possible to specify collecting a London Travelcard from the machine when ordering via particular NR TOC websites. (which would've been very handy)

EDIT: It's OK, The Southern site lets me do it.