Plusbus: Buying during peak for off-peak railcard use

[jamesontheroad]

Howdy all. Further to some other queries about a forthcoming trip, I'll be looking to buy a Canterbury PlusBus with my 16-25 Railcard. I'll be travelling from London, leaving in the morning peak but arriving just before 09:30. Can I buy a railcard discounted PlusBus in the morning peak, if it's obvious I won't be able to use it until after the peak because of my train's arrival time?

Thanks

 

[bb21]

I don't think Y-P Plusbus has peak restrictions. See here.

So yes you can buy it at any time

 

[transportphoto]

You can buy any ticket at any time, even if it is not valid for use immediately.
I would recommend that you buy your +Bus for Canterbury before leaving London as you may have issues getting it done at Canterbury.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Thanks folks!

 

[yorkie]

I'm confused.

Surely there is no peak restriction on PlusBus. I assume you are adding PlusBus onto an Off Peak ticket, that has a restriction code that states not valid until 09:30?

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/simple_fares.html

"Buy any time, travel off-peak"

You can buy an off peak ticket at any time, some station staff refuse to issue them (which is incorrect) but if they are concerned you may use it early they can stamp on it "Restrictions advised" or write something like "Valid after 09:30" etc.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Surely there is no peak restriction on PlusBus. I assume you are adding PlusBus onto an Off Peak ticket, that has a restriction code that states not valid until 09:30?

No, I'll be buying a full fare Anytime ticket. I was just confused about whether PlusBus had any peak/off peak restrictions for the use of my railcard. I think I know what I doing now...

 

[John @ home]

No, I'll be buying a full fare Anytime ticket.

Why are you buying a full fare Anytime ticket rather than a Y-P Railcard discounted Anytime ticket?

 

[jamesontheroad]

Why are you buying a full fare Anytime ticket rather than a Y-P Railcard discounted Anytime ticket?

Departing London Charing X at 0740. Assumed I couldn't use the YPR before 09:30? Although now the fares I'm checking appear to suggest I can.

Just to clarify, I'm a mature student, hence the additional length of time it's take me to work this out.

 

[John @ home]

Assumed I couldn't use the YPR before 09:30?

A 16-25 Railcard can be used at any time, but there is a £12 minimum fare before 10:00 Monday-Friday except on Public Holidays or in July or August. The £22.90 Anytime Day Single route Not Valid on HS1 is reduced to £15.10 by the Railcard.

If this is the same journey as in your Ideas: Glasgow - Canterbury (overnight), then Tunbridge - Glasgow thread, this may be one of the very few occasions where it's worth buying a return which costs more than two singles. The £30.25 Y-P Anytime Return costs 5p more than two singles, but allows your break of return leg at Tonbridge to enable you to spend one or two nights in Frant.

 

[jamesontheroad]

If this is the same journey as in your Ideas: Glasgow - Canterbury (overnight), then Tunbridge - Glasgow thread, this may be one of the very few occasions where it's worth buying a return which costs more than two singles. The £30.25 Y-P Anytime Return costs 5p more than two singles, but allows your break of return leg at Tonbridge to enable you to spend one or two nights in Frant.

It is the same query - sorry, I'm being a thread hogger

Yes to the above, I think the trip is working out as follows...

Glasgow - Euston £99 1st class promo return (whoop!)
Charing x - Canterbury W £30.25 Anytime Y-P Return +Bus
and then the day singles to get between Tonbridge and Frant.

Just out of interest, does the rule about breaking the return leg of an Anytime say anything about how long that break of journey can be? I always assumed a break of journey, where permitted, was only for the same day. If it isn't, not problems, but I was wondering how a break of journey treats the ticket when you have to exit/enter the station by ticket gates.

 

[John @ home]

does the rule about breaking the return leg of an Anytime say anything about how long that break of journey can be?

Where break of journey is permitted on a leg of a journey, that leg can be broken on an unlimited number of occasions for unlimited durations within the validity of that leg.

I always assumed a break of journey, where permitted, was only for the same day.

That's not correct.

I was wondering how a break of journey treats the ticket when you have to exit/enter the station by ticket gates.

Inconsistently. Sometimes tickets operate the gates at intermediate stations, sometimes they don't and you need to show the ticket to the member of staff, who opens a gate for you. At my local station, Leeds, just about any ticket opens the gates except, for some reason, a platform ticket for Leeds station.

