Zone 1-8 Season ticket - going to Braintree

[Tibbs]

Hey all,

I have a 1-8 Annual Oyster card and I need to go to Braintree Saturday, coming back on Sunday.

By the looks of it the cheapest way to do it is to buy a ticket from Shenfield to Braintree, at a cost of £5.35

Can you get a boundary zone 8 ticket, or do it any cheaper?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[CyrusWuff]

Note that Broxbourne, Shenfield and Brentwood only accept Oyster for Pay As You Go purposes. Like Purfleet, Ockendon, Chafford Hundred and Grays on c2c, and Watford Junction, they remain outside the Travelcard Area.

As such, you would need to purchase a ticket from Boundary Zone 6 to Braintree as none of the stations on the GEML are in Zones 7, 8 or 9.

 

[soil]

Brentwood and Shenfield are not covered by Zones 7, 8 or 9.

Brentwood is Zone B and Shenfield Zone C.

There is no Boundary Zone 7, 8 or 9.

BZ6 to Braintree is £8 with railcard discount, one-way.

Ever so slightly cheaper, Boundary Zone 4 - Braintree, SVR, £15.30 with railcard discount.

 

[maniacmartin]

Are Boundary Zone tickets even valid if they are issued from a zone different from where your travelcard validity ends, with overlapping coverage?

 

[Tibbs]

Ah, so a BZ6 to Braintree @ £8 each way looks to be the best option.

Only day returns available.

 

[soil]

Are Boundary Zone tickets even valid if they are issued from a zone different from where your travelcard validity ends, with overlapping coverage?

I don't see why they shouldn't be.

"You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover the entire journey and one of the following applies:
(a) they are both Zonal Tickets unless special conditions prohibit their use in this way. The Ticket Seller will, if you ask, advise you whether you can use a Zonal Ticket in combination with another ticket."

The tickets together clearly both cover the entire journey.

 

[maniacmartin]

A Boundary Zone ticket does not allow travel within a 'zone', therefore I don't consider it zonal. I don't think 19A or 19B match it properly, and it has it's own secret rules.

Of course as Tibbs has a season ticket, it doesn't matter, but for Day Travelcards...

 

[CyrusWuff]

Are Boundary Zone tickets even valid if they are issued from a zone different from where your travelcard validity ends, with overlapping coverage?

Unless you're travelling on FCC, yes.

Seriously though, why wouldn't they be? You have a Travelcard valid for, say, Zones 1-6 and a point to point ticket that's valid from the edge of Zo ne 4, making you "doubly valid".

There are plenty of anomalies in the fares database that mean it's cheaper to buy a ticket from A to C than from B to C when you've already got a ticket that covers you between A and B.

For example: A Boundary Zone 6 - Bicester North Anytime Day Return is £22.30, but a South Ruislip (in Zone 5) - Bicester North Anytime Day Return is £20.80.

Or, for historical reasons, a London Terminals - Solihull Off-Peak Single via High Wycombe (valid on any train from Marylebone) is £49.00, but a Finsbury Park - Solihull Off-Peak Day Single via High Wycombe is £36.00, and valid on any train after 0930 Monday to Friday.

 

[Tibbs]

Well I got the SVR OK, thanks for your help everyone!

 

[maniacmartin]

If I had a London Terminals to West Drayton ticket, and also a Boundary Zone 2 ticket to Reading ticket, I'd be doubly valid from BZ2 to West Drayton. Would this be valid to travel on a fast train from Paddington to Reading?

Unless ATOC publishes information the public can access* regarding Boundary Zone validity I'd be wary of combining them in anything but the straightforward intended way.

i.e. not hidden in the Manual

 

[OwlMan]

If I had a London Terminals to West Drayton ticket, and also a Boundary Zone 2 ticket to Reading ticket, I'd be doubly valid from BZ2 to West Drayton. Would this be valid to travel on a fast train from Paddington to Reading?

Unless ATOC publishes information the public can access* regarding Boundary Zone validity I'd be wary of combining them in anything but the straightforward intended way.

i.e. not hidden in the Manual

A boundary zone ticket is not valid with a point to point ticket from London to West Drayton - it is only valid with a travelcard or freedom pass.

 

[RJ]

A boundary zone ticket is not valid with a point to point ticket from London to West Drayton - it is only valid with a travelcard or freedom pass.

Agreed, it's a Travelcard extension ticket only valid in conjunction with a valid London Zones ticket (so include TfL Staff passes with that!) I don't see any mileage in trying to claim anything else.

 

[maniacmartin]

My point was that they can't just be combined in any arbitrary way.

Given that some people people view them as excesses, you clearly can't excess a ticket backwards too giving dual validity. So can they be combined with any travelcard, or only the appropriate travelcard?

 

[Tibbs]

Well it was all rather moot. Made it there and back without even seeing a rail employee, let alone had my ticket looked at, so the high court battle over the validity of BZ tickets will have to wait until next time.

 

[MikeWh]

My point was that they can't just be combined in any arbitrary way.

Given that some people people view them as excesses, you clearly can't excess a ticket backwards too giving dual validity. So can they be combined with any travelcard, or only the appropriate travelcard?

I really don't think this can be described as any arbitrary way. What you seem to be saying is that anyone living in zones 7-9 with a travelcard cannot utilise boundary zone tickets to go anywhere where the final travelcard zone is zone 6. Given that that is most of the boundary of the travelcard area I find that view frankly ridiculous. A zone 1-8 travelcard is valid to the outer edge of zone 6 wherever that is the final zone, so a boundary zone 6 onwards ticket is absolutely the correct one to use.

 

[maniacmartin]

What about a Boundary Zone 4 ticket?

 

[MikeWh]

What about a Boundary Zone 4 ticket?

That'll teach me to read the thread properly!

However, the travelcard is undoubtedly valid to the edge of boundary zone 4, so I believe a BZ4 onwards ticket is also valid with it. I can see where you have concerns though. It must be a bit of an anomaly that a SVR ticket is available from one boundary but not the other.

 

[bb21]

It is an extension from the boundary of Zone 4. The Travelcard clears covers the journey from the origin to the boundary of Zone 4. There is no break of journey restriction on the Travelcard. I can't see a reason why it would not be valid.

 

[Tibbs]

That'll teach me to read the thread properly!

However, the travelcard is undoubtedly valid to the edge of boundary zone 4, so I believe a BZ4 onwards ticket is also valid with it. I can see where you have concerns though. It must be a bit of an anomaly that a SVR ticket is available from one boundary but not the other.

The chap I bought the ticket off at Liverpool Street was going to sell me 2 singles until I told him an SVR was available. He seemed to think it was a new ticket, as he hadn't seen it before.