Elizabeth line evening peak travelcard

[duncananderson]

Question: Can I use an off peak Reading to London zones 1-6 travelcard on the Elizabeth line central core in the evening peak?

Background: my regular commute at the moment is Reading to the west end arriving around 6pm. I normally do Reading to Paddington and then Bakerloo line to Charing Cross, though since it opened I now occasionally use the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road. There are no evening peak restrictions into London from Reading so I purchase an off-peak travelcard which covers the tube journey as well. A few weeks ago the EL gate line stopped accepting my travelcard, but the staff generally just waved me through. Tonight I was told my off-peak ticket wasn’t valid and I could only use it after 7pm.

This strikes me as odd as the ticket still works on the tube and I understood that Elizabeth line fares policy was supposed to match the tube. Also, I don’t see how it could be enforced as there are many shared gate lines with tube services - even at Paddington I could go through the tube gates and access the EL via the Bakerloo line link. And also, today due to the heat disruption I travelled in from Reading on an EL service - come the autumn that would continue through to TCR without me having to present my ticket again.

For info the error code on the barrier was 126 (copied from another thread):
126 - XX OOOO - TOC ticket Origin is not valid for entry here.

Does anyone know what the policy is here?

 

[mattdickinson]

Question: Can I use an off peak Reading to London zones 1-6 travelcard on the Elizabeth line central core in the evening peak?

Background: my regular commute at the moment is Reading to the west end arriving around 6pm. I normally do Reading to Paddington and then Bakerloo line to Charing Cross, though since it opened I now occasionally use the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road. There are no evening peak restrictions into London from Reading so I purchase an off-peak travelcard which covers the tube journey as well. A few weeks ago the EL gate line stopped accepting my travelcard, but the staff generally just waved me through. Tonight I was told my off-peak ticket wasn’t valid and I could only use it after 7pm.

This strikes me as odd as the ticket still works on the tube and I understood that Elizabeth line fares policy was supposed to match the tube. Also, I don’t see how it could be enforced as there are many shared gate lines with tube services - even at Paddington I could go through the tube gates and access the EL via the Bakerloo line link. And also, today due to the heat disruption I travelled in from Reading on an EL service - come the autumn that would continue through to TCR without me having to present my ticket again.

For info the error code on the barrier was 126 (copied from another thread):
126 - XX OOOO - TOC ticket Origin is not valid for entry here.

Does anyone know what the policy is here?

There are no evening Travelcard restrictions for any journeys made within Zones 1-6 whether they are made on TfL or National Rail.

 

[hkstudent]

Question: Can I use an off peak Reading to London zones 1-6 travelcard on the Elizabeth line central core in the evening peak?

Background: my regular commute at the moment is Reading to the west end arriving around 6pm. I normally do Reading to Paddington and then Bakerloo line to Charing Cross, though since it opened I now occasionally use the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road. There are no evening peak restrictions into London from Reading so I purchase an off-peak travelcard which covers the tube journey as well. A few weeks ago the EL gate line stopped accepting my travelcard, but the staff generally just waved me through. Tonight I was told my off-peak ticket wasn’t valid and I could only use it after 7pm.

This strikes me as odd as the ticket still works on the tube and I understood that Elizabeth line fares policy was supposed to match the tube. Also, I don’t see how it could be enforced as there are many shared gate lines with tube services - even at Paddington I could go through the tube gates and access the EL via the Bakerloo line link. And also, today due to the heat disruption I travelled in from Reading on an EL service - come the autumn that would continue through to TCR without me having to present my ticket again.

For info the error code on the barrier was 126 (copied from another thread):
126 - XX OOOO - TOC ticket Origin is not valid for entry here.

Does anyone know what the policy is here?

That's incorrect, there are no evening peak restrictions on off peak travelcard from Reading, except those GWR services from Paddington from 1602-1858.

Obviously, for journeys wholly within London zone 1-6 travelcard area, there are definitely no restrictions after 0930 on any NR and TfL services.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks, at face value with no fees. Every British rail fare shown, railcard discounts included.

www.brfares.com

Seems that MTR staff are making up rules.

 

[MikeWh]

When do you return to Reading?

