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Boundary Zones to/from Heathrow

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Edvid

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Has anyone travelled to/from Heathrow with a combination of Travelcard and Boundary Zone (1-5) tickets? According to NFM05 there are four BZ5 tickets priced between £5.20 and £10.40.
 
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barrykas

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Not tried it, but as Travelcards aren't generally valid on Heathrow Express, such a combination would only be valid on Heathrow Connect.

Cheers,

Barry
 

yorkie

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Not tried it, but as Travelcards aren't generally valid on Heathrow Express, such a combination would only be valid on Heathrow Connect.
What about a Travelcard + Boundary Zone 6 to Stevenage on EC?
 

barrykas

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What about a Travelcard + Boundary Zone 6 to Stevenage on EC?

Perfectly fine, under long established rules.

Heathrow Express is a special case, as they're neither a franchised operator nor an "open access" operator in the usual sense of the phrase, and BAA chose not to accept Travelcards from day one. (And the National Rail Conditions of Carriage don't apply either).

Heathrow Connect, on the other hand, is a joint operation by fGW and Heathrow Express, but one where fGW "own" the flows for revenue purposes, hence Travelcards + Boundary extensions are valid.

Cheers,

Barry
 

Edvid

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Out of curiosity, in what sense is Heathrow Express not a 'typical' OA operator?
 

clagmonster

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As boundary zone 6 fares are not valid on Heathrow Express, I find it interesting that an open return from Boundary Zone 6 is £10.40, and a day single is £5.20, but from Hayes & Harlington (the last station in the Travelcard boundary) the tickets are priced at £9.80 and £4.90 respectively. It would also surely be a good idea to make the tickets route "Not Heathrow Express" to clarify the situation.
 

yorkie

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The purpose of (sometimes higher priced than from named stations) Boundary Zone 6 tickets is to allow holders of Day Travelcards to get fast trains that do not call at the boundary station (it also allows multiple routes, e.g. to Southend and Reading). It doesn't make any sense to have these tickets, and at a higher price, for a journey where they cannot be used for that purpose!

The creation of Heathrow Express should never have been allowed to happen in the way it was done.
 

paul1609

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Out of curiosity, in what sense is Heathrow Express not a 'typical' OA operator?
BAA own the infrastructure from Airport Junction to the airport. They also run the trains they are just running on the national network in to Paddington by a running agreement at a commercial price.
All the other open access operators are using the network provided for the franchised TOCs and are only paying the marginal costs (to network rail) of running their trains over that network.
 

Ivo

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yorkie said:
The purpose of (sometimes higher priced than from named stations) Boundary Zone 6 tickets is to allow holders of Day Travelcards to get fast trains that do not call at the boundary station (it also allows multiple routes, e.g. to Southend and Reading).
Can a Boundary Ticket be used to get from A to B if neither is actually in the Travelcard area? I'm going to assume that the answer is no, but if yes is it actually cheaper to use such a ticket between the two places listed above?
 

yorkie

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Boundary Zone 6 to Southend Stations is £10.50 SDR, £10.10 CDR. This is a good way to get a ticket from the London area to Southend that is valid via both routes.

Boundary Zone 6 to Reading is actually restricted by route, but is not TOC specific and both routes go to the same station so you can buy the cheaper and excess to the higher one to go via two routes, or you can use the more expensive ticket via the shortest route (the guard can either accept it or charge a £0.00 excess).

Boundary Zone 6 to Reading is £10.70 SDR route Ascot, or £16.80 SDR Route Slough, and for the CDR it is £10.60 route Ascot and £9.40 route Slough.

It's more useful for Southend given the fact the routes are completely different and go to different terminals.

