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

MSE_James

lcc86 said:

I can get off at City Thameslink instead of London Blackfriars to swap trains

Be careful with this - City Thameslink is part of the 'London Terminals' group for ticketing purposes, even though it's not a terminus station. 

lcc86

MSE_James said:

lcc86 said:

I can get off at City Thameslink instead of London Blackfriars to swap trains

Be careful with this - City Thameslink is part of the 'London Terminals' group for ticketing purposes, even though it's not a terminus station. 

Oh really? That's a shame, thought I'd found a workaround. Thanks for the heads up, wouldn't have wanted to find that one out the hard way. It all seems very unnecessarily complex! Looks like the only route where the flexi ticket is possible is into Clapham and then bus. I'll still explore a few other options to make sure. 

Even PAYG is confusing me at this point as I'm getting different prices from National Rail site, Thameslink, and Oyster all for the same journey.

lcc86

beckstar1975 said:

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.

Thanks, I'm down past Coulsdon way towards Redhill would prefer train at least into Croydon as the bus is quite slow for that portion of the journey compared to 20 mins by train. But these are all good options for me to explore when I start. Might try a different route each week and then settle on the couple which are easiest/quickest.

lcc86

Newbie_John said:

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 ..

Thanks. The oyster v train ticket varies when I used the tfl fare finder for a few routes, sometimes cheaper but off peak was always cheaper buying a ticket. Of course that means you're meant to travel on a specific train which you don't have to do with oyster but have done that before with a different job and it wasn't an issue.

lcc86

400ixl said:

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.

Thanks. I can understand for long distance routes but it doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's such a short journey. I'm averaging 1 hr 15 on all the different routes I've looked at so far if I go the most direct route, if I avoid London terminals it adds on a good 30 minutes assuming all connections are on time of course. I'm sure such tickets must be useful to some but I don't particularly want a 2 hour commute if I can help it. I'm just glad I came here for advice to understand it a bit better and get ideas for alternatives!

MSE_James

lcc86 said:

Of course that means you're meant to travel on a specific train which you don't have to do with oyster  

It's only tickets of the 'Advance' type (which I don't think are available for any journeys wholly within Greater London) which are tied to specific trains.

Paper or e-tickets for short National Rail journeys in London are mostly flexible Anytime Singles and Returns (even if you have to select a train to buy a ticket, you are not tied to that train).  

The only time restriction would relate to the rules for any railcard you might be using. 

Newbie_John

London example:
Bexley - Shepherds Bush

a) cheapest option £3.70 off peak avoiding London Terminals
b) most expensive £9.90 peak via London Terminals

So it is £6 a day, 20 days commute a month and you have £100, £1200 a year..

Sometimes it makes sense, but you make it longer.

lcc86

Thanks. Got some experimenting to do! Don't think I'm eligible for any railcards (unless mature students count lol) but all good food for thought.

2childmum2

Mature students can get a 16-25 Railcard. But check the restrictions and minimum spend - it may not be much use for your commute

lcc86

2childmum2 said:

Mature students can get a 16-25 Railcard. But check the restrictions and minimum spend - it may not be much use for your commute

Haha sadly I'm well over that age bracket!