Boundary of zone 6 border on route from London Waterloo to Bournemouth

katejo

I need to buy an advance train ticket from the boundary of zone 6 to Bournemouth as I have an Oyster 60+ card. Can anyone tell me from which station the ticket should be? I can't specify 'boundary of zone 6' when I buy online. 

thanks

double_dutchy

According to this map:

Tube and Rail - Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)

Surbiton looks to be the last station in zone 6 heading southwest (it's not on the boundary though)

katejo

double_dutchy said:

According to this map:

Tube and Rail - Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)

Surbiton looks to be the last station in zone 6 heading southwest (it's not on the boundary though)

I have now found out via an Oyster user group that purchase of any Advance tickets from zone boundaries isn't allowed. They can only be bought from a specific station.  It is only possible to buy off peak or Anytime tickets. In practice the price of an Advance ticket from Waterloo to Bournemouth is virtually the same as buying it from Surbiton. 

tripled

The train would need to stop at the station the advance ticket is from, and would only be valid on that departure. For that reason you would need to look up the stops for the specific service.

For a typical Bournemouth fast service it might not have any stops before the boundary, or just Clapham (zone 2), so is probably not worth it over just getting an advance ticket from Waterloo.

You could use a stopper service from Waterloo to Basingstoke, where you would change for the Bournemouth service. You would need to use your Oyster to Surbiton, and then use the advance from Surbiton on the specified departure. If you're not in a hurry it might work.

double_dutchy

"The train would need to stop at the station the advance ticket is from"

Are you sure that applies here? I couldn't find the rules for South West Trains specifically but certainly other railway companies, e.g. Greater Anglia, will sell you a "boundary ticket" if you have a 60+ Oyster Card, with no requirement for the train to stop at the boundary station

MilesT6060842

double_dutchy said:

"The train would need to stop at the station the advance ticket is from"

Are you sure that applies here? I couldn't find the rules for South West Trains specifically but certainly other railway companies, e.g. Greater Anglia, will sell you a "boundary ticket" if you have a 60+ Oyster Card, with no requirement for the train to stop at the boundary station

I think the point is there are different valid combinations

• Oyster/Freedom/Contactless + Advance ticket--needs to be from a specific station (e.g. Surbiton in this case), Advance is just not offered in Boundary form.
• Oyster/Freedom/Contactless + other rail tickets (Standard, off peak etc.) Can be bought as "Boundary" but not online (some ticket machines I think plus ticket offices).

I wonder if there is in fact any price difference between a Boundary ticket to X  and Surbiton to X on that route (or indeed any other route)

And the SWR map clearly shows the last stations in the Oyster zone (e.g. Surbiton, Feltham etc).
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/our-network

katejo

tripled said:

The train would need to stop at the station the advance ticket is from, and would only be valid on that departure. For that reason you would need to look up the stops for the specific service.

For a typical Bournemouth fast service it might not have any stops before the boundary, or just Clapham (zone 2), so is probably not worth it over just getting an advance ticket from Waterloo.

You could use a stopper service from Waterloo to Basingstoke, where you would change for the Bournemouth service. You would need to use your Oyster to Surbiton, and then use the advance from Surbiton on the specified departure. If you're not in a hurry it might work.

This info is partly redundant now because I have already completed the trip. I just bought an Advance ticket from Waterloo to Bournemouth with a senior railcard reduction and didn't use my Oyster 60+ except to get back through the ticket barrier when I returned to Waterloo (so I wouldn't have to wait for a staff member to let me through with my senior railcard). It would have been possible to buy a ticket from Surbiton to Bournemouth but it would have cost me quite a lot more than I paid for the Advance ticket.