Using contactless PAYG, the single fare from Reading to any zone 1 tube station is £13.80 including a 20* minute allowance to change to the tube at Paddington. If you return between 1900 and before 0430 the next day then the same fare applies again with a 40 minute allowance at Paddington. The total is £27.60 saving 10p over the off-peak cap, and 40p over the off-peak travelcard. I thought the caps and travelcards were supposed to match beyond West Drayton, so I'm slightly puzzled to see the discrepancy with brfares above.

*you actually get 40 minutes if you use the Elizabeth line core entrance to get to the Bakerloo as that is classed as a NR entrance even though you'd never have to wait on the concourse for a platform to be announced.

 

[duncananderson]

There are no evening Travelcard restrictions for any journeys made within Zones 1-6 whether they are made on TfL or National Rail.

Thanks, that’s what I understood to be the case.

That's incorrect, there are no evening peak restrictions on off peak travelcard from Reading, except those GWR services from Paddington from 1602-1858.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. I meant there are no evening peak restrictions on services to Paddington; I know there are restrictions on services from Paddington.

Seems that MTR staff are making up rules.

I feared as much. That’s going to be a bit of a drag if it becomes a regular occurrence.

 

[duncananderson]

When do you return to Reading?

Using contactless PAYG, the single fare from Reading to any zone 1 tube station is £13.80 including a 20* minute allowance to change to the tube at Paddington. If you return between 1900 and before 0430 the next day then the same fare applies again with a 40 minute allowance at Paddington. The total is £27.60 saving 10p over the off-peak cap, and 40p over the off-peak travelcard. I thought the caps and travelcards were supposed to match beyond West Drayton, so I'm slightly puzzled to see the discrepancy with brfares above.

*you actually get 40 minutes if you use the Elizabeth line core entrance to get to the Bakerloo as that is classed as a NR entrance even though you'd never have to wait on the concourse for a platform to be announced.

Thanks for pointing this out, I was unaware that a tube journey was included in the contactless fare from Reading. When travelling off peak I use a network railcard so don’t tend to use the contactless option, but later in the year I will be making a similar journey in the morning peak so I will explore that option then.

 

[Benjwri]

Question: Can I use an off peak Reading to London zones 1-6 travelcard on the Elizabeth line central core in the evening peak?

Background: my regular commute at the moment is Reading to the west end arriving around 6pm. I normally do Reading to Paddington and then Bakerloo line to Charing Cross, though since it opened I now occasionally use the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road. There are no evening peak restrictions into London from Reading so I purchase an off-peak travelcard which covers the tube journey as well. A few weeks ago the EL gate line stopped accepting my travelcard, but the staff generally just waved me through. Tonight I was told my off-peak ticket wasn’t valid and I could only use it after 7pm.

This strikes me as odd as the ticket still works on the tube and I understood that Elizabeth line fares policy was supposed to match the tube. Also, I don’t see how it could be enforced as there are many shared gate lines with tube services - even at Paddington I could go through the tube gates and access the EL via the Bakerloo line link. And also, today due to the heat disruption I travelled in from Reading on an EL service - come the autumn that would continue through to TCR without me having to present my ticket again.

For info the error code on the barrier was 126 (copied from another thread):
126 - XX OOOO - TOC ticket Origin is not valid for entry here.

Does anyone know what the policy is here?

Is this a known thing with Zone 1-6 travel cards and non LU services? I had the same issue trying to get a thameslink train this weekend, where it doesn’t let you through the line and the staff have to let you in. I’ve had issues with them arguing over validity before.

 

[hkstudent]

Thanks, that’s what I understood to be the case.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. I meant there are no evening peak restrictions on services to Paddington; I know there are restrictions on services from Paddington.

I feared as much. That’s going to be a bit of a drag if it becomes a regular occurrence.

Thanks. After looking at the restrictions more careful, there's also no outbound Reading to London restrictions after 0930, not even the GWR ones.

 

[wildcard]

Thanks. After looking at the restrictions more careful, there's also no outbound Reading to London restrictions after 0930, not even the GWR ones.

Are staff confusing the Off-Peak Travelcard (Z1-6) with a Super Off-peak TC available on some other routes into London ? For example , I understand a Super Off - Peak TC is not valid before 7pm for my return home from Euston ( Mon-Sat ) on a LNR service .

