New "Get out of London with Oyster" promotion.

ticketcollector

Oyster card and Freedom pass holders:
Get out of London Adult Return promotional rail fares
26 June to 25 July 2010

This is a brief I have just found from another website.

Basically as of 26th June 2010, the rail companies in conjunction with Oyster are offering cheap tickets when you download a voucher from daysoutguide.co.uk/oyster

Cheapest value ticket I have seen is £20 month return from London to Bristol/Bath/Weston Super Mare. I have also seen London to Brighton return for a fiver!

The full briefing notice which I have read via that website is located at http://www.penaltyfareappeal.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1219 or direct link to it http://www.penaltyfareappeal.co.uk/media/Get%20out%20of%20London%20Oyster%20promotion.pdf

Hopefully this can be put in the weekly newsletter.

Stompa

Some good deals. The fact that you have to hand in a voucher is going to mean lengthy queues for same day travel though.

ticketcollector

The way I read it is that you only have to show the voucher, and you must keep that voucher with you.

From past experience most ticket offices wont care, and will sell you the ticket you specifically ask for.

Stompa

ticketcollector wrote: »

The way I read it is that you only have to show the voucher, and you must keep that voucher with you.

From past experience most ticket offices wont care, and will sell you the ticket you specifically ask for.

Yes, but it means that you're going to have to queue at the ticket office rather than use one of the automated ticket machines, and IME the machines are generally much faster at London mainline stations. The last time I found myself using the ticket office at Waterloo I had a 40 minute wait!

wealdroam

Stompa, you don't have to buy your ticket at a mainline terminal.
Other stations, like Vauxhall, may be less busy. :beer:

Anyway, 40mins to save several pounds doesn't sound like too much of a hardship.

Stompa

wealdroam wrote: »

Stompa, you don't have to buy your ticket at a mainline terminal.
Other stations, like Vauxhall, may be less busy. :beer:

Thanks. Looking more carefully I see it says "The Adult Return promotional rail tickets can be bought either on the day of travel or in advance from all National Rail staffed station ticket offices", so that doesn't sound so bad.

wealdroam wrote: »

Anyway, 40mins to save several pounds doesn't sound like too much of a hardship.

FWIW my 40 minute wait occurred when SW trains were having their special cheap offers last year, and for those offers you were able to use either the ticket office or the automated machines. This time round it'll be ticket offices only, so who knows how long the queues will be!

isthisnameinuse

This offer appears to be a scam. It includes Birmingham and Liverpool, but is only valid on London Midland trains. London Midlands own web site does not show any way to make those journeys from Euston without using Virgin trains which are specifically excluded.

KeithP

isthisnameinuse wrote: »

This offer appears to be a scam. It includes Birmingham and Liverpool, but is only valid on London Midland trains. London Midlands own web site does not show any way to make those journeys from Euston without using Virgin trains which are specifically excluded.

Sorry, you are wrong.

A quote from their website...

London Midland operates train services through the heart of England from London in the south, to Birmingham in the midlands and Liverpool in the north west.

And here is a map of their network...
http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/our-route/

By the way... welcome to the forums.:D

isthisnameinuse

find a service on the London Midland site that meets the terms of the offer - I can't, and their own search doesn't find one. It may be technically possible in that every point is served by a LM train, but whether there is a way of doing it in the off peak times of a day is not obvious, nor is how you would find out if their own site can't tell you. It looks to me like an offer made in the knowledge that it is impossible to take up. If you can show me I'm wrong I would be more than happy!
PS on a general note I still find it staggering that in the computerised 21st century we can't produce a timetable anywhere near as good as Bradshaw did in the 19th

KeithP

isthisnameinuse wrote: »

find a service on the London Midland site that meets the terms of the offer - I can't, and their own search doesn't find one. It may be technically possible in that every point is served by a LM train, but whether there is a way of doing it in the off peak times of a day is not obvious, nor is how you would find out if their own site can't tell you. It looks to me like an offer made in the knowledge that it is impossible to take up. If you can show me I'm wrong I would be more than happy!
PS on a general note I still find it staggering that in the computerised 21st century we can't produce a timetable anywhere near as good as Bradshaw did in the 19th

You will have noted in the link posted by the OP lots of information.
Amongst it is the statement...

Each participating train company has decided on the destinations available on their lines of route and the price they will charge, plus whether it is available as an Adult Off-Peak Day Return or an Adult Off-Peak Return (one month return validity).

If you then look further down that document at the list of available journies, you will see that from Euston to both Birmingham and Liverpool only Month Return is offered.

I think you are saying that it is not possible to do these trips using off peak day return tickets, and you may be right (I haven't checked).
But a day return is not available under this offer on those routes.

No idea what a Bradshaw timetable looked like.

If you want to see printed format LM timetables though, they are available here.

If I've misunderstood your query, please post again. :beer:

Stompa

Stompa wrote: »

Thanks. Looking more carefully I see it says "The Adult Return promotional rail tickets can be bought either on the day of travel or in advance from all National Rail staffed station ticket offices", so that doesn't sound so bad.

Having tried this yesterday it appears that they're not actually available from "all National Rail staffed station ticket offices". My local (non-London) ticket office knew nothing about the scheme, and suggested I'd have to buy one in London. Fortunately the Victoria ticket office seems much more efficient than the one at Waterloo, and despite a similarly lengthy queue it only took around 10 minutes (as opposed to 40).

Oh, and for me, neither the ticket office not any ticket inspectors wanted to see my printed voucher. And no check was made to see if I'd used my Oyster card to travel to the station.