Buying tickets from Boundary of zone 3 online (Southern Trains)

katejo

My local ticket machines now allow me to buy a ticket from the boundary of zone 3 instead of paying for zones 1-3 which are already covered by my gold card. Today I have looked up a fare on Southern Trains via their website but it doesn't seem to give this option. I know that their ticket machines allow it as their is a demo online to show me how to do it so why doesn't the website allow it? Or am I missing something? I searched their Q & A's on the site but didn't find the relevant info.

wealdroam

katejo wrote: »

My local ticket machines now allow me to buy a ticket from the boundary of zone 3 instead of paying for zones 1-3 which are already covered by my gold card. Today I have looked up a fare on Southern Trains via their website but it doesn't seem to give this option. I know that their ticket machines allow it as their is a demo online to show me how to do it so why doesn't the website allow it? Or am I missing something? I searched their Q & A's on the site but didn't find the relevant info.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot buy boundary zone tickets online.

Being able to by them from machines is a relatively recent thing, and I think currently it is only Southern machines that are so capable.

I can only guess that other companies' machines will be able to issue them in due course, but whether they will ever become available online - who knows?

The_Groat_Counter

wealdroam wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot buy boundary zone tickets online.

Correct, it's just not possible, no ticket site offers them.

katejo

wealdroam wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot buy boundary zone tickets online.

Being able to by them from machines is a relatively recent thing, and I think currently it is only Southern machines that are so capable.

I can only guess that other companies' machines will be able to issue them in due course, but whether they will ever become available online - who knows?

It isn't only Southern machines which do it. The new machine at my local London Overground station does it too.

wealdroam

katejo wrote: »

It isn't only Southern machines which do it. The new machine at my local London Overground station does it too.

OK, so my guess was right. Thanks for the update.

yorkie2

katejo wrote: »

My local ticket machines now allow me to buy a ticket from the boundary of zone 3 instead of paying for zones 1-3 which are already covered by my gold card. Today I have looked up a fare on Southern Trains via their website but it doesn't seem to give this option. I know that their ticket machines allow it as their is a demo online to show me how to do it so why doesn't the website allow it? Or am I missing something? I searched their Q & A's on the site but didn't find the relevant info.

Where would you be travelling to? In most cases, the fare from a named station in Zone 3 would also be the same fare, though not always.

martindow

yorkie2 wrote: »

Where would you be travelling to? In most cases, the fare from a named station in Zone 3 would also be the same fare, though not always.

Doesn't that mean that your train needs to stop at the boundary station? The combination of boundary of zone tickets and a travelcard allows you to use any train regardless of intermediate stops.

katejo

yorkie2 wrote: »

Where would you be travelling to? In most cases, the fare from a named station in Zone 3 would also be the same fare, though not always.

To Wool (Dorset) . Tried to look it up at my local station machine but it only allows ticket purchase up to 1 month ahead so no good for this journey.

dzug1

Boundary zone tickets cannot be bought online, only at a station and maybe by phone


It sounds as though you could look up the price at a ticket machine though - just try for next week. It's not a price that will vary with time

katejo

dzug1 wrote: »

Boundary zone tickets cannot be bought online, only at a station and maybe by phone


It sounds as though you could look up the price at a ticket machine though - just try for next week. It's not a price that will vary with time

I have just tested this for a random Mon-Fri date in September for an off peak open return with a gold card discount. On the machine, I added the boundary of zone 3 as a departure point. It is worth doing. The zone 3 option reduces the fare by about £6-7. It was about £36 instead of £42.

katejo

martindow wrote: »

Doesn't that mean that your train needs to stop at the boundary station? The combination of boundary of zone tickets and a travelcard allows you to use any train regardless of intermediate stops.

In the past I have found that ticket offices within zones 1-3 would sell me a ticket from the boundary of zone 3. If I was returning from outside the zones (eg. Gatwick), they sold me a ticket to a specific station on the boundary but did sometimes ask which route I was taking.