 

[mattdickinson]

Are staff confusing the Off-Peak Travelcard (Z1-6) with a Super Off-peak TC available on some other routes into London ? For example , I understand a Super Off - Peak TC is not valid before 7pm for my return home from Euston ( Mon-Sat ) on a LNR service .

That would be valid for travel to Harrow & Wealdstone on LNW. There are no evening peak restrictions within Zones 1-6 on any operator on either Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak Travelcards.

 

[wildcard]

That would be valid for travel to Harrow & Wealdstone on LNW. There are no evening peak restrictions within Zones 1-6 on any operator on either Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak Travelcards.

Quite - I should have made it clear I was traveling back north of Watford .

 

[TFN]

Some gates are programmed to reject Off-Peak Day TC in the evening peak (1600-1900) but staff will manually open the gate for you.

I can think of 3 stations along the Elizabeth Line route that do this. It's 100% valid though.

Ticketing training really is lackluster on some TOCs. Almost like an afterthought.

 

[furlong]

The Elizabeth line gates at Paddington are misprogrammed and have been giving this error since the line opened. As usual with this type of problem, nobody seems capable of or interested in fixing it.

The mistake appears to be that a condition rejects tickets from Reading, Slough etc. without a Maltese cross but forgets that actually it's OK because the travelcard element of the ticket is being used not the outboundary element. The problem is not related to the time of day - that would give a different error code.

(The gates at the tube entrances are correctly programmed to accept these tickets, so you do have the workaround of walking the long way around via the Bakerloo line. Otherwise if you are refused entry, you could make the point by buying a new ticket as instructed then doing a breach of contract claim. If enough people kept on doing that perhaps they'd take the trouble to fix it.)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2022 ==

Is this a known thing with Zone 1-6 travel cards and non LU services? I had the same issue trying to get a thameslink train this weekend, where it doesn’t let you through the line and the staff have to let you in. I’ve had issues with them arguing over validity before.

No. Look at the numeric code displayed on the barrier next time this happens and start a separate thread if you want assistance understanding it. (E.g. Super off-peak travelcards remain a completely unrecognised type of ticket by some barriers on parts of the network in that area.)

 

[Wallsendmag]

The Elizabeth line gates at Paddington are misprogrammed and have been giving this error since the line opened. As usual with this type of problem, nobody seems capable of or interested in fixing it.

The mistake appears to be that a condition rejects tickets from Reading, Slough etc. without a Maltese cross but forgets that actually it's OK because the travelcard element of the ticket is being used not the outboundary element. The problem is not related to the time of day - that would give a different error code.

(The gates at the tube entrances are correctly programmed to accept these tickets, so you do have the workaround of walking the long way around via the Bakerloo line. Otherwise if you are refused entry, you could make the point by buying a new ticket as instructed then doing a breach of contract claim. If enough people kept on doing that perhaps they'd take the trouble to fix it.)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2022 ==



No. Look at the numeric code displayed on the barrier next time this happens and start a separate thread if you want assistance understanding it. (E.g. Super off-peak travelcards remain a completely unrecognised type of ticket by some barriers on parts of the network in that area.)

Could this logic error have spread to other inboundary gates causing the problems seen at Blackfriars in this thread?

Anytime Travelcard rejected by Thameslink staff

So my question would be are anytime travelcards valid on Thameslink? I was travelling through Blackfriars on Monday and my travel card was rejected by the barriers and then staff, who said I couldn’t use the ticket. The barriers gave a 126 error code and the staff just said it wasn’t valid and...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[furlong]

Could this logic error have spread to other inboundary gates causing the problems senen at Blackfriars in this thread?

Anytime Travelcard rejected by Thameslink staff

So my question would be are anytime travelcards valid on Thameslink? I was travelling through Blackfriars on Monday and my travel card was rejected by the barriers and then staff, who said I couldn’t use the ticket. The barriers gave a 126 error code and the staff just said it wasn’t valid and...

www.railforums.co.uk

That does sound like the same problem! Paddington is the only station at which I've had this problem so far. I've been through
several other London terminals during this period but not Blackfriars. (Perhaps this weekend.)