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

yorkie2

martindow wrote: »

Doesn't that mean that your train needs to stop at the boundary station?

No. The OP stated earlier " zones 1-3 which are already covered by my gold card"

A Gold Card is an annual Season ticket.

Condition 19(c) of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage permit you to combine one Season ticket with any number of non-Season tickets for one journey, with no further requirements or obligations to be met.

martindow wrote: »

The combination of boundary of zone tickets and a travelcard allows you to use any train regardless of intermediate stops.

If the OP didn't hold a Season ticket, then yes this would comply with Condition 19(a), thus avoiding any need to comply with Condition 19(b)

Only one out of Condition 19(a) or 19(b) or 19(c) needs to be complied with.

yorkie2

katejo wrote: »

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.

If you're travelling via Surbiton, the last station in Zone 3 is Wimbledon.

The following return fares are available from Wimbledon, which are the same as from Boundary Zone 3:-

• Off Peak R (SVR): £39.65
• Anytime Day R (SDR) £34.60
• Off Peak Day R (CDR) £34.30

So in this particular case, it's not cheaper to book from Boundary Zone 3, but it does provide additional validity, for example instead of travelling via Wimbledon you could travel via Sutton, or via Staines, etc...

katejo wrote: »

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.

The £42.95 SVR fare is routed "LONDON NOT UND" so is not applicable to you; it would only be relevant to a passenger travelling from Wimbledon to Wool via London Waterloo who was not already in possession of a ticket valid for travel between London & Wimbledon.

katejo

I am not sure where you got this from. I have just looked the fare up again. I entered my search as a train from London Waterloo to Wool (off peak with a gold card). The given fare was just over £42 and the following summary was provided if i clicked on the info button. I would be travelling from London Waterloo as shown below.



Departure StationTicket
London [ more ... ]
London [ more ... ]
City Thameslink(CTK)
London Cannon [ more ... ]
London Charing [ more ... ]
London Bridge(LBG)
London Waterloo [ more ... ]
London Victoria(VIC)
Vauxhall(VXH)
London Waterloo(WAT)
Off-Peak Return

You may travel from any of the listed London stations.

Travel is not permitted from any other London Stations with this ticket


Amendment: I can now see that you were assuming that I was travelling from Wimbledon. Not true. My search is from London Waterloo

wealdroam

katejo wrote: »

Amendment: I can now see that you were assuming that I was travelling from Wimbledon. Not true. My search is from London Waterloo

You already have a ticket covering zone 1-3, i.e. Waterloo to Wimbledon, so when you travel you only need a ticket from Wimbledon to Wool.

katejo

wealdroam wrote: »

You already have a ticket covering zone 1-3, i.e. Waterloo to Wimbledon, so when you travel you only need a ticket from Wimbledon to Wool.

OK now i see where Wimbledon comes into it. However the £42 ish fare which I found was just a train direct from Waterloo to Wool. It didn't involve travelling into London and out again. The price which I found on the ticket machine from the boundary of zone 3 was slightly lower than the price from Wimbledon.

wealdroam

katejo wrote: »

OK now i see where Wimbledon comes into it. However the £42 ish fare which I found was just a train direct from Waterloo to Wool. It didn't involve travelling into London and out again. The price which I found on the ticket machine from the boundary of zone 3 was slightly lower than the price from Wimbledon.

The £42.95 from Wimbledon to Wool allows the traveller to go from Wimbledon to Waterloo before boarding a train at Waterloo to Wool.

Your next question would probably be "why would anyone want to do that?"
Answer: those without a zone 1-3 travelcard season may well prefer to go to Waterloo before catching a fast train, one that doesn't stop at Wimbledon, to Wool. With your Gold Card, you can buy a ticket from Wimbledon and catch a fast train from Waterloo that does not need to stop at Wimbledon.

The '£42 ish' ticket you found is actually a different price at £42.20, which as you say is the fare from Waterloo.

katejo

wealdroam wrote: »

The £42.95 from Wimbledon to Wool allows the traveller to go from Wimbledon to Waterloo before boarding a train at Waterloo to Wool.

Your next question would probably be "why would anyone want to do that?"
Answer: those without a zone 1-3 travelcard season may well prefer to go to Waterloo before catching a fast train, one that doesn't stop at Wimbledon, to Wool. With your Gold Card, you can buy a ticket from Wimbledon and catch a fast train from Waterloo that does not need to stop at Wimbledon.

The '£42 ish' ticket you found is actually a different price at £42.20, which as you say is the fare from Waterloo.

No I wasn't going to ask that. I had just been puzzled by the assumption that I had been looking at exactly that type of ticket. 😊

wealdroam

katejo wrote: »

No I wasn't going to ask that. I had just been puzzled by the assumption that I had been looking at exactly that type of ticket. 😊

Not helped by the use of such phrases as 'about £36', 'just over £42' and '£42 ish'.