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St Albans Travelcard options.

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AM9

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I need to get to Aldgate before 09:45 next Friday (29th) so have will have to cough up the full anytime fare.
Looking on NRE, I note the following:
St Albans City - Zones 1-6 Travelcard anytime return - £28.10
St Albans Abbey - Zones 1-6 Travelcard anytime return - £25.30
With the MLL's current reliability issues and the fact that the Abbey station is a shorter walk, that route seems the better option. Looking at the train times offered, it is clear that the 40 minute interval over the Abbey line dictates the journey time and/or duration.
Using the National Rail enquiries webpage, I normally enter a return journey to a London Terminal (St Pancras or Euston respectively for the above two tickets) and then use the "Travelcard fares from" button to get the correct ticket type. The normal train times offered are for a change to a West Midland Trains service at Watford Junction, however there are also times for journeys via the MML shown as:
'walk to St Albans City, TL to St Pancras then LU to Euston'
Given the attractiveness of the lower cost Abbey line route tickets, does this mean that those tickets can always be used to travel by the MML route as a permitted route?
 
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Haywain

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No. The lower priced tickets are routed 'via Watford Junction', meaning you must travel that way. To use MML services you will need the higher priced ticket.
 

Hadders

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Fonfrom St Albans to Blackfriars and walk. It’s not that far. A ticket to London Thameslink will suffice.
 

AM9

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No. The lower priced tickets are routed 'via Watford Junction', meaning you must travel that way. To use MML services you will need the higher priced ticket.
Thanks for pointing that out. It wasn't obvious (to me at least) that the alternative times weren't included under the same price. Still, if I ended up at Elstree, I could bus to St Albans (using ENCTS pass). The TL ticket is any permitted of course and somebody here has mentioned that in current troubled times, it can be used via Watford Junction as the Abbey to City walk is considered as an external interchange. What I have learnt is that the easier route (including getting to/from the local station) is cheaper although it doesn't have the through London options. Crossrail 2 is too far into the future to help me much.
 

AM9

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Fonfrom St Albans to Blackfriars and walk. It’s not that far. A ticket to London Thameslink will suffice.
Thanks but I'm not that price sensitive, - it was just a revelation that the Watford price was cheaper. As it will involve travelling in the morning peak, I think that TL might currently be best avoided if possible. I will be nostalgic leaving St Albans in a 319, albeit at 45mph!
 

Haywain

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Thanks but I'm not that price sensitive, - it was just a revelation that the Watford price was cheaper. As it will involve travelling in the morning peak, I think that TL might currently be best avoided if possible. I will be nostalgic leaving St Albans in a 319, albeit at 45mph!
Where travelling from St Albans City could benefit you is that if you take a slow train in the peak you will almost certainly be able to get a seat. I suspect that joining a train at Watford Junction, other than an Overground service, will likely result in standing for the journey to Euston! Plus you can get better interchanges from Thameslink services.
 

AM9

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Where travelling from St Albans City could benefit you is that if you take a slow train in the peak you will almost certainly be able to get a seat. I suspect that joining a train at Watford Junction, other than an Overground service, will likely result in standing for the journey to Euston! Plus you can get better interchanges from Thameslink services.
I've done that before, but it's only 20 mins. Even on the slows from SAC, seats might not be in plentiful supply at the moment.
 

Hadders

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The Travelcard premium from St Albans is quite high of you’re only making a couple of journeys in Zone 1.

It’ll be cheaper to buy a return to London Thaneslink and use Contactless between Farringdon and Aldgate.

There are readers on the platforms at Farringdon
 
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