Using London travelcard one-way

[NigelH]

This might seem rather a strange thing to ask, but is it allowed to buy a (paper) one day travelcard from Reading to all London zones and then start the journey in London? The reason for asking is that I'm meeting a friend in London, travelling around the city and then both travelling back to Reading; I will of course just use a travelcard in the usual way for myself, but for them the cost if the journey was done contactless (or a mixture of that and a single from London) would be much the same, plus both of us having travelcards would give the possibility of 2 for 1 entrance to London attractions. The Conditions of Carriage seem to suggest it's allowed but aren't explicit: 16.2 suggests it's OK to start at an intermediate station (which in this case would be somewhere within the London underground network), but condition 11.3 is a bit ambiguous as to whether it's OK to use just the return part of a return ticket if you haven't used (and won't use) the outward part. The fact that a travelcard is just a single ticket (as against two for a normal return) might also complicate things.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard and a single from Boundary Zone 6 to Reading, probably cheaper.

 

[Alex365Dash]

Buy a Zone 1-6 Travelcard and a single from Boundary Zone 6 to Reading, probably cheaper.

The Reading to Zones 1-6 outboundary Travelcard is (off-peak) a mere 10p cheaper!

This might seem rather a strange thing to ask, but is it allowed to buy a (paper) one day travelcard from Reading to all London zones and then start the journey in London?

Yes, you’d essentially be forfeiting the outbound “portion” from Reading to London. You can use it in London for the day then ”return” to Reading - of course though if you wish to come back to London the same day you’ll additionally need a Reading to Boundary Zone 6 single.

 

[Watershed]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this. Condition 11.3 just restricts you from using a return ticket in the wrong order; it doesn't prevent you from 'throwing away' the outward portion.

An outboundary Day Travelcard such as this is essentially a combined return from Reading to Boundary Zone 6 and Day Travelcard for Zones 1-6. So it is still sort of a return ticket.

 

[paul1609]

On GTRs Key Go if you travel from say Zone 3 to Littlehampton one way all on GTR you are charged the Super Off Peak Travelcard from Littlehampton so Id say its fine.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I often do this when I have stayed overnight in London or landed at Heathrow and have business or leisure in London before going home. I want a Travelcard followed by a journey outside the zones to my home. Booking a Travelcard from my home station is the easiest way to do it and can be bought online whereas boundary zone tickets can't be bought online but are barely any cheaper as mentioned above.

You can also use an Off Peak Day Travelcard as a London Travelcard from 09:30 regardless of whether you could get from the nominal origin off peak in time to use it (which would be the 10:00 arrival at Paddington in Reading's case).

You can also use NSE discount on the Off Peak Day Travelcard (bringing it down to only £19.50 with Reading as the origin) although I've never tried to use one between 09:30 and 10:00. The Travelcard component is also discounted so I wouldn't try it, though it may or may not work the barriers at 09:30.

 

[fandroid]

I have ordered one day Outboundary Travelcards online to be picked up at Heathrow on arrival there, used for travel into central London from there, and then for journeys in zones 1-6, followed by a journey home out of London.

 

[NigelH]

Thanks everyone for your help; it looks pretty clear-cut that it's OK.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

One further question. How are outboundary (paper) one day travelcards from Reading to London (all zones) issued these days? As separate outward and return ticket(s), or just the one ticket?

 

[JonathanH]

How are outboundary (paper) one day travelcards from Reading to London (all zones) issued these days? As separate outward and return ticket(s), or just the one ticket?

Still just one ticket.

 

[cona321]

The ticket office staff will refuse to sell a travelcard with travel starting outside London at Paddington (I had this experience a few months ago), however they said it is fine to order online and collect at the ticket office, so I ordered on the app in front of them and collected from them. They did try selling me a travelcard and then a boundary ticket.

 

[island]

The ticket office staff will refuse to sell a travelcard with travel starting outside London at Paddington (I had this experience a few months ago), however they said it is fine to order online and collect at the ticket office, so I ordered on the app in front of them and collected from them.

That sort of nonsense behaviour is going to do them out of a job in the long run.

 

[Joe Paxton]

The ticket office staff will refuse to sell a travelcard with travel starting outside London at Paddington (I had this experience a few months ago), however they said it is fine to order online and collect at the ticket office, so I ordered on the app in front of them and collected from them. They did try selling me a travelcard and then a boundary ticket.

I'd hazard a guess that this is a result of an erroneous instruction from their superiors.