FCC only Super Off Peak Day Travelcard

[mr_jarhead]

The Southern Railway has this ticket for £8.25 on their website. The any TOC version is £9.30.

It's a zone 1-6 travelcard, does this mean once I am inside zones 1-6 I can use Southern and Southeastern services etc or am I still restricted to FCC services on Network Rail? :?

 

[maniacmartin]

The restriction only applies to travel outside the zones. Once inside the zones, you can use any company's services as you would with a normal travelcard.

Out of curiosity, what is the origin station of this ticket?

 

[mr_jarhead]

Thanks, I had a feeling that was the case but just wanted to be sure.

The ticket would be from Haywards Heath.

 

[island]

Have you tried from Epsom? Might be cheaper.

 

[LexyBoy]

Have you tried from Epsom? Might be cheaper.

Not if you want to travel from Haywards Heath

The prices quoted are with a Railcard. The Epsom ticket is cheaper than an inboundary TC for a group (as GroupSave applies) but not for an individual. Unless I've misunderstood you.

 

[island]

I think there's a Southern online offer on outboundary Travelcards at the minute making Epsom cheaper than inboundary.

But yes, if one is travelling from Haywards Heath it is a bit irrelevant.

 

[greatkingrat]

Although in the past, Southern have sold Epsom travelcards for less than a Z1-6, I think they have closed that loophole now. In the current offer there is a minimum fare for travelcards.

 

[soil]

Although in the past, Southern have sold Epsom travelcards for less than a Z1-6, I think they have closed that loophole now. In the current offer there is a minimum fare for travelcards.

Still cheaper on groupsave.

 

[johnnycache]

I work for Southern

Just to confirm what has already been stated. Out-boundary Travelcards whether one day or season all have the same validity within the Travelcard zones as In-Boundary Travelcards. If the ticket states FCC only, Southern only (or whatever) that restriction applies to the Out-Boundary part of the journey only. Similarly evening time restrictions cannot apply In-Boundary. Unfortunately not all gates are set to accept such tickets and not all gateline staff are either.

 

[Be3G]

Unfortunately not all gates are set to accept such tickets and not all gateline staff are either.

I'm amused by the thought that gateline staff have a switch somewhere that changes them from helpful (accept valid tickets) to awkward (don't accept valid tickets) in an instant.

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm amused by the thought that gateline staff have a switch somewhere that changes them from helpful (accept valid tickets) to awkward (don't accept valid tickets) in an instant.

I think that'll just be the new digital gateline staff. They just have the two modes. More traditional analogue staff can be adjusted to various points in between, or just set to random...

 

[pingle99]

I bought an "FCC Only" Gatwick Airport to London Zones 1-6 to travel to Clapham Junction. The only reason I bought this is that the so-called fast ticket machines at Gatwick have such non-working touch screens that I couldn't coax it into selling me a simple single ticket to Clapham Junction, which would have been cheaper.
But when I arrived at the exit gate at CLJ, it wouldn't let me out. This must be one of the 'non-helpful' ticket gates. Unfortunately there were no staff around so I had to use my Oyster card (incurring an 'incomplete journey' extra fare) to get out of the station.
It's very hard to find out whether "FCC Only" is supposed to be valid to CLJ but it does clearly say "London zones 1-6" (Clapham Junction is in Zone 2). As it happens, the first train out from Gatwick was an FCC (I think ...) train to East Croydon, where I changed to a Southern train to Clapham Junction. I can't for the life of me see why this should not be allowed. Perhaps if I had got out of the station at East Croydon, then gone back into the station using the same ticket, all would have been allowed??
To be honest, the ticketing system at Gatwick Airport seems to have been designed to discourage people from using anything other than the Gatwick "Express" (which on that particular day and time was cancelled ... again). Now that GatEx doesn't allow you to buy tickets on board, there are gates at the airport station, but, once through the barriers, there are no platform indicators, apart from the "most popular" destinations - who decides what is popular?

 

[Urban Gateline]

I bought an "FCC Only" Gatwick Airport to London Zones 1-6 to travel to Clapham Junction. The only reason I bought this is that the so-called fast ticket machines at Gatwick have such non-working touch screens that I couldn't coax it into selling me a simple single ticket to Clapham Junction, which would have been cheaper.
But when I arrived at the exit gate at CLJ, it wouldn't let me out. This must be one of the 'non-helpful' ticket gates. Unfortunately there were no staff around so I had to use my Oyster card (incurring an 'incomplete journey' extra fare) to get out of the station.
It's very hard to find out whether "FCC Only" is supposed to be valid to CLJ but it does clearly say "London zones 1-6" (Clapham Junction is in Zone 2). As it happens, the first train out from Gatwick was an FCC (I think ...) train to East Croydon, where I changed to a Southern train to Clapham Junction. I can't for the life of me see why this should not be allowed. Perhaps if I had got out of the station at East Croydon, then gone back into the station using the same ticket, all would have been allowed??
To be honest, the ticketing system at Gatwick Airport seems to have been designed to discourage people from using anything other than the Gatwick "Express" (which on that particular day and time was cancelled ... again). Now that GatEx doesn't allow you to buy tickets on board, there are gates at the airport station, but, once through the barriers, there are no platform indicators, apart from the "most popular" destinations - who decides what is popular?

The Journey you stated was a perfectly valid one with that Travelcard, if you had taken a Southern service from Gatwick direct to Clapham Junction then that would be a different matter entirely on an FCC Travelcard, that is why the CLJ Gatelines reject such tickets as the staff like to know which journey you'd undertaken!

I find it hard to believe there were no staff around though, as Gatelines must be left open if unstaffed, the main exit and Grant Rd exit have 2 staff members and the upstairs exit has one staff member.

 

[alex17595]

A staff at the gate line said I shouldn't have been on Thameslink at St pancras because it said 'southern only'. He let me through anyway but I would have argued the point if he said no. annoyingly they only seemed to work the barriers at London bridge even though I came into Victoria where it wouldn't work the gate.

 

[yorkie]

A staff at the gate line said I shouldn't have been on Thameslink at St pancras because it said 'southern only'. He let me through anyway but I would have argued the point if he said no. annoyingly they only seemed to work the barriers at London bridge even though I came into Victoria where it wouldn't work the gate.

In that case write a letter of complaint, and ask what steps they will take to ensure staff are adequately trained. If they do not respond positively, refer the matter to Passenger Focus.