Worthing Season Tickets

[njones]

I am about to buy a yearly season ticket from Worthing to London terminals. I have seen elsewhere that buying a ticket from Littlehampton would allow me to make my normal commute (Worthing to Lon Vic), as well as opening up the Arundel branch. Is that true? Seems like a no-brainer if it is!
Thanks for your help.

 

[bangor-toad]

Ah, my old stomping grounds...

Yes, you can get the same price ticket from Bognor or Littlehampton.
I've never sure of the validity involving Littlehampton on a Bognor ticket but I'm pretty sure it's OK.

Perhaps more usefully though is that the Bognor ticket opens up the option of the routes via Horsham should you ever want / need to go that way.

For no extra money I can't see why you wouldn't go this.
Cheers,
Mr Toad


EDIT:
If you limit yourself to "Southern Services Only" then the ticket from Portsmouth Harbour to London Terminals is actually £100 *cheaper* then the ticket from Worthing. However that does limit you to Southern trains only and I have no idea how they are interpreting Thameslink trains on the Brighton line these days.

Another option:
The annual Worthing to London ticket is £4,560.00.
What about a (Any Permitted) Havant to London ticket for £4,676.00? Yes it's a little more but it also gives you the ability to use Worthing - Brighton - London, Worthing - Horsham - London and Worthing - Havant - Guildford - London and any points in-between.
I've no idea if that's worthwhile for you but it always is worth looking at stations further away when renewing season tickets.

 

[paul1609]

I am about to buy a yearly season ticket from Worthing to London terminals. I have seen elsewhere that buying a ticket from Littlehampton would allow me to make my normal commute (Worthing to Lon Vic), as well as opening up the Arundel branch. Is that true? Seems like a no-brainer if it is!
Thanks for your help.

Yes it is, The shortest route from Littlehampton to a London Terminal is actually to London Waterloo via Horsham, Epsom and Wimbledon so you can use that too, very useful for the tennis.

 

[njones]

Thanks both for the replies. What a bizarre system, especially the Southern only ticket from Havant being cheaper! It's a good job a website like this exists, given the complexity of the system.

 

[bangor-toad]

Hi there,
Oh it's even more bizarre than you'd think...

There's a really non-obvious option (some might say loophole) that will give you an annual Worthing - London trip for (by buying two tickets for each of£2,628 + £716) £3,744.

That'll give you a ticket that's valid from Victoria or Waterloo, to Clapham Junction and then onto Worthing via the Brighton mainline and the coast or to Horsham by pretty much any route and then down to Worthing via Barnham or Littlehampton.

Make a couple of more posts and PM me for details.
Cheers,
Mr Toad

 

[njones]

Intriguing. Is this sort of inconsistency mainly historic?

 

[bb21]

The Bognor ticket is fine via Littlehampton as there is no doubleback involved. Same with the Portsmouth ticket.

 

[yorkie]

.... However that does limit you to Southern trains only and I have no idea how they are interpreting Thameslink trains on the Brighton line these days...

I'm not sure myself how the Train Company concerned, Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates both route brands, is handling this, but I have my own views on the situation which I won't post here, but Govia Thameslink Railway: Issues regarding ticket validity across brands covers it. (I will add tha CyrusWuff is an experienced person in the industry who knows his stuff! See post #3)

 

[maniacmartin]

Staff on the ground interpret Southern-only tickets to not be valid on Thameslink-branded trains, and if you attempt to use them like that you can expect trouble

 

[njones]

I can't see myself using the Thameslink anyway, really. That thread is interesting, though. It's possible to lose a lot of time on this website!