confused on cheapest way from uxbridge to coulsdon south or caterham

eskimo26

Hi,
I've been looking at the oyster calculator and i'm a little confused...

If you put in a single journey of uxbridge to coulsdon south you get either £2.60 or [£4 on peak].

But if you break the journey up into what it is using the calculator you get:
1. uxbridge to london bridge
2. london bridge to coulsdon south

Total is £11.60

So the crux of the situation seems to be that i'm forced to abandon the underground and switch to rail at london bridge which charges me for a zone 6 to zone 1 fare when i tap out then a zone 1 to zone 6 fare again by rail.

Whereas with uxbridge to coulsdon south it charges a flat zone 6 to zone 6 fare... but it seems to be this isn't physically possible because i have to leave the underground?

I remember going by rail using oyster from uxbridge to caterham [again zone 6 to 6] for about £5.20 and in fact if you go through the national rail journey planner it actually says by oyster £5.20. Actually i just worked out this is because their is no underground on this route but if you change the station to coulsdon south it still says £5.20- is this only via rail only routes?.

I also have a rail card but it seems mixing rail and oyster fares works out more expensive. If i pay for the whole journey on a single rail ticket i get a ticket with a cross mark that lets me use the rail ticket on the underground but today i tried to break it up and get rail from paddington to coulsdon south and it didn't give me tube access. When i asked how then can i get to london bridge by rail alone she just shook her head and told me to get a refund and go via the underground!

any ideas?
.:huh:

yorkie2

Forget your assumptions above - there's a lot of confusion.

If you travel Uxbridge - Earl's Court - West Brompton - Clapham Jn - Coulsdon South the fare is £4.00 Mon-Fri 0630-0930 & 1600-1900 or £1.70 with your Railcard at all other times.

If you travel via London Bridge the fare is £7.60 Mon-Fri 0630-0930 & 1600-1900 or £3.40 with your Railcard at all other times.

Forget trying to combine paper tickets and Oyster PAYG/Contactless; stick with the latter for the entire journey.

See RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - 2.1 Oyster for details on Oyster PAYG pricing, and any further questions are best asked in Fares Advice & Policy (MikeWh on there is the most expert person I know of!)

eskimo26

yorkie2 wrote: »

Forget your assumptions above - there's a lot of confusion.

If you travel Uxbridge - Earl's Court - West Brompton - Clapham Jn - Coulsdon South the fare is £4.00 Mon-Fri 0630-0930 & 1600-1900 or £1.70 with your Railcard at all other times.

If you travel via London Bridge the fare is £7.60 Mon-Fri 0630-0930 & 1600-1900 or £3.40 with your Railcard at all other times.

Forget trying to combine paper tickets and Oyster PAYG/Contactless; stick with the latter for the entire journey.

See RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - 2.1 Oyster for details on Oyster PAYG pricing, and any further questions are best asked in Fares Advice & Policy (MikeWh on there is the most expert person I know of!)

ok thanks for help, I think i get the idea that it's best to avoid exiting or entering the central stations-its a bit of a mess though tbh.

yorkie2

It can be cheaper to avoid Zone 1, yes.

What's a mess? If you're talking about your attempt to travel from Paddington to Coulsdon South on a paper ticket, there is no single paper ticket that allows this (other than a Travelcard) so you will need to use Oyster PAYG or contactless instead. Travelling via London Bridge would have cost you £3.45 with your Railcard discount on Oyster.