On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 02:21:10 +0100, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

See this from the FAQ section of the Young Person Railcard website -
the last sentence in particular...
(I've copied it in full for posterity should they ever correct it)

-----
14. Can I use my Railcard for tickets for travel on the London
Underground? All discounted rail tickets bought using your Railcard
routed 'between London termini' are valid for cross-London transfer on
the London Underground. Off-Peak Day Travelcards (All Zones only) are
also available, subject to a minimum fare. Please note, however, that
you cannot use your Railcard to obtain a discount when purchasing
tickets from a London Underground booking office.
-----

Does this also mean I can't get a YPR discount on an Amersham to Aylesbury
ticket (a journey I'm due to make several times).

I think the answer is that you can.


As far as I can work out, the rules for using Railcards at LU ticket
offices are as follows. These have been pieced together from a
combination of anecdotes, personal experience, and educated guesswork,
so if anyone has any official sources of this information, or any
experiences that contradict the below, I'd be interested to hear them.

- At all LU ticket offices, any valid Railcard may be used to purchase
a Zones 1-D ODTC for £4.80 for the holder (and, if the type of
Railcard normally permits it, for accompanying persons).

(If using a Gold Card, one of the following rules may apply:
-you can't buy a discounted ODTC for yourself; or
-if your annual season doesn't include a Z1-6 Travelcard, and if you
want to buy discounted ODTCs for other people, you *must* also buy one
for yourself.)

- At LU ticket offices at stations served by NR (e.g. Blackhorse Road,
Greenford, West Brompton), you can also buy Railcard discounted
Standard/Cheap Day Singles/Returns, for journeys that *only* involve
NR.

(This might not apply on Thameslink/Chiltern, to those journeys where
Tube fares apply even if you use NR.)

- NO other Railcard discounted tickets are available. Not even if you
have a Gold Card issued by LU. So if you turn up at Oxford Circus and
ask for a ticket to Brighton, you can't get a Railcard discount
(although you would have been able to if you'd bought your ticket in
advance at a NR ticket office). Even if you have a Z1-6 annual
Travelcard and just want an extension to Brighton, you don't get a
discount on it.

(Indeed what's the cheapest way to get a good discount on an extension from
a 1-6 travelcard to Aylesbury? PAYG to Amersham, then buy a return ticket at
the office there and on the way back jump onto the platform to touch in then
back onto the train, or a straightforward extension from Marylebone/Harrow?)

Find out the price of a Boundary Zone 6 to Aylesbury return (not
available online). Compare this to the price of an Amersham-Aylesbury
return plus a pair of zone A-D PAYG singles.

Incidentally, the former would also allow you to travel via High
Wycombe, giving a bit of extra flexibility. And you wouldn't have to
leave the train at Amersham in search of a validator (possibly missing
it and having to wait for the next one).