I have a monthly zone 2-3 travelcard on my Oyster but I'd like to pass
through zone 1 occasionally, via the mainline terminals at London Bridge
and Liverpool Street, without paying twice for the rest of my journey.

I think this will become asier once pre-pay is valid on NR but meanwhile
are there extension zone tickets available or else what's the best way?

I already discovered that a single ticket from LivP to Stratford is
£3.00 , but with pre-pay I'd have to jump off the train, swipe, and
jump back on again. That seems a bit crazy, so I'm stumped as to what's
the best thing to do. Any suggestions?

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:24:02 +0100, andy roberts
wrote:

I have a monthly zone 2-3 travelcard on my Oyster but I'd like to pass
through zone 1 occasionally, via the mainline terminals at London Bridge
and Liverpool Street, without paying twice for the rest of my journey.

I think this will become asier once pre-pay is valid on NR but meanwhile
are there extension zone tickets available or else what's the best way?

I already discovered that a single ticket from LivP to Stratford is
£3.00 , but with pre-pay I'd have to jump off the train, swipe, and
jump back on again. That seems a bit crazy, so I'm stumped as to what's
the best thing to do. Any suggestions?

Am I right in assuming that you are travelling into Liverpool St on a NR
train which does not necessarily stop at Stratford?

If you would clarify the exact trips you make then it may (!) be easier
to sort out a solution. I have to say that I think this is likely to be
difficult though!
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:24:02 +0100, andy roberts
wrote:


I have a monthly zone 2-3 travelcard on my Oyster but I'd like to pass
through zone 1 occasionally, via the mainline terminals at London Bridge
and Liverpool Street, without paying twice for the rest of my journey.

I think this will become asier once pre-pay is valid on NR but meanwhile
are there extension zone tickets available or else what's the best way?

I already discovered that a single ticket from LivP to Stratford is
£3.00 , but with pre-pay I'd have to jump off the train, swipe, and
jump back on again. That seems a bit crazy, so I'm stumped as to what's
the best thing to do. Any suggestions?


Am I right in assuming that you are travelling into Liverpool St on a NR
train which does not necessarily stop at Stratford?


Sorry, I should have provided a bit more information, trying to avoid
being too long winded.

I'm communting between Northeast and Southeast London, mostly using the
tube and buses. If I go via NR and through the central terminals it
costs about £99 pm but I'm currently experimenting with a £55 pm
zone2-3 ticket instead. It makes an interesting change and is quicker
than I expected, slightly more so since Shoreditch station closed
forever last Saturday.

Anyway, I'd like to able to venture into central London on foot from
Whitechapel, for example (zone 2) and then catch a train home to Forest
Gate or Manor Park 3 from Liverpool St. Maybe I would catch a train from
New Cross or New Cross Gate into London Bridge on another occasion. The
problem is to have a valid ticket for passing through the zone 1
terminals perhaps once a week or so, without incurring costs which eat
away all of the difference between the z1-3 and z2-3 monthly passes.

I'm sure it used to be possible to buy something called a zone extension
but Im assured that this doesn't currently exist.


If you would clarify the exact trips you make then it may (!) be easier
to sort out a solution. I have to say that I think this is likely to be
difficult though!

Thanks for taking the trouble to think about it.

--
Andy Roberts

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:44:38 +0100, andy roberts
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:24:02 +0100, andy roberts
wrote:


I have a monthly zone 2-3 travelcard on my Oyster but I'd like to pass
through zone 1 occasionally, via the mainline terminals at London Bridge
and Liverpool Street, without paying twice for the rest of my journey.

I think this will become asier once pre-pay is valid on NR but meanwhile
are there extension zone tickets available or else what's the best way?

I already discovered that a single ticket from LivP to Stratford is
£3.00 , but with pre-pay I'd have to jump off the train, swipe, and
jump back on again. That seems a bit crazy, so I'm stumped as to what's
the best thing to do. Any suggestions?


Am I right in assuming that you are travelling into Liverpool St on a NR
train which does not necessarily stop at Stratford?


Sorry, I should have provided a bit more information, trying to avoid
being too long winded.

I'm communting between Northeast and Southeast London, mostly using the
tube and buses. If I go via NR and through the central terminals it
costs about £99 pm but I'm currently experimenting with a £55 pm
zone2-3 ticket instead. It makes an interesting change and is quicker
than I expected, slightly more so since Shoreditch station closed
forever last Saturday.

Anyway, I'd like to able to venture into central London on foot from
Whitechapel, for example (zone 2) and then catch a train home to Forest
Gate or Manor Park 3 from Liverpool St. Maybe I would catch a train from
New Cross or New Cross Gate into London Bridge on another occasion. The
problem is to have a valid ticket for passing through the zone 1
terminals perhaps once a week or so, without incurring costs which eat
away all of the difference between the z1-3 and z2-3 monthly passes.

A couple of immediate points

1) All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere.
Therefore you have bus validity throughout Zone 1 - this just picks up
your comment about walking from Whitechapel. You could just as easily
take a 25 bus direct to Forest Gate or the 205 round to Liverpool St.

2) You run into problems at Liverpool St because ironically Pre-Pay
is valid on NR but only Liverpool St - Stratford. To gain any
entitlement to a Pre-Pay fare you would have to get off at Stratford and
get back on having validated. ISTR that a special "surcharge" has been
put in place for this journey to prevent people travelling from much
further out and just validating for Liverpool St - Stratford. I confess
that I do not know what the gate would do at Liverpool Street when
presented with a Z23 Travelcard for a valid Pre-Pay trip to Stratford
with your travelcard covering your further section.

