National Rail Travelcards In London

paleto

Hi,

I usually buy a weekly Southeastern travekcard (e.g. national rail NOT tube\bus\tram) between Greenwich for DLR (the national rail station) and London Terminals (London Bridge, Waterloo, Cannon Street, and Charing Cross... anyone know any others?).
I don't buy a monthly card because at the moment I am not sure how long I will be here with work.
The ticket costs £14.50.
My question is are these types of travelcard priced by specific station-to-London Terminal, or by Zone?

E.g. Is a travelcard between London terminals and Maze Hill(next station on from Greenwich) the same price as a travelcard between London terminals and Greenwich?

If the pricing is done by zone then the rational choice is to ask for a travelcard between the outermost station in the zone and London. Just so you have the option to travel out that far, even if you don't use it.
When they print the card it specifically says from Greenwich.

I have tried twice to clear this mystery up at Greenwich station, but a lack of eloquence on my part and quite possibly knowledge on the other, has so far defeated me.

help please,

thanks

Nick.

PS Any good ideas for cheap weekend escapes by train.
E.g. went to Brockenhurst in the new forest yesterday.
£35 return with no bargain advance fares, now or in the future.
Is there anywhere nice(countryside) to visit not more than 90 mins away by train with cheap advance fares?

dzug1

Let's get the terminology right - you are not buying a travelcard, you are buying a season ticket. They are priced on a point to point basis. Although adjacent stations may sometimes have the same price, it isn't necessarily so. In this case Maze Hill would be £19 a week.

A travelcard for the same journey would be £30 odd - but it would cover any travel in zone 1-3, not just the line you use.

You can add Blackfriars to your list of terminals

Southern have cheap advance purchase fares on many of their lines - you could get out to the South Downs fairly easily. Use their web site. You could also look at megatrain - though they don't have a Sunday service on many routes.

AirlieBird

Yes, National Rail fares in London are priced on a zonal basis, so in theory, your hypothesis would appear to work. Unfortunately, Greenwich is on the Zone 2/3 boundary so going to the next station east would be in Zone 3 and thus cost more, as dzug1 has indicated. But any station between Woolwich Dockyard and Maze Hill, all in zone 3, are at the same price.

You can check season ticket prices here

paleto

Thanks for your reply. So it's a season ticket, fair point.
Although a 'season ticket' that is valid for a week seems a contradiction in terms.
Although I am bemused by British Public Transport ticketing in general, so it's probably just me...

Thanks also to AirlieBird for your post.

KeithP

paleto wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. So it's a season ticket, fair point.
Although a 'season ticket' that is valid for a week seems a contradiction in terms.
Although I am bemused by British Public Transport ticketing in general, so it's probably just me...

Thanks also to AirlieBird for your post.

Call it a weekly ticket if you don't feel the word season is appropriate.

But one thing is certain, its not a Travelcard.

:beer: