Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

dplumb

I've held an annual all zones season ticket from Potters Bar to London for about the last 15 years. My daily journey (probably like most other commuters) is to zone 1 or 2 station and I hardly if ever use anything else in zones 3-6. If I do, it's likely business travel which I could claim back if I didn't already have a valid ticket.

It is permissible within the rail T&C's to buy two (cheaper) season tickets to cover this journey; one a point to point NR ticket from Potters Bar to Finsbury Park (which is in Z2) and then a Z12 travelcard. The cost of these combined tickets is £375 a year cheaper than the all zones would be. I believe you could also buy a season to R12 from the station but in my case I have upgraded to Oyster. Anyway, whenever they quote prices, it's always just say "all zones" or "london terminals" and I've never questioned whether there was a different way of doing this.

Since I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in the year I need anything in the outer zones (and if the train isn't running then the tube will accept tickets anyway) this is what I've renewed this year. Oh and now there is only one bus zone across London, this Z12 ticket works all the buses too. That £375 would cover a lot of travelling out of my normal pattern.

Here's a good web site to check out season ticket prices (use a trainline.com login if you have one). It is run by South West Trains but you can price (and buy) any TOCs annual tickets.

Caveats!
1. NR conditions of carriage rule 17 specify that for this to be valid, the train must stop at the station where the tickets change over. In my case if I chose to take a slower train I could save more by buying the ticket to zone 3 and then a Z123 travelcard, but some trains don't stop there. All trains stop at Finsbury Park.
2. If you would get a discount on your ticket because of poor charter performance, then you only get this discount if you renew for an identical ticket
3. It doens't work out cheaper for all stations.
4. Charter discounts are given on the total cost of the ticket, whereas after doing this you'll only get the discount on the rail portion, not the zonal portion.
5. Check all valid permutations, i.e. Welham Green to Oakleigh Park and a Z1-4 is more versatile and cheaper still.

e.g.
Potters Bar save £375 £896+£808=£1704 normally £2080
Welham Green save £524, £628(to Oakleigh Park)+£1168(Z1-4)=£1796 normally £2320
Hatfield save £388, £1424+£808=£2132 normally £2520
Knebworth save £332, £1800+£808=£2608 normally £2940

I have no idea how well this would work on other lines.

I'm just disappointed I've travelled so long with a ticket I never needed. The saving over the years is thousands.

I won't claim originality in this idea, I saw it on Usenet somewhere, but there seems to have been little exposure elsewhere.

Glad

welcome to the site and what a great 1st post ;D

dplumb

welcome to the site and what a great 1st post  ;D

Why thank you ... I've lurked a while but never had anything to contribute before!

AP

If you look carefully at Condition 17(c) of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, it means that as long as you have one rail season ticket with one (or more) other tickets, you can travel on through trains which do not stop at the station that you change from one train to another. As you only have to satisfy one of 17(a), (b) or (c), Condition 17(b) will not apply if you have already satisfied Condition 17(c).

Your London Zones ticket is not classed as a season ticket for the purpose of this section, only rail season tickets do. So if you get a rail season ticket from Potters Bar to Finsbury's Park and then a London Zones ticket for the rest of your journey, you can travel on trains which do not stop at Finsbury's Park station, as permitted by Condition 17(c) of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage.

I travel from Sheffield to Wakefield on the train each day and I get the South Yorkshire TravelMaster ticket (the South Yorkshire equivalent of your London Zones ticket) with a rail season ticket from Moorthorpe (boundary station for S Yorks/W Yorks) to Wakefield, and I have been using the Virgin Trains non-stop service between Sheffield and Wakefield which does not stop at Moorthorpe station without any problems.

South Yorkshire TravelMaster ticket - £63.75 per month (also includes travel on all buses and trams).
Moorthorpe to Wakefield season ticket - £49.20 per month.
Total = £112.95 per month.

Sheffield to Wakefield season ticket - £133.60 per month (Trains only, no bus or trams!)

Minimum savings for buying 2 tickets - £20.65 per month + bus fares.

dplumb

Your London Zones ticket is not classed as a season ticket for the purpose of this section
Now that is extremely interesting, thank you!! I assumed the travelcard was still a season, though LU only refer to them as "travelcard periods" and the word "season" is not mentioned anywhere.

I picked Finsbury Park because all of my trains do stop there, but I could gain a couple of extra zones and save a few more quid by buying a short point to point and an all zones travelcard (I am literally only a mile or so outside zone 6).

Fares & ticketing options are complex though, TFL propose new zones out to Stevenage to iron out London fares.

In addition, RPI's aren't sure of, e.g. on WAGN it is permissible to travel in 1st class with a STD ticket if the train is only advertised as STD in the timetable. I felt trying my luck too far was not worth the hassle, although I wouldn't turn down the extra zones.

I'm done for this year and very happy with the saving made already but will look at that next year, thank you!

Savvy_Sue

Yup, your tip doesn't just apply to London. I know there were savings to be made for people commuting from Guildford to Basingstoke by buying your ticket to a different station (further out) but I don't know exactly how it worked and whether clause 17 subsection z {paragraph 99} still applies. ;D

cfz1

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1416530,00.html

System

Thanks for that information which I have printed off and intend giving to a relative who recently grumbled about the fare from Peterborough to Birmingham.

My "dumb" question is "am I right in thinking that you ask for the two seperate return tickets from your departure station?".

My second not so dumb question is, "how do you set about deciding which of what could be many stations on route, do you request the return section to be effective from?"
Islandman

AP

There is another article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1416844,00.html
giving a few illustrations on how to save money by buying multiple tickets for one train journey.

I am particularly impressed by the family in Exeter travelling First Class return to London saving £211.90 by buying an Annual Season Ticket between Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St John's Road (in Isle of Wight!) beforehand.

ATOC said that ticket clerks did not always advise passengers of the cheapest deal because it would take too long was not entirely true. I would say that these people simply would not know the nitty gritty of every aspect of the entire ticketing system - when obviously extensive research needs to be done to come up with such a scheme in the abovementioned article to save this amount of money for the family in Exeter.

System

In view of the latest example, I say again, "how does one know which of the stations you call at, is the "changeover" ticket?"