[x-posted to uk.transport.london]
[the London interest is the bit at the bottom of the post about
Travelcards]

On 17 Dec, 13:52, Uncle-C wrote:
I've been checking the various long distance TOC websites ( *NXEC and
Arriva XC) and there seems to be no mention of any ticket restrictions
being lifted over the Christmas period. *Being the season of good will
and all that I had hoped for some festive cheer. Anyone know to the
contrary or will they announce any lifting of *restrictions closer to
Xmas ? I recall last year being allowed to use a SVR on a peak service
from *London.

Thanks again.


+ Arriva Crosscountry: Found this Xmas & New Year travel page on their
website - it's in the 'Find a Train' section but I must admit I found
it using a Google site search - and more to the point is has *nothing*
to say about easing of ticket restrictions:
http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/...ew_Year.asp x


+ Virgin Trains: Only found a mention of it in a PDF of the 'West
Coast Update' handout (again via a Google site search), couldn't find
anything on a conventional webpage at all - and it is only mentioned
at the end of the couple of paragraphs headed 'Tickets' on page 2 or 3
(depends how you're counting it!) where it says:
"Also, there will be no restrictions on Saver tickets from 1100 on 21
December through to 01 January."

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/img/ab...U_Dec_2007.pdf

Note the use of the old Saver terminology - that should now be "Off-
peak"!


+ NXEC: Again I only found this NXEC page via a Google site search:

http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast....-and-New-Year/

But stupidly I can't find that paged linked to from the NXEC homepage
nor from the 'Travel Information' section's main page to which it
supposedly belongs.

Also, again, the page uses the old pre-'simplification' ticket names
of Saver, Cheap Day, Supersaver etc...

quote
* Saver, Business Saver and Cheap Day ticket restrictions will be
lifted on the afternoon peak on 21 December and all day for travel
between 22 December and 1 January inclusive.
* Supersavers will not be valid for travel from 14 December to 2
January inclusive.
* Off Peak Travelcard restrictions to London on journeys from/via
Peterborough, Grantham and Newark will be lifted on 24, 27, 28, 31
December and 1 January. However, restrictions in London will remain in
place, so Off Peak Travelcards will not be valid on TfL services
(tube, bus, DLR, etc) before 09.30am.
/quote

Interesting about the Off-peak Travelcards being valid at any time to
travel in to London. If all one is doing is travelling straight in to
Kings Cross early then there's no big problem as long as you
understand the fact that you can't use said Off-peak Travelcard until
after 0930 (take a walk down Judd Street instead!).

What I am interested about is what the deal is if you were to travel
on say an FCC train from Peterborough (you could even have changed
there from an NXEC train from Grantham or Newark) to Finsbury Park and
then change - it would obviously not be legit for you to use the
Underground before 0930, but what about another FCC train in to
Moorgate? Or - perhaps a better example - what if you were to travel
down on an FCC stopper to Welwyn, change and then take another stopper
in to Alexandra Palace? In both cases you would be in 'Travelcard
territory' with a ticket that's not really valid until 0930. Unless of
course it would be legit as long as you stayed on FCC trains - or
perhaps it's simply more likely that this exemption only applies to
journeys in to London on NXEC trains, and not FCC trains, from those
three start points (Peterborough, Grantham, Newark).

Nonetheless it would be good if LU staff at for example KX knew about
such things, so they're not left scratching their head with
befuddlement as an early bird shopper heading for the bedlam of the
sales tries to travel on an Off-peak Travelcard. Indeed, maybe they
know already.