3) For the New Cross - London Bridge section it is clear that
Pre-Pay does *not* work for the NR journey.

If you travelled via ELL and JLE then the LU system would correctly auto
extend your journey and make a deduction from your Pre-Pay "purse" that
is on your Oyster card alongside your Travelcard ticket. You must make
sure you validate your Oyster card at New Cross / Gate on the gates or
validators as applicable at the start or end as appropriate so the trip
is registered properly. It is worth making sure you have a positive
monetary value on your card so that Pre-Pay works seamlessly when it
comes to auto extension. It would also work in reverse if you entered at
London Bridge and just used LU to get to back to New Cross.

I'm sure it used to be possible to buy something called a zone extension
but Im assured that this doesn't currently exist.

This is where my knowledge is decidedly rusty as I expect conditions
differ between LU and NR ticket offices.

For LU only trips the emphasis for Travelcard holders on Oyster is that
extensions should be done seamlessly in the background with the gates
looking at the Travelcard bit and also Pre-Pay and making the correct
deductions of value.

However I cannot believe that we are in a position where paper ticket
zone extensions have been withdrawn for the many thousands of people
still on magnetic travelcards who may wish to use NR services into Zone
1 or even NR to a Z1 terminal and then LU. On that basis I would simply
ask at the National Rail ticket office for a ticket extension from
Boundary Z2 to either the terminal station or into Zone U1 which would
give you through travel into the Underground system. Note that this
should *also* give you the bit of U1 to the boundary on services from
Liverpool Street as the "One" line to Stratford is effectively the
surface version of the Central Line and is inter available with the Tube
and is priced at Tube prices.

I hope our resident NR booking clerks / ticketing experts can verify if
what I have said above is valid. It is certainly how it used to work.

You should be able to buy the above ticket at any NR station on
presentation of your Travelcard - assuming of course that you have a
receipt that shows the validity of your Oyster card or that the ticket
office has a working Oyster reader to be able to read the Travelcard
from your card.

I am sorry that it is all so horrendously complicated but that is where
we are with trying to run two systems beside one another where there are
very different commercial views as to what the fare scales should be.

If you would clarify the exact trips you make then it may (!) be easier
to sort out a solution. I have to say that I think this is likely to be
difficult though!

Thanks for taking the trouble to think about it.

My brain now hurts but please take into account comments from others -
especially about the National Rail extension ticket options and
availability as I think that is key to giving you an answer even if it
is a bit of a bother to buy.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote:

My brain now hurts but please take into account comments from others -
especially about the National Rail extension ticket options and
availability as I think that is key to giving you an answer even if it
is a bit of a bother to buy.

Ok, I shall attempt to buy one of these NR extension tickets from New
Cross Gate station one afternoon soon, and report back here what
happens. Cheers.
--
Andy Roberts

Paul Corfield wrote in
:


A couple of immediate points

1) All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere.
Therefore you have bus validity throughout Zone 1 - this just picks up
your comment about walking from Whitechapel. You could just as easily
take a 25 bus direct to Forest Gate or the 205 round to Liverpool St.


pedant

Obviously "All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere."
applies only to buses, not the underground (and it gets complicated for
Tramlink!)

/pedant

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:02:54 -0500, David Jackman
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote in
:


A couple of immediate points

1) All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere.
Therefore you have bus validity throughout Zone 1 - this just picks up
your comment about walking from Whitechapel. You could just as easily
take a 25 bus direct to Forest Gate or the 205 round to Liverpool St.


pedant

Obviously "All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere."
applies only to buses, not the underground (and it gets complicated for
Tramlink!)

/pedant

You're right - what I wrote was very sloppy and therefore certainly
inaccurate. Sorry folks.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

andy roberts wrote:

Ok, I shall attempt to buy one of these NR extension tickets from New
Cross Gate station one afternoon soon, and report back here what
happens. Cheers.

:-(

After spending a few minutes repeating myself that I wanted to enquire
if it was possible to buy a zone 1 extension to my travelcard the only
thing I could be offered was a single journey ticket from New Cross Gate
to London Bridge for £2.00 plus advice to catch various tube trains on
pre-pay.

My next thought is to wonder whether such a thing as a zone one LT card
exists, tubes and buses only. That would not get me through the NR
barrers at London Bridge but it would be valid on the underground and
from Livp St to Stratford by all accounts.

--
Andy Roberts

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:02:54 -0500, David Jackman
wrote:

Obviously "All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere."
applies only to buses, not the underground (and it gets complicated for
Tramlink!)

The trams are just the same as buses now. Though you might need to get
the staff to let you through the gate at Wimbledon if you don't have
the appropriate zone on your ticket.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Arthur Figgis wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:02:54 -0500, David Jackman
wrote:

Obviously "All travelcards regardless of zones are valid everywhere."
applies only to buses, not the underground (and it gets complicated for
Tramlink!)

The trams are just the same as buses now. Though you might need to get
the staff to let you through the gate at Wimbledon if you don't have
the appropriate zone on your ticket.

When using a travelcard, you still need one of zones 3, 4, 5 or 6 to use
trams. The anomaly is that bus passes are valid.

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