Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

brightontraveller

I live in Hastings and have a job in Brighton my employer is ok for me to start work up until nine thirty and is two minutes from the main Brighton railway station I at get a £184.40 monthly ticket which goes up to £193.20 I cannot afford to buy the yearly season ticket just wondering if anyone knows of any offers, discount’s, split journeys gold card combination journeys or any thing it eats up a large chunk of my wages I’m over twenty five and under 60 any ideas would be gratefully accepted many thanks and happy new year to all :beer:

ticketcollector

EmmaH wrote: »

Hi all,

My daily commute is from Cuffley (outside Zone 6) to Victoria (Zone 1) - Monday to Friday.

I paid £2200 last year for a standard annual ticket to cover all Zones plus Cuffley, which has this year rocketed to £2320 which I am loathe to pay!

I have found that I can buy an annual ticket from Cuffley to Winchmore Hill for £740, then an annual tube travelcard for Zones 1-4 for £1328 - a total of £2068 saving £252. :T

I am still looking into every combination to ensure I'm not missing a trick - would be great to find anyone making the same journey so we can compare notes!

Or if anyone else has any ideas on how I can slash the price further I would be appreciative.

Emma I would be carefull over what your doing, its is known about and if FCC wanted to get picky they could actually prosucute you for breaking the NCoC.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/misc/NRCOC.pdf I have pasted the relevent section for you and 19(c) applies here, in that you have two season tickets.
However If the train stops at Winchmore Hill then you are fine to do this combination of tickets as 19(b) applies.

19. Using a combination of tickets
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);
(b) the train you are in calls at the station where you change from one ticket to
another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.

EmmaH_2

ticketcollector wrote: »

Emma I would be carefull over what your doing, its is known about and if FCC wanted to get picky they could actually prosucute you for breaking the NCoC.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/misc/NRCOC.pdf I have pasted the relevent section for you and 19(c) applies here, in that you have two season tickets.
However If the train stops at Winchmore Hill then you are fine to do this combination of tickets as 19(b) applies.

19. Using a combination of tickets
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);
(b) the train you are in calls at the station where you change from one ticket to
another; or
(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.

Thanks for the advice ticketcollector - my train does stop at Winchmore Hill and my Tube travelcard covers from Winchmore Hill into Zone 1 so I think I am safe. I have however asked First Capital Connect themselves as I don't want to get into trouble and end up paying more than the original season ticket!!!

ticketcollector

Some trains on the Hertford branch do werid stopping patterns.
I think your fine on your combination as stated above, as long as it stops at the station where your first ticket ends and the new one starts (and vice versa)

Plus im new on here.

laird

Emma if you use a service that calls at the station where your two tickets are valid there is no problem.

Reading paragraph 19c it would also be acceptable in your case to use a train that does not call at the intermediate station as:
Your ticket from Cuffley to Winchmore Hill is a season ticket using the definition given.
The Underground Inclusive ticket is not a season ticket under the description given in paragraph 19c since it is issued on behalf of a Passenger Transport Executive or Local Authority.

Altarf

Rule 19 only requires one of the conditions to be satisfied, and although stopping at a station is one condition - 19.(b), holding a season ticket plus a ticket that is not a season ticket - 19.(c) is also a valid condition and does not require the train to stop at the 'splitting' station.

However... as has already been demonstrated, some of the rail company staff don't understand this and specifically don't believe that an an annual TFL travelcard is not a season ticket. One of my colleagues uses this method to save money, but to avoid arguments with the on train staff he wrote to First Capital Connect and asked for written confirmation that what he is doing is OK (which of course it is). He now carries their reply letter to show to any ticket inspector that doesn't understand the rules.

mutley74

BEWARE anyone travelling over the next week North & South bound between Newcastle and Darlington - various track works means theres a replacement bus service in operation.

ticketcollector

I have just had a reply back from our Revenue Protection guys at FCC and they have said that Rule 19c will be enforced and that the Zone 1-4 is still counted as a Season ticket and therefore you would be traveling on two season tickets.

I am more likley to follow what Ive been told by Revenue Protection then I am from Customer Relations.
If the letter is from the MD or from Revenue Protection then I would belive it otherwise I would not. Even a letter from ATOC (who set the NCoC) is better then Cust Rela
Customer Relations do not know what the rules are and have even in the past demanded me refund a ticket for a person I sold who was traveling without a ticket, Obviously this prooves to be honest they havent got a fogiest idea.

But in all cases there we all have discretion, and it would be used.

Roland

ticketcollector wrote: »

I have just had a reply back from our Revenue Protection guys at FCC and they have said that Rule 19c will be enforced and that the Zone 1-4 is still counted as a Season ticket and therefore you would be traveling on two season tickets.

I am more likley to follow what Ive been told by Revenue Protection then I am from Customer Relations.
If the letter is from the MD or from Revenue Protection then I would belive it otherwise I would not. Even a letter from ATOC (who set the NCoC) is better then Cust Rela
Customer Relations do not know what the rules are and have even in the past demanded me refund a ticket for a person I sold who was traveling without a ticket, Obviously this prooves to be honest they havent got a fogiest idea.

But in all cases there we all have discretion, and it would be used.

19(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);

19(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.

Reading both rules together, FCC could be right but I think it should be more 19a than 19c that prevents Emma from using 2 tickets. A Travelcard is a Zonal ticket but to benefit wouldn't she require 2 Zonal tickets? I don't think that combination is possible between Hertfordshire and London. For example, it is possible to take advantage of 19a for travel between South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.

dzug

Roland wrote: »

19(a) they are both Zonal Tickets (unless special conditions prohibit their use);

19(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a passenger transport executive or local authority) or a leisure travel pass, and the other ticket(s) is/are not.

Reading both rules together, FCC could be right but I think it should be more 19a than 19c that prevents Emma from using 2 tickets. A Travelcard is a Zonal ticket but to benefit wouldn't she require 2 Zonal tickets? I don't think that combination is possible between Hertfordshire and London. For example, it is possible to take advantage of 19a for travel between South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.

But rule 19b (train stops at the station where the tickets 'join') allows it regardless of season tickets, zonal tickets, ordinary tickets, or whatever)

and given that there are next to no trains from Cuffley that don't call at Winchmore Hill it sounds a reasonable bet for OP as long as she remembers that rule.