What is the point of season tickets where you must "avoid London terminals"?

lcc86

Recently offered a new job where I knew I'd be back on public transport, which is not an issue. I've a few different options for routes, and was looking at flexi season tickets to compare but they all say "Each pass allows you to travel all-day with unlimited travel that day between the two stations you've selected - not valid for travel through London terminals". My journey involves travel from outer Croydon into either Brixton or Loughborough Junction, and those routes both involve travel through London terminals. I don't understand why a season ticket would be offered which doesn't allow one to travel the most direct route required? 

There's a workaround (I think) for the Loughborough Junction route as I can get off at City Thameslink instead of London Blackfriars to swap trains, but there's no equivalent workaround if I wanted to go into Victoria and out to Brixton. Avoiding Victoria involves two or three trains from Clapham Junction as an alternative which makes that unviable. Am I missing something?

I could get a flexi ticket to Clapham Junction and then get the bus but the price of that ticket is the same as going to City Thameslink plus I'd have to pay out for the bus each day which doesn't make sense.

p00hsticks

lcc86 said:

. My journey involves travel from outer Croydon into either Brixton or Loughborough Junction, and those routes both involve travel through London terminals. I don't understand why a season ticket would be offered which doesn't allow one to travel the most direct route required? 

I'm not familiar with the particular journey you mention ,but my guess would be that there are several different season tickets options available betwee nthose stations , with the cheapest being using slower local trains and avoiding main terminals, and other more expensive ones that are via London terminals ?

katejo

Forgive me if I have misunderstood something but, if you live in an Oyster card zone, wouldn't it be better to buy a monthly or annual  card for your zones? Or do pay as you go if you don't need to travel in every day? 

lcc86

p00hsticks said:

lcc86 said:

. My journey involves travel from outer Croydon into either Brixton or Loughborough Junction, and those routes both involve travel through London terminals. I don't understand why a season ticket would be offered which doesn't allow one to travel the most direct route required? 

I'm not familiar with the particular journey you mention ,but my guess would be that there are several different season tickets options available betwee nthose stations , with the cheapest being using slower local trains and avoiding main terminals, and other more expensive ones that are via London terminals ?

That's the only option I get for any kind of flexi season ticket. There are different options for weekly, monthly etc, but just that one option for the flexi, which is what would suit my needs best. There doesn't seem to be an option to adjust the flexi ticket to include London Terminals either that I can see, which isn't the case for the other season tickets I saw.

The alternative is paying daily rate which works out a fair chunk more. If I have to do that then so be it, I plan to try a few different routes to work out which is "best".

lcc86

katejo said:

Forgive me if I have misunderstood something but, if you live in an Oyster card zone, wouldn't it be better to buy a monthly or annual  card for your zones? Or do pay as you go if you don't need to travel in every day? 

I'm only in twice a week so buying a weekly or monthly pass wouldn't make financial sense. The flexi ticket is quoted on Thameslink website as £170 for 8 journeys in 28 calendar days, doing pay as you go will cost £29.30 return so £234.30 for 8 journeys.

Oyster confuses me as with my current job it charges me more off peak than if I bought an advance ticket online, but the same if I travel at peak times.

lcc86

Also just to add this isn't a dig at public transport at all, I'm just genuinely a bit confused and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something super obvious or a workaround if one might be available. These flexi tickets seem very limited to the point they may be almost redundant for some?

Grumpy_chap

Croydon to Brixton via Victoria is around 50 minutes if the connections are all instant.

The 109 bus is about 45 minutes.

lcc86

Grumpy_chap said:

Croydon to Brixton via Victoria is around 50 minutes if the connections are all instant.

The 109 bus is about 45 minutes.

Thanks I might look into that, I'm checking out all options atm. Have to get into Croydon first so there would still be that part of the journey but forgot about the 109! I only remembered the 250 and I know that takes a longer route.

beckstar1975

I am South Croydon and travel that way frequently. Bus is really not that bad or you can change at Clapham onto the overground, and walk from Clapham High St? Or tram from East Croydon to Mitcham Junction to then pick up the Thameslink to Loughborough Junction.

The above are why there's a no London terminals route.

Newbie_John

There must be a route that allows you to get from A to B avoiding central London - that's really the meaning of that ticket - it may not be the fastest really but is the cheapest.

Check city mapper or TFL single fare finder websites and pick what's cheapest for you. I hardly ever see train ticket to be cheaper than Oyster ..

400ixl

To give a theoretical example lets say the route is Cambridge to Birmingham. There is a cross country route but it takes 3 hours. Alternatively you could get fast trains into London and out that do it in 2 hours.

They don't want cheap tickets taking up seating on already over crowded London commuter trains. Hence not allowing London connections.

That is why some have London restrictions.