Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside - Travelcard validity?

[Dan_Lockton]

I often make the journey from either Windsor & Eton Riverside (WNR) or Windsor & Eton Central (WNC) into London, buying a Day Travelcard from one of the stations. Like, I am sure, many people travelling from Windsor into London, the choice of station is partly determined by which part of London you need to travel to - Central, via Slough, takes you to Paddington, and Riverside takes you to Waterloo. They are about 8 minutes' walk apart, and the National Rail website lists then as a station interchange.*

My question is, is it possible to buy a Travelcard which allows you to travel into London via one route, and out of London on the other? I have done this a few times, both ways round, after a member of staff at Paddington told me that it was permitted - and I know quite a few people who routinely do this. But yesterday at Slough, having travelled into London via Waterloo and out via Paddington, I was told that my Travelcard was only valid to the boundary of Zone 6, i.e West Drayton and that I needed to buy an additional ticket from the Z6 boundary onwards back to Windsor & Eton Central. (The guy actually selling the ticket initially told me I needed to buy one all the way from Paddington, but I pointed out the Zone 6 validity).

I see from easement number 700084 in the ATOC routeing guide documents that...

Customers travelling from Windsor & Eton Riverside to or via London
Terminals may not travel via Windsor & Eton Central. This easement
applies in both directions.

...but what ticket do I buy if I do want to do this? Is there anything that will allow flexibility to use either route? If you use the National Rail journey planner to search for WNR to WNC, with Paddington specified as a 'via' it sends you via Reading!

Thanks for your help. I'm new to this, so apologies if this has been discussed before or if the answer is obvious. There must be similar problems in other towns with two stations on different lines. There are related discussions in this thread and this thread but I couldn't find the exact answer.

*If you search using the journey planner for Windsor & Eton Riverside - London, every other result usually starts "walk to Windsor & Eton Central".

 

[Paul Kelly]

It *is* possible to get a weekly or longer travelcard season valid at both. This costs £79.10 (for a weekly) and would would be issued as a travelcard between "WINDSOR & E CTL." and "LONDON ZONES 1-6" route "AAA WINDS ETON R", i.e. also available at Windsor & Eton Riverside.

It doesn't appear that such flexibility is available for day travelcards, and buying the travelcard from one station plus a boundary zone single to the other is the most obvious way of achieving the flexibility you need. Depending on the time of day you're travelling, two singles (one to and one from Boundary Zone 6 via the different routes) plus a normal in-boundary travelcard might work out cheaper.

 

[Mojo]

The NRT says that Windsor & Eton Riv to Waterloo via Richmond is 25¾ Miles and to Paddington via Windsor & Eton Ctl is 21¼ Miles. Given the Conditions of Carriage say that the shortest route is always valid (with no need to consult the Routeing Guide), would this not be valid?

 

[Dan_Lockton]

Thank you Indigo2! Very helpful.

Something which seems like it would be very useful to people living near London but frequently, if irregularly, travelling in, would be able to 'touch in/out' an Oyster card while on a train passing through the zone 6 boundary, so you could just buy a National Rail single/return to the boundary station. But short of rapidly alighting, running across the platform, finding a reader if there is one, then getting back on the same train, I don't think this is possible.

Although maybe if you don't touch in/out, but only at the barriers at a London terminal, the maximum Oyster fare of £7.40 that TfL would charge would be 'worth it' at peak times since the cost plus the fare to the boundary station might be less than a National Rail ticket from the origin station to London on some routes. I doubt it, though!
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Thank you too Mojo.

That hadn't occurred to me, but maybe they would argue that the starting and end points are different so the 'shortest route' criterion wouldn't apply. I don't know!

The NRT says that Windsor & Eton Riv to Waterloo via Richmond is 25¾ Miles and to Paddington via Windsor & Eton Ctl is 21¼ Miles. Given the Conditions of Carriage say that the shortest route is always valid (with no need to consult the Routeing Guide), would this not be valid?

 

[swt_passenger]

Although maybe if you don't touch in/out, but only at the barriers at a London terminal, the maximum Oyster fare of £7.40 that TfL would charge would be 'worth it' at peak times since the cost plus the fare to the boundary station might be less than a National Rail ticket from the origin station to London on some routes. I doubt it, though!

Your stated intention to touch out on arrival and receive a 'maximum cash fare' for the unresolved journey isn't actually going to prevent you being given a penalty fare (or being reported for prosecution) if an RPI asks to see your ticket en route towards the terminal.

 

[MikeWh]

Although maybe if you don't touch in/out, but only at the barriers at a London terminal, the maximum Oyster fare of £7.40 that TfL would charge would be 'worth it' at peak times since the cost plus the fare to the boundary station might be less than a National Rail ticket from the origin station to London on some routes. I doubt it, though!

Oooo, no! Firstly that charge would not count towards the daily cap. Secondly you would be liable to a penalty fare or prosecution if checked by a RPI without a validated Oyster card. And thirdly, the charge is only as high as £7.40 from the extremities of the Oyster system in NW London, anywhere within zones 1-6 it is only £6.50 peak or £4.40 off-peak. But still don't do it deliberately.

 

[Dan_Lockton]

Your stated intention to touch out on arrival and receive a 'maximum cash fare' for the unresolved journey isn't actually going to prevent you being given a penalty fare (or being reported for prosecution) if an RPI asks to see your ticket en route towards the terminal.

Oooo, no! Firstly that charge would not count towards the daily cap. Secondly you would be liable to a penalty fare or prosecution if checked by a RPI without a validated Oyster card. And thirdly, the charge is only as high as £7.40 from the extremities of the Oyster system in NW London, anywhere within zones 1-6 it is only £6.50 peak or £4.40 off-peak. But still don't do it deliberately.

Thanks, yes, of course you're right.

I've never done it - I just wondered if the Oyster system could be designed to make something like this possible in the future, allowing on-train validation (presumably location-aware). Thanks for the warnings though!

 

[TUC]

Thanks, yes, of course you're right.

I've never done it - I just wondered if the Oyster system could be designed to make something like this possible in the future, allowing on-train validation (presumably location-aware). Thanks for the warnings though!

It would be really helpful. When I visit my sister-in-law in Ashford Surrey it one stop after the Travelcard boundary at Feltham and so I end up breaking my journey there, touching out on my PAYG Oyster and then buying a ticket for the next journey to Ashford. Touching out ohe train would be so much more flexible.

 

[bb21]

Thank you too Mojo.

That hadn't occurred to me, but maybe they would argue that the starting and end points are different so the 'shortest route' criterion wouldn't apply. I don't know!

To avoid the problem associated with a walk at the beginning of a journey, Datchet - London Terminals is measured by the NRT as 23.75 miles to Waterloo, or 23.25 miles to Paddington via Windsor as walking distances count as zero and Riverside - Central is a recognised official interchange.

Same argument as the one Mojo put forward applies. As it is the shortest route, it is always valid.

Slough is one of a number of stations that have a reputation, and not a good one.