I suggest you get a copy of Avantix Traveller. It was leaked and the URL made available via the PF appeal blog but this became unavailable about the time you joined the forum. ATOC want to keep the fares data available only to people prepared to pay £9+P&P+VAT. I see nothing wrong with copying the software as the fee is less than the admin fee charged to refund a ticket, and that can be waived at the discretion of the ticket office. In effect I conclude we are being charged an admin fee to be issued with the software rather than paying to have the right to use it. People can disagree and make their own choice.
 

paul1609

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I suggest you get a copy of Avantix Traveller. It was leaked and the URL made available via the PF appeal blog but this became unavailable about the time you joined the forum. ATOC want to keep the fares data available only to people prepared to pay £9+P&P+VAT. I see nothing wrong with copying the software as the fee is less than the admin fee charged to refund a ticket, and that can be waived at the discretion of the ticket office. In effect I conclude we are being charged an admin fee to be issued with the software rather than paying to have the right to use it. People can disagree and make their own choice.

Yorkie you come out with some really bizarre statements.
I've got A level law and GCSE Latin and I havent a clue what youre going on about!
 

yorkie

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Avantix Traveller contains the fares. These should be in the public domain, but they are not.

It costs money, the price they are asking for is £9.

This is less than the cost of the admin fee charged when refunding a ticket.

It is therefore comparable to an admin fee.

I do not believe that it is profitable, or is intended to be profitable. The price is low because all they are doing is covering their costs of producing the CDs and distributing them.

The software being leaked on the PF appeal site does not cost them any money.

I do not see anything morally wrong with using that software.

Others may disagree and believe it is morally wrong. In which case they can choose not to download it.

At the present moment the software is unavailable as the site has exceeded its bandwidth limit.
 

Ivo

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Yorkie you come out with some really bizarre statements.
I've got A level law and GCSE Latin and I havent a clue what youre going on about!
Bizarre perhaps but very useful...

(The reason I asked is that my immediate family is in Southend but I have two uncles between Reading and Wokingham.)
 

yorkie

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Bizarre perhaps but very useful...

(The reason I asked is that my immediate family is in Southend but I have two uncles between Reading and Wokingham.)
No problem :) If you have a particular journey in mind it may be best to start a new thread where we can advise on the best combination. Remember a Travelcard issued from Reading is routed Any Permitted and valid via Wokingham or Slough.

The code for a One Day Travelcard is 0035 (or you can put "LONDON ZONES 1-6" in the destination). The code for Boundary Zone 6 is 0072 (or you can put "BOUNDARY ZONE 6" in the origin). Tickets cannot be issued to Boundary Zone 6 and cannot be issued from London Zones 1-6.
 

Ivo

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Three points:

(1) Sorry to Edvid for being the latest to have a thread unintentionally stolen by me!
(2) If only this thing was "psychic" and able to give up-to-date Advance ticket details :) (It can't, can it?)
(3) Heck, is it fun/useful...!
 

rick9525

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Its a long time since I have taken advantage of this

I will have the follwoing situation tommrow

Offpeak Travelcard Zone 1-6. I will then travel Marylebone to High Wycombe and back in the evening.

Do I just go to the Ticket office at Marylebone and show my travel card and ask them for Boundry zone 6 return to High Wycombe ?

I remember doing that when going to Gillingham once from Victoria.
 

yorkie

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Yes, you can get the ticket from any station , the price is £9.00.

Origin: 0072 Boundary Zone 6
Destination: 3054 High Wycombe (HWY)

SDR - ANYTIME DAY R NCH
00000 - ANY PERMITTED

1 Adult @£ 9.00 = £ 9.00
__________
£ 9.00

Standard Class Return
 

rick9525

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Yes, you can get the ticket from any station , the price is £9.00.

Origin: 0072 Boundary Zone 6
Destination: 3054 High Wycombe (HWY)

SDR - ANYTIME DAY R NCH
00000 - ANY PERMITTED

1 Adult @£ 9.00 = £ 9.00
__________
£ 9.00

Standard Class Return

Many Thanks for the confirmation
 

barrykas

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Many Thanks for the confirmation

Incidentally, you may get a ticket issued from "West Ruislip" rather than "Boundary Zone 6". The fares are the same, and Chiltern Revenue Protection won't usually try and PF you for boarding a train that doesn't stop at West Ruislip. ;)

Cheers,

Barry
 
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