10 ways to avoid penalty fares on trains - Evening Standard

jayok

bumpoowee wrote: »

No - I actually TRAVEL BY TRAIN every day rather than waffle a load of nonsense on a subject I know nothing about like some people.

A money saving tip for you - buy a season ticket (can be weekly, monthly or annual)

Mr_Warren_2

jayok wrote: »

A money saving tip for you - buy a season ticket (can be weekly, monthly or annual)

................assuming you can afford the cost!

robt_2

bumpoowee wrote: »

No - I actually TRAVEL BY TRAIN every day rather than waffle a load of nonsense on a subject I know nothing about like some people.

So do I. And it appears that you do.

FARE-COP

Mr_Warren wrote: »

................assuming you can afford the cost!

Yes, they are expensive, but what are the alternatives if you really do have to use the train every day?

1. A kind of hand-to-mouth pay-by-the day, which generally incurs inconvenience in having to get a ticket every day and paying a higher fare
2. Taking a chance on 'opportunist theft'
3. Having the freedom to vary working hours to take advantage of the cheapest daily tickets
4. Buying the season ticket (via loan if necessary), thus having the convenience of being able to use virtually any train and the reduced fare too.

Now I also recognise the failings that do undoubtedly occur, but here's where I'd make damned sure that as a season ticket holder, you grab every concession and refund opportunity available to the holders of such tickets.

It's the very least the TOCs should expect for your willingness to part with your money in advance.

olly300

jayok wrote: »

A money saving tip for you - buy a season ticket (can be weekly, monthly or annual)

It's not always cheaper to buy a season ticket.

I use to travel away from London and it was cheaper for me on that particular train line to buy daily returns.

The trick was to buy the return for the next day the day before, or buy a few days tickets in advance at a time.

And to be honest even in penalty fare zones if you can get a ticket for part of your journey from a machine, you won't be charged a penalty fare.

FARE-COP

olly300 wrote: »

It's not always cheaper to buy a season ticket.

I use to travel away from London and it was cheaper for me on that particular train line to buy daily returns.

The trick was to buy the return for the next day the day before, or buy a few days tickets in advance at a time.

And to be honest even in penalty fare zones if you can get a ticket for part of your journey from a machine, you won't be charged a penalty fare.

You're right about the off-peak day returns in some areas, but I'd be careful about the suggestion to purchase 'part-journey only' tickets. If you do that regularly, unless are genuinely unable to obtain the correct ticket for your whole journey through the fault of the rail company, you may well find that revenue staff will report an allegation of fare evasion.

gner_ex

olly300 wrote: »

It's not always cheaper to buy a season ticket.

I use to travel away from London and it was cheaper for me on that particular train line to buy daily returns.

The trick was to buy the return for the next day the day before, or buy a few days tickets in advance at a time.

And to be honest even in penalty fare zones if you can get a ticket for part of your journey from a machine, you won't be charged a penalty fare.

Can you give an example of where you can only get a ticket for part of your journey from a machine, and not the full journey?

sportbeth

gner_ex wrote: »

Can you give an example of where you can only get a ticket for part of your journey from a machine, and not the full journey?

I may be dragging up an old redundant thread here but I have a very valid question.

I travel daily into London from a station that is further from my home address than my nearest but as it has free parking and the season ticket costs £500 less than from my station, it makes good MSE sense to travel that way. (yes you did read correctly, the station 3 miles down the road costs a full £500 a year less to travel from. )

Last week my husband called to say that he would be late home and that i should travel to the station near to home so that I could get home without the car. I left the car for him at the further station to drive home.

I went to the ticket machine at the London station i travel from, eveyr option to buy a ticket but no option to extend a ticket between two stations

I went to the ticket window, one window open and a queue of 5 people in front of me. From experience I estimate that queue to be 10 mins plus.

So I took a chance and jumped on the train. There was no guard on my train to buy a ticket extension from and when I arrived at my station the !!!!! mob were there in high vis jackets and they fined me £20.

I asked them what I was meant to do if occasionally I have to travel to this station at short notice and the answer was "pay the £500 a year to travel from here"

How is that fair on my part? And what can I sensibly argue if I'm in this position again?

I feel that if I was a genuine fare evader I would not have a season ticket at all. I was quite happy to pay the extra £2 to get to my stop.

Altarf

So you travel between A and B, does the train pass through the nearer station C en-route to B.

KeithP

sportbeth wrote: »

There was no guard on my train to buy a ticket extension from and when I arrived at my station the !!!!! mob were there in high vis jackets and they fined me £20.

I asked them what I was meant to do if occasionally I have to travel to this station at short notice and the answer was "pay the £500 a year to travel from here"

How is that fair on my part? And what can I sensibly argue if I'm in this position again?

If there really was no guard on the train, your only option is to pay the fare before you travel.

If there is a guard on the train, you should seek him/her out and pay the extra fare before reaching your season ticket destination.

sportbeth wrote: »

I feel that if I was a genuine fare evader I would not have a season ticket at all.

In no way am I saying this is what happened, but I am sure you can understand the converse...
"I can buy a season ticket costing £500 less and on the odd occasion I need to travel further, I'll cross my fingers and hope".

sportbeth wrote: »

I was quite happy to pay the extra £2 to get to my stop.

Again, the cynic might say... "yes, I'm sure you are... now that you have been caught".

:beer: