Train out of London with kids

JeffMason

Hi Everyone,

I've got a friend who is traveling out of London from Stratford to Chelmsford or Colchester with his child who is under ten. I think I'm right but said I would ask about it -- It's true that under 10's go free on London Transport, right? So does that mean that his child only needs a ticket from Shenfield onwards. And do they need to change at Shenfield or can they just get any train as they'll all pass through it, but might not stop there...

Can anyone confirm how this works?

JeffMason

But now I'm confused. My idea that this would be cheaper is starting to fall apart. The child is free to Shenfield but the adult is not. The ticket from Shenfield would be with a 'family & friends' card, the childs bit from stratford to there would be free but the parent has to pay and a single oyster fare from Stratford to Shenfield is apparently £7.10 which seems like a lot and suddenly make the clever idea of buying tickets from Shenfield fall apart...

flea72

Probably cheaper to just buy adult and child train ticket from stratford, using F&F card. If booked in advance its about £10 for an adult single

Kite2010

There is a "Kids for £2" promotion for Greater Anglia
(https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/tickets-fares/daily-tickets/kidsfor2)


Although it is limited to ticket office sales and to off-peak tickets, but it might be of some use

t0rt0ise

Just to answer the first question in case anyone else comes across it.. yes, you would take a TfL train to Shenfield and change to a National Rail train from there.

jbuchanangb

If the child is a holder of a 5-10 Oyster Card, they may travel free on National Rail Greater Anglia from Stratford to Shenfield. Without such card stick to TfL Rail.
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/free-travel-areas-without-oyster-adult-accompanying-map.pdf

yorkie2

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Just to answer the first question in case anyone else comes across it.. yes, you would take a TfL train to Shenfield and change to a National Rail train from there.

Yes, you could do that, but it would be slower, and it would not save any money. So it would make no sense to do this.


Incidentally, just to clarify London Overground is a National Rail TOC, as well as being a TfL concession.

PAYG fares on LO routes tend to be priced at whichever is the cheapest out of the National Rail or TfL rates, ie. it's the best of both worlds.