But I wouldn't expect you to encounter gates when breaking your journey. Buy your two Tonbridge - Frant singles not later than at Canterbury. The layout at Tonbridge allows you to change platforms without going through the ticket gates. If there are ticket gates at Frant, you would be using the Tonbridge - Frant tickets there.

 

[WillPS]

You can buy any ticket at any time, even if it is not valid for use immediately.
I would recommend that you buy your +Bus for Canterbury before leaving London as you may have issues getting it done at Canterbury.

Try telling those at Sheffield station that. I have been refused point-blank the sale of a Derbyshire Wayfarer (valid after 9am) even though I was buying a ticket which would cover the pre-9am part of the journey. I made this all completely clear to the lady - and then I made it clear that I was just going to walk across the road and buy it from the interchange instead.

Absolutely daft.

 

[sheff1]

Try telling those at Sheffield station that. I have been refused point-blank the sale of a Derbyshire Wayfarer (valid after 9am) even though I was buying a ticket which would cover the pre-9am part of the journey. I made this all completely clear to the lady - and then I made it clear that I was just going to walk across the road and buy it from the interchange instead.

Absolutely daft.

Quite. I buy them from the interchange for the same reason. The Wayfarer is actually valid before 9am on the buses anyway.

At least we don't have the 'refusal to sell' problem with rail only tickets any more, now that we can get what we are entitled to online.

 

[MarkyMarkD]

Southeastern stations have signs up saying that under no circumstances will off-peak tickets be sold until the last peak train has departed.

This makes no sense unless their barriers don't effectively distinguish between peak and off-peak.

They do, however, let you buy off-peak tickets for following days, so their intended clampdown on people mis-using off-peak tickets doesn't actually work anyway.

Is their "rule" against the industry rules as they are preventing people buying perfectly valid tickets?

Another Southeastern query - why do they sell Super Off Peak returns to London, but you can't buy a Travelcard version of these?

 

[yorkie]

My position has not changed.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/offpeak.html

"Buy any time, travel off-peak"

You can buy an off peak ticket at any time, some station staff refuse to issue them (which is incorrect) but if they are concerned you may use it early they can stamp on it "Restrictions advised" or write something like "Valid after 09:30" etc.

I'd be asking them who has told them not to sell the tickets, I'd be asking for names and I'd be asking if they are aware of ATOC policy and if I didn't get a satisfactory response I'd be writing to ATOC/Passenger Focus.

Nothing surprises me with SET. They seem to think they can treat customers like crap, especially where ticketing is concerned (we seem to have more SET related issues of mis-selling tickets or guards refusing to accept valid tickets than any other operator at the moment, many of these problems involve HS1). In another thread someone was asking if they should lose their franchise. I'm inclined to say yes, they should.

A good one to test them on would be try to buy an Off Peak/Super Off Peak ticket to somewhere like Peterborough/Rugby (or beyond) - these are valid "by any train" to London, to connect with onward trains from London to which restrictions apply (although with a railcard there is no restriction on Virgin). If they fail that test, that's a serious breach of the ticketing & settlement agreement I think!

 

[MarkyMarkD]

I've never had problems with them and HS1 validity of non-SET area tickets, if that's what you mean. Just travelled to South Wales and back using HS1 to/from London and then FGW onwards without any hassle.

That said, the automated ticket machines are misleading and encourage people to buy the "+HS1" or "+London" versions of tickets when there is no need/reason. E.g. "Chatham-Charlton" via "any permitted". Why? Anyone going "via London" for that journey would be doubling the time taken.

And why (although this is possibly outside SET's responsibility) can't you get "London Z1" return tickets any more? Charging for a Travelcard is more than most people need.

 

[barrykas]

And why (although this is possibly outside SET's responsibility) can't you get "London Z1" return tickets any more? Charging for a Travelcard is more than most people need.

Depends on the journey you're making. For 'in-boundary' journeys, it has to be all the zones you pass through. So, for example, East Croydon to Warren Street would be issued as Croydon Stations to ZONES U1245, Euston to Clapham Junction would be issued as ZONES U12 to Clapham Junction, etc.

Having said that, there's often not much difference between the Travelcard and the Return, especially Off-Peak.

For 'out-boundary' journeys, Southern work on the same basis, so if you're going via Zone 1 a ticket would be issued to ZONES U1256. If you're changing outside Zone 1, it'd be to ZONES U2356 or ZONES U3456, etc.

Most other 'out-boundary' journeys are still priced based on the tube zones you're actually going to use.

Cheers,

Barry