New Southgate to Horley, 15th November

[Envy123]

I have an important meeting in a place near Horley station and I have to be there before 9:15am on the 15th November.

The question is - is there a ticket that allows me to double-back via Gatwick, or would it be stupidly expensive so that it would not be worth it? I'm asking, because the TfL journey planner suggests it as an option and it seems to be much faster than the slower services that NRE suggests.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hadders]

A ticket to Gatwick Airport would suffice if you use the return portion between Gatwick Airport and Horley and break your journey. You wouldn’t be able to travel via Gatwick Airport on your journey home.

Alternatively use Oyster PAYG or contactless although i’m Not sure how the charging would work if tapping in on the Gatwick Express platforms at Gatwick.

 

[Envy123]

A ticket to Gatwick Airport would suffice if you use the return portion between Gatwick Airport and Horley and break your journey. You wouldn’t be able to travel via Gatwick Airport on your journey home.

I did think about doing this, but didn't know about the restriction on the way home, so thank you.

Alternatively use Oyster PAYG or contactless although i’m Not sure how the charging would work if tapping in on the Gatwick Express platforms at Gatwick.

Oyster or contactless is something I did consider, but as it's a return journey, I fear it may be double the price of a paper ticket.

 

[Hadders]

New Southgate - Horley Anytime Day Return £25.80
New Southgate - Gatwick Airport Anytime Day Return £29.00

New Southgate - Horley Oyster/Contactless £12.90
Horley - New Southgate Oyster/Contactless £12.90 peak/£8.80 Off Peak (depending on the time of your return journey)

I'm not certain what will happen if you use the Gatwick Express branded services between Victoria and Gatwick as the charging works a bit differently, perhaps @MikeWh can assist. Southern branded services between Victoria and Gatwick would pose no such problems and at many times of the day they are actually faster that Gatwick Express branded services!

 

[MikeWh]

You should not use P13/14 at Victoria because there is no OSI there and your journey will be split and charged as two separate fares.

 

[Envy123]

So, a bit of an update. My meeting was moved forward to 10:15am, which does change the types of trains I will be using.

On the way there, I will use Southern from Victoria to East Croydon and change there for a service to Horley.

On the way back, I need to get home asap and changing via Gatwick saves me an entire half an hour.

Am I right in thinking that buying a New Southgate to Gatwick anytime return will be the best option for this, as I'd be stopping short at Horley, then resume my journey to Gatwick and come back to London?

 

[marshmallow]

So, a bit of an update. My meeting was moved forward to 10:15am, which does change the types of trains I will be using.

On the way there, I will use Southern from Victoria to East Croydon and change there for a service to Horley.

On the way back, I need to get home asap and changing via Gatwick saves me an entire half an hour.

Am I right in thinking that buying a New Southgate to Gatwick anytime return will be the best option for this, as I'd be stopping short at Horley, then resume my journey to Gatwick and come back to London?

That would be fine...

You should not use P13/14 at Victoria because there is no OSI there and your journey will be split and charged as two separate fares.

I believe that if you tap in on Platform 13/14 but then tap out at a station between Victoria and Gatwick, you will be charged the same as if you had tapped in at another platform at Victoria as they will assume that you could not have travelled on a Gatwick Express train.

Alternatively use Oyster PAYG or contactless

If someone else could verify that would be great, however I would imagine that if you tap in with your Oyster Card at Victoria and then out at Horley, this is the equivalent of buying a paper ticket from Victoria to Horley and as such it would not be valid to go via Gatwick Airport. If a ticket check is performed between Gatwick Airport and Horley, I would imagine that you should be treated as not having a valid ticket in this case, and as such if you did use Oyster, you should tap out and then back in at Gatwick Airport so that you have a valid ticket.

 

[MikeWh]

I believe that if you tap in on Platform 13/14 but then tap out at a station between Victoria and Gatwick, you will be charged the same as if you had tapped in at another platform at Victoria as they will assume that you could not have travelled on a Gatwick Express train.

There are two factors at play here. If your journey is Victoria NR to Horley then yes, the correct fare would be charged. If your journey is New Southgate to Horley and you use P13/14 then you will be charged for New Southgate to Victoria LU and Victoria NR to Horley as separate journeys. This adds £2.20 off-peak.

If someone else could verify that would be great, however I would imagine that if you tap in with your Oyster Card at Victoria and then out at Horley, this is the equivalent of buying a paper ticket from Victoria to Horley and as such it would not be valid to go via Gatwick Airport. If a ticket check is performed between Gatwick Airport and Horley, I would imagine that you should be treated as not having a valid ticket in this case, and as such if you did use Oyster, you should tap out and then back in at Gatwick Airport so that you have a valid ticket.

The conditions of travel for using Oyster on National Rail services would disagree with you.

The only stipulation is that you touch in at the start of the journey and out at the end. Providing you stay within the Oyster PAYG area and do not exceed maximum journey times then you are fine.

 

[Envy123]

That would be fine...

Thank you - just checking as you can't be too safe with the very complex ticketing in the UK.

I believe that if you tap in on Platform 13/14 but then tap out at a station between Victoria and Gatwick, you will be charged the same as if you had tapped in at another platform at Victoria as they will assume that you could not have travelled on a Gatwick Express train.

Not entirely sure on the structure of Gatwick station, but I fear that there may be barriers between the Express platforms and Southern local platforms and I may need to tap out as part of an interchange.

There are two factors at play here. If your journey is Victoria NR to Horley then yes, the correct fare would be charged. If your journey is New Southgate to Horley and you use P13/14 then you will be charged for New Southgate to Victoria LU and Victoria NR to Horley as separate journeys. This adds £2.20 off-peak.

Understood. I heard that the Gatwick Oyster implementation was a mess.