I need some help with ticket combinations.

Travelling from Totteridge & Whetstone (Zone 4) to Reading on Saturday and
returning same day.
I have a Networkcard and a Zone 2 - 4 Monthly.

What is the best combi of tickets ?

Was thinking Z 1 - 6 travelcard (£4.80) and then a return extension to
Reading (Not sure of price).

Am I able to get a LU Zone 4 to Reading ticket ? Any source for prices ?



Cheers for the help

Sam

Sam wrote:
I need some help with ticket combinations.

Travelling from Totteridge & Whetstone (Zone 4) to Reading on Saturday and
returning same day.
I have a Networkcard and a Zone 2 - 4 Monthly.

What is the best combi of tickets ?

Was thinking Z 1 - 6 travelcard (£4.80) and then a return extension to
Reading (Not sure of price).

Am I able to get a LU Zone 4 to Reading ticket ? Any source for prices ?

If you take the Tube to Paddington and then get the train to Reading
(which I'm sure will be the quickest way) then it's probably best to put
£3 worth of pay-as-you-go credit on your Oyster card and use that
(obviously along with the Z2-4 that's already on there) to get to
Paddington and back. You would then need a Paddington - Reading cheap
day return (because you can't use prepay on rail services out of
Paddington), which you can look up on nationalrail.co.uk (and apply your
Network Card discount).

You can get a Z4-Reading ticket (which I imagine is broadly the same
price as a Southall - Reading ticket) but you wouldn't be able to travel
out of Paddington on it (again, because prepay isn't valid on those rail
services, although your season ticket is) - you'd have to go to Ealing
Broadway instead.

And yes, you can also get the Z1-6 paper ticket plus an extension, which
will be about the same price as a cheap day return from West Drayton to
Reading. However, you won't be allowed to take a fast train from
Paddington to Reading on that combination (AIUI, although the rules on
these things seem to be absurdly complicated).

I think your best bet is the £3 prepay to get to Paddington, and then a
simple Network Card-discounted Paddington-Reading Cheap Day Return.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
sensible advice snipped
And yes, you can also get the Z1-6 paper ticket plus an extension, which
will be about the same price as a cheap day return from West Drayton to
Reading. However, you won't be allowed to take a fast train from
Paddington to Reading on that combination (AIUI, although the rules on
these things seem to be absurdly complicated).

This isn't quite right: AIUI you can use a zone boundary ticket on any
train, and it doesn't need to stop anywhere around the boundary.

During the weekday evening peak, you can't use any CDRs on FGW fast
trains, but this doesn't apply on a Sunday. I don't *think* there are
any rules that say you can only use zone boundary tickets on former NSE
TOCs. Even if this is the case, you can *certainly* use zone boundary
tickets on FGWL fast services to Reading.

I think your best bet is the £3 prepay to get to Paddington, and then a
simple Network Card-discounted Paddington-Reading Cheap Day Return.

Agreed, anyway.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

oups.com...
Dave Arquati wrote:
sensible advice snipped
And yes, you can also get the Z1-6 paper ticket plus an extension, which
will be about the same price as a cheap day return from West Drayton to
Reading. However, you won't be allowed to take a fast train from
Paddington to Reading on that combination (AIUI, although the rules on
these things seem to be absurdly complicated).

This isn't quite right: AIUI you can use a zone boundary ticket on any
train, and it doesn't need to stop anywhere around the boundary.

During the weekday evening peak, you can't use any CDRs on FGW fast
trains, but this doesn't apply on a Sunday. I don't *think* there are
any rules that say you can only use zone boundary tickets on former NSE
TOCs. Even if this is the case, you can *certainly* use zone boundary
tickets on FGWL fast services to Reading.

I think your best bet is the £3 prepay to get to Paddington, and then a
simple Network Card-discounted Paddington-Reading Cheap Day Return.

Agreed, anyway.



Thanks for all your help





--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On 22 Mar 2006 08:56:22 -0800, "John B" wrote:

And yes, you can also get the Z1-6 paper ticket plus an extension, which
will be about the same price as a cheap day return from West Drayton to
Reading. However, you won't be allowed to take a fast train from
Paddington to Reading on that combination (AIUI, although the rules on
these things seem to be absurdly complicated).

This isn't quite right: AIUI you can use a zone boundary ticket on any
train, and it doesn't need to stop anywhere around the boundary.

During the weekday evening peak, you can't use any CDRs on FGW fast
trains, but this doesn't apply on a Sunday. I don't *think* there are
any rules that say you can only use zone boundary tickets on former NSE
TOCs.

It's not the zone boundary ticket that's the problem, it's the ODTC.
There's an obscure rule in the fares manual (I have no idea whether
it's likely to actually be enforced) that says you can't use a ODTC
(as part of a ticket combination) on any TOC (like FGW) that only has
one station in the Travelcard zones, as those TOCs don't get any
revenue from ODTCs. (Strangely, season Travelcards aren't affected by
this.)

I think your best bet is the £3 prepay to get to Paddington, and then a
simple Network Card-discounted Paddington-Reading Cheap Day Return.

And you could (if you really wanted) save the £3 by going by bus from
Z2 to Paddington.

John B wrote:
Sam wrote:
I need some help with ticket combinations.

Travelling from Totteridge & Whetstone (Zone 4) to Reading on Saturday and
returning same day.
I have a Networkcard and a Zone 2 - 4 Monthly.

What is the best combi of tickets ?

Was thinking Z 1 - 6 travelcard (£4.80) and then a return extension to
Reading (Not sure of price).

Am I able to get a LU Zone 4 to Reading ticket ? Any source for prices ?


You can get a BZ4 to Reading ticket from any manned NR station.

If you wanted to prove a point, you could go T&W - Kentish Town -
West Hampstead - Gunnersbury - Ealing Broadway - Reading using
exclusively your travelcard and your BZ4 - Reading ticket.
(snip)

Ouch... I think I'd be in tears by the time I got to Gunnersbury and
realised I had another two changes to go (you missed out Turnham Green).
If I were proving the same point, I'd go T&W to Camden Town, walk over
to Camden Road, use NLL to Acton Central and then give up and get the
bus along the Uxbridge Road to Ealing.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London